Thread by @jeichlerlevine

I'm a religion studies professor researching Disney and I'm here to tell you why to stop pathologizing Disney adults, trending again because of this post. A thread:

Disney Fairytale Weddings have been a thing since the 1990s. Disney already had a huge honeymoon market and decided to go for weddings. Thousands if not millions have married or honeymooned at a Disney park or on a cruise. What does this have to do with religion?

Many of the Disney fans I have observed in person and online find immense meaning in the parks. People don't just marry at Disney. They mourn lost relatives at Disney. They go to Disney to celebrate surviving cancer. They go there for one last trip before they die.

Religion is a way of making meaning in the world through stories and rituals. It is about a network of relationships with the human and non-human (@RobertOrsi1 very paraphrased). It is about making homes and confronting suffering (@tomtwe loosely paraphrased).

All of this happens at Disney. Cast members literally welcome you "home."

Is this capitalism? Sure it is. Is it also at least quasi-religious? Yes. (And by the way, most religions are intertwined with capitalism. Just ask one of the founders of sociology, Max Weber).

Disney owns our stories. For some people-- both those who have another "traditional" religion and those who don't-- the promise of magic at Disney and the feelings they get there are powerful. I've seen people cry at the fireworks. Many times.

(Incidentally, the latest firework show goes "The magic is calling-- answer the call!" an altar call if ever there was one.

Would I want to go to a wedding with no food because the bride and groom wanted photos with Mickey? No, no I would not. But when they say Disney is a big part of their lives I take that seriously. Maybe they met there. Maybe the IDEAS the Mouse stands for bring them joy.

Maybe it's the only place their parents ever acted happy. Or, yeah, maybe they are selfish. But if we measure religion not by its truth-claims-- because we CAN'T assess those unless we have something much more powerful than a Ph.D-- but by its power in people's lives, then Disney

is as much a religion as anything. It is at the very least a site of meaning and human fellowship, even you hate it. Dismissing it because it's "kid stuff" is demeaning to children, who are themselves discerning humans.

This couple left their guests hungry and it was, perhaps, unwise and lacking in guest/host hospitality-- as @tressiemcphd pointed out, they broke a social contract in a public way-- but it hurt ONLY their guests. I can think of a ton of people in hurting a lot more Americans.

It's late capitalism on steroids but so are a million other things.

So stop pathologizing other people's joy. There's little enough of it in this world. /fin #NotAllDisneyAdults #AmRel #AcRel

Addendum: Since this is spreading I will add— Yes Weber says Protestant Christianity is special! we can also find commerce/religion overlaps throughout other religious histories (temple sacrifice taxes, prosperity traditions, more)— it’s Twitter, it was a quick ref.

Mea culpa. Religion and commerce writ large would be a veeeerrrrryyyyy long thread. I’ll try to add some sources later.