The Happiest Place on Earth: A Spatial Discourse Analysis of Disney’s Epcot World Showcase

Drawing on insights from a social semiotic perspective as proposed by Halliday (1985), and its adaptation to the grammar of visual design (KRESS; VAN LEEUWEN, 2006), and spatial discourse analysis (RAVELLI, 2000, RAVELLI; HEBERLE, 2016), this article aims to analyze semiotic resources used in EPCOT’s World Showcase, Disney World, Florida, USA, specifically, the eleven thematic pavilions in the attraction. The analysis considered the three metafunctions, adapted from Halliday (1985) to investigate images (KRESS; VAN LEEUWEN, 2006) as well as physical spaces (RAVELLI, 2000). Results show that the representation relies mainly on the reproduction of semiotic resources that are popular in each country in the Showcase, such as monuments, architecture styles and symbols that enable the guests to immerse in the country’s culture. The immersion also happens through the consumption in shops with local products and restaurants with local foods, as well as the interaction with local cast members. The composition analysis showed a common pattern regarding the placement of items that are more approachable and real in the lower part, while items that symbolize idealization and fantasy are usually placed in the upper part of the spaces. Overall, despite the concern to portray the countries with authenticity, it can be seen that they are represented in an idealistic and fanciful way which follows the ideology of Disney’s theme parks of providing an environment of perfection and fantasy to the guests. para se investigar imagens (KRESS; VAN LEEUWEN, 2006) e também espaços físicos, entendidos como tex-tos, conforme Ravelli (2000): os significados representacionais, interativos e composicionais. Os resultados demonstram que a representação se dá principalmente pela reprodução de recursos semióticos que são populares em cada país retratado, tais como monumentos, estilo arquitetônico e símbolos que permitem aos visitantes imergir na cultura do país. A imersão também ocorre através do consumo em lojas com pro-dutos locais e restaurantes com comidas locais, além da interação com os funcionários do parque. A análise da composição evidenciou um padrão comum em relação à localização de itens que são mais acessíveis e reais na parte inferior, enquanto itens que simbolizam idealização e fantasia ocupam normalmente a parte superior dos espaços. Contudo, apesar da preocupação em retratar os países com autenticidade, pode-se observar que eles são representados de uma maneira idealizada e fantasiosa, em consonância com a filoso-fia dos parques temáticos da Disney em prover um espaço de perfeição e fantasia para os visitantes. Palavras-chave Análise do Discurso Espacial;


Introduction
With the advancement of studies in multimodality, discourse analysts are able to provide new analytical frameworks to enable a critical perspective through several modes of meaning-making. The grammar of visual design (KRESS; VAN LEEUWEN, 2006) is a critical analytical framework inspired by and adapted from Halliday's systemic functional linguistics to investigate the meaning of visual images. Accordingly, also inspired by Halliday's social semiotic theory, spatial discourse analysis, developed initially to analyze museums (RAVELLI, 2006), has been expanding its 'grammar' in order to provide a multimodal framework to critically investigate physical spaces as social semiotic elements (MCMURTRIE; RAVELLI, 2015). The analytical framework has become part of the interdisciplinary area of Multimodality, providing new possibilities to understand semiotic objects and to investigate meaning through a critical perspective.
The present study aims to analyze the World Showcase, a space at the Disney World in Orlando, Florida, USA, which represents different countries in one of the most popular thematic parks in the world. It draws on multimodality as a transdisciplinary social semiotic approach to communication (KRESS, 2010), based on Halliday's social semiotics "concerned with the meaning-making potential, use, and development of different semiotic resources" (DJONOV; ZHAO, 2018, p. 3), with the support of the analytical framework provided by spatial discourse analysis. More specifically, the study aims to investigate the three metafunctions of meaning: representational, interactive and compositional meanings of the physical space of the park. The choice to analyze the World Showcase lies in the fact that this area in Epcot Center has eleven pavilions, each themed and dedicated to represent a specific country. Therefore, in matters of representation, the study will explore how these nations and countries are represented. More-

Revista Linguagem em Foco
Fortaleza, CE v. 12 n. 3 ISSN 2674-8266 over, even though Epcot is one of the most popular tourist attractions worldwide, there are no studies investigating the representations of the World Showcase within the critical and analytical background of spatial discourse analysis.
Firstly, the study contextualizes the object of study as theme parks, Disney World and the World Showcase, and also presents an overview of the theories and analytical frameworks which have served as the basis for the study. Then, the analysis and discussion are carried out with the focus on the three metafunctions of meaning. Furthermore, as the object of study is a major attraction for tourists, the study will also investigate the correlation of the analysis of the meanings and its contribution to guests' enjoyable experience in the World Showcase. The questions addressed in this article are as follows: (1) What semiotic resources are used to represent the eleven countries? and (2) What do the representational, interactional and compositional meanings reveal about the guests' experience?

