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  • Writer's pictureKarey Pohn

Going for Baroque?


Imagine that you are on the game show Jeopardy and the "Final Jeopardy" category is "Art and Architecture."  It is a tight race and the only way you can win is to bet all of your money.  Being familiar with the game, you know that the answer will be presented and you have to guess the question.  The host, Alex Trebeck, reads aloud: “It is surrounded by mounded earthen works, and revolves around a central point where the castle is located, with radiating avenues.  A monumental avenue leads to the castle where parades and reviews take place, and of course, fireworks illuminate the night.”  As the familiar "Jeopardy" tune plays in the background, you breathe a sigh of relief and quickly scribble your answer: “What is Disneyland?”  Well, actually the right “question”/answer was: What is a baroque medieval capital?”


A. Moore (1980) points out in a much more serious way, how Disneyland’s structure is similar to that of the medieval capitals such as that of Sun King Louis XIV which mirrored the macrocosm of the solar system.  This is just one of the different discussions of Disneyland’s structure.  In this section, we will discuss overviews of the overall structure of Disneyland, and see how different cartographies map onto Disneyland, as we explore different maps and meanings, I will also offer my own interpretation, using Grof's cartographic correspondences, and then we will go on a short tour of each different land.  After the tour, I will give a summary of the archetypal excursions offered, briefly what they are about and give their location and links to them will be provided for quicker access. At the end of the chapter, the Impact of Disneyland section contains the lessons that Disneyland holds for us.

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