Honestly, as a kid, I never liked Disney, and I sort of felt like an outsider to the hype. The magic never worked on me. I never went to Disney World in the States, abut I went to Disney Land and Disney Sea in Japan as an adult.

And like... in Japan, the entire experience just felt like an extension of what you'd see in any other Japanese entertainment spot. Flawless customer service, long, long lines, and baldly shameless commercialism.

In Japan, there's a huge focus on character goods, like Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty isn't from anything, she's just a character that exists to sell character goods. So I'm Japan, most people are not aware that Winnie the Pooh was a book and Peanuts was a comic strip, but they do know Pooh-san and Snoopy. I actually know girls who say they "love Snoopy" and buy all sorts of merch but have never even heard of Charlie Brown.

Disney sells itself in the same way in Japan. Girls who have never even seen anything with Minnie Mouse in it buy Minnie Mouse headbands to wear at the park. They want the brand, the icon, the mascot, but it's pure logo and no substance a good 50% of the time.

I see that happen in America in a more toned-down way with the Disney Princess marketing. It's selling the whole idea of being a "princess," it's not even about their movies anymore.

I'm sort of rambling here, but I think what I'm saying is that for a long time now Disney has been in the business of selling a branded idea that you buy into. They have more than one idea - it could be the princess thing or the cute mascot thing or what they do in the parks - enforcing the idea that it's a dreamlike place. And if everyone who goes there buys into it, it will be. But it's no more real than putting on a Disney princess dress. It's just a fantasy. They're selling a fantasy.

On a slight tangent, I watched a documentary a while back on Japanese host clubs, and they say they're "selling women fantasies." So I don't think the prostitution analogy is far off.