Theme Parks, Disney World and Epcot's World Showcase
The main objective of theme parks is to create an atmosphere of fantasy in another place or time for the guests (MILMAN, 2008). Modern theme parks, like the ones in Disney World in Orlando, tend to have a focus on providing an excellent service for the guests in almost all of the parks' operation. In addition to the architecture style, the rides, shows, food services, merchandising and other services contribute to the immersion of the guest in a world of fantasy (MILMAN, 2008 Although studies about the World Showcase have already been conduct-3 Disneyland's importance was also marked by the event that occurred there with President George Bush's salute to the American Olympic athletes who were going to Seoul in 1988. According to Wernick (1991, p. 147-151), the event was considered a "pseudo-event", an "ideological theatre". Disneyland meant a land of optimism, with no national or international problems involved. Still according to Wernick (1991) George Bush's staged Disneyland appearance emphasized "a multiple promotional role", "a triple equivalence of essences": Bush, Disneyland and the American Olympics team.

4
To facilitate the description process in our study, we have considered The United Kingdom a country. ceived to be "truthful", the architecture to be "realistic" and the ethnic food to be "authentic". Authenticity in Disney parks is a controversial topic that has been widely discussed. Holtorf (2010) points out that Disney theme parks reflect the guest expectations of the past and the historical representations are based on stereotypes; however, it is still a valid experience. The author claims that: Such places will not challenge visitors with elements of history that do not seem to fit their expectations; visitors will not be prompted to rethink their own assumptions and indeed confront their prejudices. At the same time, Disney's placemaking allows visitors to encounter and experience a rendition of this very time period for themselves in the sense that it represents the past (HOLTORF, 2010, p. 31).

Shepard (2016)'s study about the representation of Mexico in the World
Showcase also addresses the issue of authenticity. The author points out that "the long-term success of EPCOT (…) indicates that the Imagineers 6 were largely successful in creating national pavilions that passed the tourist's test of recognizable authenticity" (p. 69). Although the image of a past reality may not be entirely accurate, the experience does provide a meaningful time travel experience, which provides learning opportunities, not only by allowing an emotional engagement with the past -and making it available to a broader audience -but also by inviting reflections about history and how we live nowadays (HJEMDAHL 2002;LUKAS 2008).

The Three Metafunctions and Spatial Texts
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), proposed by the influential linguist Michael Halliday (1978;1995), is a social semiotic theoretical and methodological theory which investigates language in its context. SFL examines language in order to understand its functions in different situations, the interpersonal relations set in it and also to understand how language, as a system, works (YOUNG; HARRISON, 2004). Halliday proposes three fundamental functions of language, named metafunctions, which act simultaneously in a text: the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual. The ideational metafunction reflects our experience of the world, the interpersonal metafunction concerns the use of language as a 6 The name given to Disney's designers.

410
way to interact with others and to establish relations. The textual metafunction, in its turn, is related to the formal construction of the text, and can also be described as a "facilitating function, since both the others depend on being able to build up sequences of discourse, organizing the discursive flow, and creating cohesion and continuity" (HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2004, pp. 30, 31). Halliday's (1985) notions of the metafunctions of language inspired Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) to develop the grammar of visual design, which expands Halliday's concepts to multimodal texts. This adaptation enables analysts to examine visual images with a similar analytical tool used on verbal texts. Based mainly on SFL and the grammar of visual design, Ravelli (2000) analyzes the Sydney Olympic Store from a social semiotic approach, as a three-dimensional text, using the three metafunctions mentioned. In 2006, Ravelli could further develop the analytical framework to investigate physical spaces concerning museums as objects of study. Accordingly, Ravelli and Heberle (2016) analyze the Museu da Língua Portuguesa, in Brazil. Nevertheless, the use of a social semiotic approach in the analysis of physical spaces is relatively new in academia, representing an increasing interest in studies of Multimodality. Ravelli and Heberle (2016, p. 525) point out that spatial texts are present in our everyday life and are "an inherent part of our social world, contributing to how we live, work and play". Concerning physical space as texts, the authors explain that: A spatial text, however, is more than a mere physical building itself and its architecture; it also includes its content within and without, as well as how it is used by people (RAVELLI; MCMURTRIE, 2016). Spatial texts are inherently multimodal, including the material resources used to construct a building; forms of decoration and furnishing; aspects of design, such as spatial dimensions and layout; the use of light or sound; and so on (p. 525).
In the grammar of visual design and in spatial discourse analysis, the Hallidayan metafunctions − ideational, interpersonal and textual − correspond respectively to representational, interactional and compositional. Considering the adaptation of the metafunctions to physical spaces, the representational meaning is concerned with what the space is and what it does, that is, the "nature of events, the objects and participants involved, and the circumstances in which they occur" (UNSWORTH, 2001, p. 72). The analysis of representational meanings allows us to describe which objects are present and which materials are used in the space and their meaning in the context. In addition, as a meaning related to representation, the selected spatial texts here analyzed "need to be analyzed in terms of the process types they both manifest (what we can 'see' in them and what they The second set of tools for the analysis of the interactional meaning relates to what the interactants feel in the space, which can be conducted using the tools Binding and Bonding (STENGLIN, 2008). While binding is used to analyze how comfortable and safe the interactants feel in a particular space, bonding concerns the interactants' identifying themselves with the text, which in our case, refers to the places being analyzed.
Subsequently, compositional meanings refer to "the way in which the representational and interactive elements are made to relate to each other, the way they are integrated into a meaningful whole" (KRESS; VAN LEEUWEN, 2006, p. 176

