A GREAT BIG BEATIFUL TOMORROW (OR HOW TO RUN A RAT-RACE)

Abstract

Alienation and reification phenomena in modern society can show themselves through different shapes, even inhabiting cultural objects that seem to be shallow and naïves. In this paper we adopt the perspectives of some authors critics of Modernity ‒Marx, Weber, Simmel, Luckács, Kracauer, Adorno y Horkheimer‒ in order to analyze a very special fragment of our time: Walt Disney World. Through a thorough study of one of its most iconic games called “Carousel of Progress” we attempt to expose the creation and transmission of an alienating praxis that hides behind the supposed banal character of recreation and leisure.