Everybody
has heard of Disneyland. But not many people know that Disney also designed and built a housing development
not far from its major amusement park outside of Orlando, Florida. Contrary to expectations, there are
no dwarf cottages, white castles or lion king dens. With its rambling single family homes, golf course
and “covenants” (rules intended to preserve the pristine look of the development), Celebration does,
however, have something of the feel of a micro Utopia by way of the American Dream. Fascinated by this
aura of make-believe perfection, Dutch film-makers Quirine Racké and Helena
Muskens decided to make a film about Celebration and the people who live there.
Turning
the tables on Disney, the two use a combination of documentary technique, local advertising and pure
fiction to bring out the surreal aspects of this very real settlement. The film-makers follow six couples
in their pursuit of happiness within this community, while other characters appear along the way. For
example, in one scene a real estate agent stands in front of a house with a mansion-like entrance and
promotes her business in a monologue packed with superlatives; she seems both too plastic to be real
and too earnest to be fake. Built over an alligator swamp, Celebration is a place that does not have
much of a history: 350 people were chosen by lottery to occupy its first homes in 1995 (now there are
over 8,000 residents). Perhaps this is why it so readily serves as the perfect projection of deep-seated
middle class fantasies: a house, two kids and a two-car garage. Racké and Muskens’ peek behind the scenes
is a sharp, intelligent look at the “disneyfication” of the old saying “a man’s home is his castle.”
Disney
and Celebration are trademarks of The Disney Corporation
Link:
http://www.submarine.nl/film.jsp?project=959
