Social Media and Democracy: Innovations in Participatory Politics

The penultimate chapter focuses on slapstick comedies set in amusement parks, more specifically the comedies from Coney Island. Many silent comedies from 1909 until 1918 used theme parks as a site for gags with their machinery and architecture as a perfect backdrop for physical comedy. Rabinovitz takes examples such as Jack Fat and Slim at Coney Island (1910), exploring the nature of what was inherently comedic about these backdrops: ‘The visceral engagement and fascination in physical spectacle for which amusement parks offered a privileged subject served a historically specific purpose of an earlier era when a conjoined celebration of speed, industrial power, and bodily kinetics meant kindling a national participation in technological modernity’ (p. 161). This chapter is the highlight for the examination of cinema and is the best example of the marriage of amusement parks and film. The book concludes by discussing the opening of Disneyland in 1955 where this became a cultural event in itself, being promoted with a special two-hour live broadcast entitled Dateline Disneyland, which was viewed by 90 million people. This further highlights the theme of modernity not only in how audiences consume culture but also in the impact television had in 1950s America. Rabinovitz goes into considerable detail about the dependence of promotion through television which Disney required: ‘As is well known, Disneyland depended on broadcast television not only for promotion but also for financing its construction’ (p. 165). This was a major development in modern advertising, and Rabinovitz suggests that it redefined the relationships between amusement parks and movies. What follows is an interesting if brief discussion on the role of adults and their experiences at Disneyland and how Disney himself was more interested in children as consumers. Finally, this book offers great insight into what has become a major recreational activity and, though Rabinovitz is slightly more focused on the development of amusement parks, there is a significant argument made for the impact both parks and movies had on American modernity.