Recently, I had the time and opportunity to visit Disneyland by myself, something I'd never done before. I have to say it was a strange feeling at first, because it's not really a place designed for solo travelers. I took advantage of this unique situation and did something that had simply never crossed my mind before: sit quietly and think.
Myths are public dreams. Dreams are private myths.
-- Joseph Campbell
I began my day at the Partners statue on the Main Street Hub. Sitting on one of the park benches that circle the statue, I must have seemed approachable, because I was approached more times than I can remember, by people asking if I'd mind taking their photo near the statue. I met so many people in just one hour; people from all over the country and all over the world. Communication wasn't ever a problem, thanks to the universally-recognized "take picture" pantomime.
A number of the people I talked with told me that whenever they came to Disneyland, their first stop was always to visit the statue and take a photo. A husband and wife from El Paso had photos from nearly all of the last fifteen years, starting with their honeymoon and progressing to this day, with their two kids in tow. When I asked why it was that they chose to take their photo at the statue instead of, say, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, their response was that it all began with Walt and Mickey. Anywhere else wouldn't be as important to them. It made perfect sense to me and throughout the day I saw so many people, a lot of them obviously from different countries, cultures and religions. What was it that makes this place so special to so many?
I've read a lot of Joseph Campbell's work over the years. He was, among other things, a writer and professor who was endlessly fascinated by mythology and its common threads throughout all human cultures. He felt that, though languages and cultures are naturally diverse and divergent, common themes persist. The knight errant, the archetype of selfless dedication to the pursuit of a glory higher than oneself, has roots in Medieval romantic culture and while few today are versed in that area of literature in these enlightened times, there are very few among us who don't know of the exploits of Indiana Jones or Luke Skywalker. Does it make any difference that these are movie characters instead of heroes handed down through generations of storytelling? Not at all. The only difference is the means through which the stories are told.
Take what has become the legend of Walt Disney and his pursuit of Disneyland. Here is the story of one man with a vision; a vision that nearly everyone around him figured would fail. Walt's detractors chuckled smugly at the idea of his 'amusement park' folly crashing and burning and yet through it all, Walt remained determined to make his dream a reality. The opening of Walt's dream on that day in 1955, has long passed into the stuff of legends. It wasn't a perfect day by any measure, but the challenges posed that day didn't deter Walt from firmly establishing his vision in the minds and hearts of the world. Is it any wonder that many people believe Walt lies in cryogenic sleep, awaiting a return to the world of the living once cancer has been cured? His legend, his legacy was so much larger than life that not even death could slow him down or lessen the amount of love people feel for him or the impact he has had on so many of us.
Even Mickey Mouse typifies the struggle of the little guy against often insurmountable odds, a theme that will always be universal and timeless. Most of the attractions at Disneyland, at least to me, have some grounding in myth or legend. From the Yeti tucked high up in the Matterhorn to Atlantis far beneath the sea on the beloved Submarine Voyage, legends abound. Nearly all the attractions in Fantasyland first found life as stories and folktales in and around Europe before Walt delivered them to mass audiences in his own inimitable style.
As our world grows ever smaller through technology and travel, older cultures and the myths that accompanied them fall by the wayside even as new myths and legends arise. As a species, we need our myths and legends, now more than ever. We need clearly-defined good guys and bad guys, heroes we can relate to and villains who really do fall when confronted by the forces of good. We need the stories that are so elemental in their portrayal of the basic, essential human truths of honesty, decency, loss, redemption, struggle, friendship, courage and love, for these are the things that hold us all together and keep us from tearing ourselves and each other apart.
