Disney and Hefner

The two great Puritan entrepreneurs of culture in the twentieth century，Walt Disney of Disneyland and Hugh M．Hefner of Playboy，illustrate the transformation [of the U．S．A．'s middle class  from accepting“square” values，which are rooted  in a firm  moral  base，to accepting“plastic” values， which represent wanting to be fashionable and  successful  without  paying  the  price]．Although they were born a generation apart， Disney in 1901，Hefner in1926，and although they seem，at first，to be polar opposites，they came from similar Midwest WASP backgrounds and might，but for the accidents of time， have followed similar careers．Disney，the son of an unsuccessful Missouri farmer，took the square values of rural America—or what sentiment later imagined them to have been—cleaned them up and turned them into plastic．The barnyard was sterilized into clean mice，happy ducks，and bourgeois pigs；the small town was idealized into a blessed  valley，and  the  frustrating  universe converted into the sanitary Magic Kingdom of Disney－land．…

The issue here is not vulgarity（although Disney had his vulgar-and his violent-streak）； it is，rather，the subtle process in which the puritanical compulsion to order the world， to control，to clean up， is coupled to technology and thereby lifted to a synthetic realm in which new deities are created and old ones destroyed．

If Disney's attempts to employ technology to create a Middle American utopia resulted in a plastic universe of dancing dolls，animated mermaids，shriveled heroes，and，finally，an enervated  and  dehumanized world  where  technology was the only god， Hefner's parallel efforts to produce an antipuritanical freedom spewed forth a cornucopia of kitsch which was considerably less horrible only because it so often parodied itself．If you pass through the secret door in Disneyland， you will in short order be among the Playboy bunnies．But it is still， somehow， the same place．What Disney did with sentimentality， Hefner accomplished by inversion．As the son of a Nebraska  preacher， he grew up in  the same landscape， learned the same lessons， and accepted the same descriptions of the good life．Then he  reversed  them，which his to say that he took the things that the Puritan had always imagined joy to be，  and which he repressed，embraced them as healthy and valuable， and advertised them as freedom and self-expression， Like Disney he is enamored of technology；like Disney he is a  compulsive  sanitizer； and  like  Disney  he converted his puritanical hang ups into a vast enterprise which flourishes on the cultural refugees of the land whichformed him．…Scratch a Puritan and you find a hedonist．Where it was once possible only to feel guilty about having sex， Hefner has now made it possible to feel guilty about  not having it．

迪斯尼与霍夫勒

在20世纪的两个大清教徒文化实业家——迪斯尼乐园的沃特·迪斯尼与《花花公子》的休·M·霍夫勒的身上，体现了美国中产阶级从基于固定的道德基础的“传统”价值观向追求时髦、成功而又不付出代价的“轻松流变”的价值观的转变。尽管他们相差一代，迪斯尼生于1901年，而霍夫勒生于1926年，也尽管他们初看起来似乎截然相反，但是他们都同样出生于中西部那些祖先是英国清教徒的白种人中，要不是时代的差异，他们本会从事类似的职业。迪斯尼，一个密苏里的不成功的农场主的儿子，接受了美国乡村的传统价值观——或者说后来人们所认为的那种价值观——又对它们进行了清除，转变成了轻松流变的价值观。谷仓前空场被打扫一净，出现了整洁的老鼠、愉快的鸭子以及市侩气的猪；小镇被理想化为一处福地；使人灰心的世界成了卫生的迪斯尼魔国……

这里的话题并不是俗气（尽管迪斯尼有他俗气的一面，也有他的暴躁易怒），而是一个微妙的过程，那种安排世界以及清扫、控制的清教徒式的冲动与技术结合在一起，并由此上升为一个融合的王国，新神在其中诞生，旧神在其中毁弃。

如果说迪斯尼用技术创造一个美国中产阶级理想国的动机最终形成一块轻松流变的天地，其中有跳舞的洋娃娃、生气蓬勃的美人鱼、退化的英雄，最后还有一个软弱无力、非人的世界，技术是这个世界中唯一的神，那么，霍夫勒的相应努力，即创造一种反清教徒式的自由爆发式地产生出大量的低级平庸之作。因为它如此经常不断地讥讽自我，也就并不可怕。当你穿过迪斯尼乐园的暗门，马上就处在《花花公子》俱乐部的女招待丛中。不过，这仍是在同样的地方。迪斯尼带着一种伤感所做的事，霍夫勒以颠倒的方式完成了。作为内布拉斯加的一个牧师的儿子，霍夫勒与迪斯尼在同样的地理环境中长大，学的是同样的课程，接受的是对美好生活同样的描述。然而，他颠倒了它们，也就是说，他接受了那些清教徒始终想象为乐事的东西，对此他抑制过，又信奉了它们，认为它们是健康的、宝贵的，宣扬它们是自由和自我表现。跟迪斯尼一样，他热爱技术；跟迪斯尼一样，他是一个不由自主的洁癖者；跟迪斯尼一样，他从自己清教徒式的情结中变化出一个大事业，在那块塑造了他的土地上的文化难民中，这个事业得到繁荣……抓住一个清教徒，你却发现了一个享乐主义者。人们原来对性生活只会觉得有罪，现在霍夫勒使事情变得因为没有性生活而觉得有罪。