Wild frontier fantasylands: Disney's recreations of Davy Crockett, Buffalo Bill and American expansionism.

This article examines how Disney theme parks worldwide mythologize the American western frontier through the staging of figures like Davy Crockett and Buffalo Bill Cody, perpetuating nineteenth-century colonial narratives rooted in the Turner Thesis. It traces the evolution of frontier representations from Cody’s Wild West shows to Disney’s mid-twentieth-century television portrayals starring Fess Parker, highlighting how these depictions emphasize rugged white masculinity while marginalizing and stereotyping Indigenous peoples. The article also discusses Disneyland’s Indian Village and related attractions as examples of Indigenous cultural commodification and erasure within the parks’ immersive environments. Finally, it notes recent shifts toward sanitized or fictionalized western themes, such as Pixar’s Cars, which further obscure the complex histories and ongoing presence of Indigenous peoples in the American West.