Have PNG been disneyfied?

Disneyization is the process whereby the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. The four principle of disneyization are theming, hybrid consumption, merchandising and performative labour.

Even though more areas of economic life are being themed, theming is not so visible in PNG. Despite being the capital city of PNG, Port Moresby is not highly-themed. However, restaurants there have been classified into the various cuisines they serve. For example, Ang’s Restaurant is a Chinese restaurant, serving Chinese cuisine. Beachside Brasserie is a modern Australian restaurant and Asia Aromas Thai Chinese Fusion serves Thai-Chinese cuisine.

Hybrid consumption is a general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish. One example is the Grand Papua Hotel in Port Moresby.

With facilities such as Wi-Fi Internet connection, food and beverage outlets, spa services, gym, and swimming pools, consumers tend to stay longer at the hotel as they do not need to travel out of the hotel for such facilities.

Merchandising refers to the promotion of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and logos, including products made under license. Papua New Guinea is known for their creativity in different art forms. Some widely found handicraft souvenirs that can be readily found are baskets/ bags woven out of natural fibre, weapons, musical instruments and masks.

Performative labour is the growing tendency for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance, especially one in which the deliberate of a certain mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work. Front desk officers in hotels have to be friendly and cheerful and willing to help their guests. They are forced to look pleasant although they may be having personal problems or work-related problems.

Personal Reflections

People have invaded and recolonized each other's lands since before recorded history and so the division between indigenous and non-indigenous is a matter of judgement.

Lumping indigenous people into one group ignores the vast amount of diversity among them and at the same time imposes a uniform identity on them, which may not be historically accurate.

It is rare to find a country which has many tribal groups in a globalised world today. In a world where globalisation is changing very part of every country, it is difficult to still preserve the native culture of the place. Although globalisation has also taken place in PNG, the rural areas still remain unchanged. The main part of PNG that is more advanced now is the capital city, Port Moresby.

It is highly recommended that you visit this country to experience the vast and unique culture!

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