412
other hand, is concerned with how the elements of the space are connected or disconnected, as well as whether the space has physical frames, boundaries or fences, which may be associated with proximity and familiarity or detachment and disconnection.
Based on these analytical frameworks, the present study follows the pattern of analysis used in Ravelli (2000) and Ravelli and Heberle's (2016) studies, considering the World Showcase as a spatial text.

A Spatial Discourse Analysis of Disney's Epcot World Showcase
Our analysis of the World Showcase, categorized under the three metafunctions: representational, interactional and compositional meanings, address the two research questions mentioned in the introduction. After the analysis, the study presents a discussion of the main findings.

The Representation
As already mentioned, the World Showcase is divided into eleven pavil-  In their study about the museums in the pavilions, Kratz and Karp (1993) observe that all of the countries without museums are Western and industrial, and the ones which display exhibitions are the most foreign-seeming to Americans. The authors also explain that the museums are rather small compared to

Figure 2 -Stave Church at the Norway Pavilion
Source: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/epws-norway.htm, Access August 2020. Overall, each pavilion can be seen as a narrative representation, as previously stated, because it tells the story of a country and it involves physical engagement from the guests. The visitors become Reactors when they are observing the Phenomenon, which are the monuments and the tours that present videos with landscapes of the real country. They can also be Actors, when they are buying souvenirs or eating in a restaurant, becoming active participants in the narrative of that physical space. In addition, the guests can also be seen as the Phenomenon itself, since when engaging with the environment, they become part of the pavilion with their actions being observed by others. Nevertheless, in terms of process types, the World Showcase can also be analyzed as a conceptual process, with each pavilion representing the Carrier, while all of its parts -the shops, restaurants, rides, museums and so on -represent its Attributes. The Germany pavilion, for instance, presents architecture that reflects different eras and regions, varying from buildings with façades 7 that resemble medieval German castles to Bavarian style buildings with balconies and flowers on the ground (Figure 3), both symbolizing German orchestra styles.

The Interaction
In the entrance of the World Showcase, guests have to decide from which path they wish to start the tour: from the Western side (starting with Mexico) or from the Eastern side (starting with Canada). In terms of Control, as the countries are located around a lake, creating a circular walking path, guests can choose 7 A façade in architecture is usually the front part of the building, commonly used in film sets and themed attractions.  (Figure 4).
Therefore, despite being constructed with real materials, this tower works more as a form of decoration to symbolize and locate the pavilion, instead of a physical attraction for guests to explore. The probable reason is the size of the replica, as it is only 31 meters tall, as opposed to the 300 meters of the original (PEDERSEN, 2011). Another exception of areas where the guests cannot interact by touching are the museums and some exhibit tours inside The World Showcase, since there are glasses or barriers separating the guests from the objects being exhibited, for instance the spatial framings ( Figure 5). Such separation of the guests from the objects in the museums helps to build a sense of authenticity for the space, since it mimics a real visit to a museum, considering that every- thing in the exhibition is original from the country itself.

