5-22-07 Amsterdam

A friend recently returned from Spain which reminded me that I have not shared my Europe journal yet. So for the next couple weeks, I'll be sharing my journal. This journal was an assignment for the cultural diversity class, but the content and topics were not chosen for us.

I've been accused of having Disney radar before, and it just might be true. The very first thing that I saw in Amsterdam was a kid in a Cars t-shirt waiting for someone to get off the plane. It made me smile. I like it when kids like the movies that I like. Then I had to stop and think about how American Cars is. It is very American.It is about how our country changed when the small towns on the interstate were bypassed. Does that mean I should feel the same way about kids here liking Cars as I do about McDonalds? I realize that Disney is corporate and I understand the concept of McWorld, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to share my favorite movies. Those fairy tales are European stories, and no matter how much I love Ariel, that is not how the story goes. Is Disney depriving them of their own culture? In America Disney was the story & everything else was a version. As much as I enjoy Disney, I hope that it is not like that here.