I decided to do my Alternative Disney Land Project on World War II Home Front in America. World War II Home Front Land is a place that is respectful to soldiers, but as it was on the home front, a place that attempts to keep spirits high. Some of the activities and destinations in the park are the Reflecting Pond: Memorial for our Soldiers, the Ride with Rosie rollercoaster, a Take a Picture with the President stop, the Spam Shack, and the movie theater showing The Great Dictator. My goal was that any person who walks through this park gets a taste of what the World War II home front was like and how people in the U.S. felt during that time. I strategically left out major aspects of life during this time because if included, everyone would be too depressed to walk through the park and it would take away from the more positive aspects of that time. The main theme of this park is to celebrate the accomplishments of Americans during the tumultuous time of World War II.
Alex Tung
Hi Alex,
I really like the idea of World War II Home Front Land. It provides a great example of the way in which certain things are ‘glossed over’ or left out.
I think it would look very different if it was Home Front Land in Britain. There might be a few more bomb-sites, but there would definitely be an emphasis on keeping “spirits high”.
In the UK, people sometimes look back at the Home Front with a strange kind of nostalgia for ‘Blitz Spirit’, whereby people pulled together/supported each on the Home Front. I can’t speak from experience, but I suspect this is a kind of “myth”, from which has been left out food rationing, civilian casualties, and other “major aspects of life” which, like you say, have been “strategically left out”.
Jack-
Thanks so much for your feedback. It is interesting that Home Front Land in Britain would be so similar to Home Front Land in the U.S. When I imagine the home front of Britain in WWII, I immediately think of the Keep Calm Carry On Posters and the famous image of the Milk Man continuing to deliver milk even through bomb debris. It seems as though the home front of any war would have strategically ‘glossed over’ the negative aspects of war, otherwise, morale would not be high. I can’t think of any war, or home front during a war, that has maintained genuine honesty with the general public.