418
The attractions are exposed in open and closed spaces (Figure 6). Concerning Binding, the shops and restaurants are well illuminated, and they carry a warm and welcoming appeal. Besides, the possible immediate contact with the staff and cast members provide a sense of safety inside those places, which makes guests feel comfortable and secure, creating strong binding. In addition, the Bonding potential is also strong, since the pavilions present cultural artefacts from different countries, the shops sell a range of products from brands that are popular worldwide -even Disney's own products -which will most likely make the guests find something they can recognize and identify with. Moreover, as mentioned before, the buildings and monuments displayed in the pavilions were built to look very similar to the original ones, which creates a familiarity with the place concerning the guests' knowledge of the country they are visiting.
Another aspect concerning interaction with the space is that while visiting the World Showcase, guests can assume different roles. They can choose to either take up a more passive role and only observe, not engaging in any of the options for activities and entertainment; or they can be more active and go to the rides and tours, to the shops, or still eat the local food or even talk to the cast members. These employees are generally approachable and eager to help the guests in what they might need. Ultimately, regarding the interaction between guests and the spaces at the World Showcase, our analysis has shown that guests predominantly play an active role, as they tend to engage in at least one of the activities provided.

The Composition
In order to enter the World Showcase, the guest has first to go through Epcot's attraction The Future World. While both lands are very different in terms of content, they work as complementary to each other, since the Future World presents futuristic landscapes and technological attractions, while the World Showcase presents mainly the representation of the past of the nations. Even the location of the World Showcase as the attraction 'behind' (Figure 7) suggests this link with the future and the past. As Kratz and Karp (1993, pp. 34, 35)
Furthermore, children's goods and toys, which are displayed to call their attention, are usually colorful and placed in the lower section of the shops, making them very attractive and easy to reach (Figure 12). Besides, the products for children are usually the first element seen when guests enter the shop.

Discussion
The analysis undertaken indicates that Walt Disney's idealization of creat- of perfection presents an idealized version of the countries and their culture, not opening space for problematizing, or questioning the validity of the spaces.
Therefore, when visiting all the eleven different representations of different countries, guests are supposed to feel as if they were in the happiest place on earth.
The lack of critical content is justified due to the purpose of the attraction to offer guests a pleasant ludic and fanciful experience, which is the goal of Disney's theme parks.
Concerning the interaction and its activities, it is possible to notice that the attraction as a physical space depends on the guests' will to engage and participate in its possible recreational activities, which creates a strong sense of immersion. The interaction of the guests within the environment helps to simulate the feeling that they become tourists of that specific country, not only due to the experience of buying products, eating local food, talking to "natives" (the cast members) and watching performances, but also because they see other guests doing the same. In other words, the guests' interaction with the environment (in the restaurants, museums, shops, etc.) is another powerful tool of immersion that the World Showcase attractions provide. Likewise, the pavilions present a strong binding potential, in terms of comfort and safety, and also a strong bonding potential, as they provide elements that guests would recognize from different cultures, creating a familiar atmosphere.
Regarding the composition, the replicas of monuments and buildings particular to the culture of the original countries and the souvenirs in the shops are foregrounded in all of the pavilions with the use of bright colors, big size and strategic placement. This foregrounding contributes to create a positive impact on the guests as soon as they enter one of the pavilions. In addition, the placement of children's goods and toys in the lower part of the shops may contribute to consumption, while the placement of idealized symbols, such as the sports' trophies, in the upper part, shows that the spatial analysis framework are aligned with the analysis of physical spaces.

Final Remarks
Our spatial analysis has shown that the semiotic resources used are inter- connected and constitute what Bezemer and Kress (2016, p.23) call "a multimodal ensemble: a coherent, integrated, communicational unit". The division into the three metafunctions allowed us to notice how each of them helps to create a pos-

424
itive, engaging and dynamic experience for the guests visiting the attractions.
The analysis showed that the spaces in the pavilions allow the guests to perceive the attraction as authentic, even though they are portrayed in an idealized way compared to the real country. Besides, it described the semiotic resources used to create bonding and binding connections between the guests and the environment for the feeling of immersion in the park. In addition, it showed how the organization of the semiotic resources in every pavilion contributes to enhance the overall guest experience. The options of entertainment and consumption provided by the World Showcase pavilions are intended to create a globalized united community, portraying the countries and nations in a flawless way. The lack of real-world issues may suggest that although inspired by real world locations, the World Showcase land is also part of the fantasy that Disney provides to the guests.
As a suggestion for further research, it would be interesting to carry out a comparative analysis of the semiotic elements presented in the World Showcase contrasted with the Future World, since both are in the same theme park -Disney's Epcot. From a more critical stance, it also seems interesting to ask about the criteria used to portray only those eleven American-friendly countries, most financially stable countries, and some which may be considered exotic or arouse guests' curiosity. Lastly, as object of analysis for critical studies within multimodality and social semiotics, the analysis of physical spaces as spatial texts seems necessary, since places are intrinsically multimodal, carrying many different meanings.