Homespun Fun: Theme Parks, Suburbia, and the Postwar Child

Scholars of theme parks and their histories recognize that a carefully crafted family-friendly environment is the cornerstone of the themed amusement landscape dating back to the 1950s. From marketing and promotional material; to in-park signage and ride narratives; to the themes of childlike wonder and family fun, theme parks have made the heterosexual nuclear family unit the prototypical park visitor. This project explores the histories and geographies of theme parks and their privileging of the heterosexual family unit through a queer framework. It focuses on Disneyland, and Six Flags Over Texas in latter half of the twentieth century, tracing the development of the two metropolitan regions alongside studies of suburban imaginaries. It demonstrates how reading theme park marketing material, ride narratives, and other aspects of the theme park landscape through a queer lens exposes the centrality of the heterosexual family. Using a queer lens also unearths moments of gender and sexual alterity in these materials. I argue that the heterosexual family unit was a mainstay of theme park marketing and theming throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s despite the increasing visibility and inclusion of LGBTQ-identified visitors, and despite the queer potentialities of the theme park landscape.

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctorate Degree

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• David, Bryan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hobson, Emily K.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• de Jong, Greta
• Oda, Meredith
• Felts, Todd

• disneyland
• history
• postwar
• six flags over texas
• suburbia
• theme park

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11714/8209

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarwolf.unr.edu:11714/8209