The "Magical Distance" of Disney

By -
Image from mickeyblog.com

Ackerman describes how smells move us in profound ways because we cannot describe them. She writes "smells are often right on the top of our tongues - but no closer - and it gives them a kind of magical distance, a mystery, a power without a name, a sacredness" (9).


About two years ago, my family took a trip to Disney. We went on the Avatar Flight of Passage ride, twice, and, goodness....it smelled. Bad. It made me, my siblings, and my father nauseous.


My mom loved it.


Disney is notorious for their scents and smell machines (dubbed "smellitizers") which enhance the experience of their parks and make your memories that much stronger. Such was the case on this specific ride.


When doing my Christmas shopping this year, I came across a small Etsy business called "Main Street Melts Candle Co." that specializes in capturing those Disney scents and recreates them through candles, essential oils, etc. So, naturally (or artificially, I should say), I bought my mom the candle of Flight of Passage. And on Christmas morning, Ackerman was spot on with her description: "Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines, hidden under the weedy mass of many years and experiences. Hit a tripwire of smell, and memories explode all at once." We were brought right back to Disney.


Ackerman perfectly expressed the frustration we felt in not being able to describe the scent of that ride to anyone. You had to have been there or have gone on the ride to understand it, but the candle was the tripwire that brought us back to that very specific experience, which was only 4 and a half minutes long.

Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausFebruary 1, 2022 at 6:50 AM

    I did not know about Disney's "smellatizers" or that the smells are marketed. Cool post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SaachiMay 13, 2022 at 10:33 AM

    I sat for a 4d Disney show when I went to Disney world, and honest to god the scents they released in the theatre are still stuck in my nose, and make the experience so salient for me.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amidst the Pandemic

By -
Image
I think having the opportunity to take Smells and Bells and then experiencing a worldwide pandemic came with good timing. Oftentimes, we’re so rushed to get from one one place to another that we miss out on what happens around us. We’re so accustomed to the lifestyle of being busy that it has become the norm for many of us. However, the pandemic has forced us to slow down. We’re now appreciating everything that we had previously taken for granted and noticing things in our surroundings that we have never noticed before.  Take this quarantining/social distancing as an opportunity to be more aware of what you experience through the senses. I don’t think my senses have necessarily heightened over the past 5 weeks, but I am actively making the choice to pay more attention to what I see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. I like going on nature/mindfulness walks and basking in the sunshine out in my backyard. This morning, I could hear a faint noise from the wind, hear the birds chirping, f
Read more

Food in the Afterlife

By -
Image
In Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions , Perez talks of Ashabi and her grandchildren providing food offerings to their ancestors. This immediately reminded me of the practice of food sacrifice in early China. I've taken Chinese language classes for about 7 years now and in one of the lessons, we learned about food as well as the history of food in Chinese culture. Ashabi and her grandchildren would give food offerings to their ancestors every day. This included nine beverages (coffee, liquor, and water mixed with sugar and molasses) and nine square pieces of coconut topped with red palm oil and guinea pepper. The offerings would also include whatever food was dropped on the ground. In their house, food dropping on the floor signified more than it would in common American households. It signified that the ancestors wanted that food and had willingly made it fall to the floor. They also used dishware that had been chipped which was
Read more