
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2011) - wallflower
https://www.guernicamag.com/perlin_5_1_11/
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ryeights
> Nonetheless, many interns love their experience. Free access to the parks
> and employee discounts are more than enough for some of these Disney kids
> who have grown up to be Disney interns and may yet become Disney parents.
> “I’m a Disney slave and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” tweeted one
> intern proudly.

Leaves me a little speechless, honestly. Are people really so blind in their
corporate worship?

~~~
Excel_Wizard
Have you never met a Disney fan?

Most of these interns are going to be self-selected to love Disney. The Disney
fans I know are joyful and don't have a lick of cynicism. The "magic of
Disney" captures a joyful attitude that was already latent within their
personality, but is hard to find elsewhere.

The experience of getting to live and work in a park that non-cynically calls
itself the "happiest place on earth", surrounded by peers that are just as
joyous as you are, is worth more to them than the pay.

I don't think this is a bad outcome for these interns. For the ones that love
it, all the better, and for the ones that end up hating it, they learn when
and why to be more skeptical of a culture they don't quite fit into.

~~~
hedvig
So cultural relativism? I don't agree. Exploitation of people is unacceptable
even if those people feel like they enjoy it.

~~~
matt-attack
Wow. So you know what’s better for those people than they do? Do you not
believe that individuals have agency over themselves m and get to dictate
their own lives?

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pugworthy
I wonder if the author of this article is aware of Cory Doctorow's 2003 book
of the same title?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_and_Out_in_the_Magic_King...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_and_Out_in_the_Magic_Kingdom)

~~~
abdullahkhalids
As the wiki mentions, the title of Cory's book is a reference to George
Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. Not surprising that someone else
used the same inspiration.

Btw, this is a pretty good book that shows that even in post-scarcity society
of immortal humans, life can still be pretty interesting.

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i_rawr_u
I attended a university in Florida and I've had many acquaintances and friends
intern at Disney. Most love it because they're blinded by Disney and are
Disney "Stans". Most definitely is a waste of time with no meaningful skills,
loss of a semester, etc.

