Rumor Is Indiana Jones Planning an Adventure to Disney's Animal Kingdom?

mikejs78

Premium Member
All of your previous posts equate setting and theme. That’s the big problem with them. Repeatedly denying that doesn’t change them. Don’t repeat yourself and make the point without relying on setting.

This is ridiculous parsing. A setting can be a theme but not all settings are themes, and neither are themes necessarily settings. To suggest that a setting cannot be a theme is an overly narrow definition of theme as it relates to theme parks. This isn't English Literature here - this is a theme park. Popular usage as such often refers to 'theming' as the intricate detail that goes into an attraction or land to tell a story. I've heard the term 'heavily-themed queue' to describe the queue for Expedition Everest, for example. Tell me, what's the theme of Main Street USA? Frontierland? Liberty Square? We don't need to parse on the literary textbook definition of theme here. This isn't Shakespeare, it's an amusement park, albeit an elaborate, carefully crafted amusement park that sets out to entertain, sometimes inform, and tell stories rather than just provide some rides or cheap thrills.
 

AEfx

Well-Known Member
This is ridiculous parsing. A setting can be a theme but not all settings are themes, and neither are themes necessarily settings. To suggest that a setting cannot be a theme is an overly narrow definition of theme as it relates to theme parks. This isn't English Literature here - this is a theme park. Popular usage as such often refers to 'theming' as the intricate detail that goes into an attraction or land to tell a story. I've heard the term 'heavily-themed queue' to describe the queue for Expedition Everest, for example. Tell me, what's the theme of Main Street USA? Frontierland? Liberty Square? We don't need to parse on the literary textbook definition of theme here. This isn't Shakespeare, it's an amusement park, albeit an elaborate, carefully crafted amusement park that sets out to entertain, sometimes inform, and tell stories rather than just provide some rides or cheap thrills.

Oh stop it with the sensible way of looking at things - this is unacceptable! We must band together to strictly maintain adherence to a few pithy lines of marketing material written two, three, four, or more decades ago when considering the acceptability of anything proposed for additions to these cultural landmarks of academic theory in practice.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
This is ridiculous parsing. A setting can be a theme but not all settings are themes, and neither are themes necessarily settings. To suggest that a setting cannot be a theme is an overly narrow definition of theme as it relates to theme parks. This isn't English Literature here - this is a theme park. Popular usage as such often refers to 'theming' as the intricate detail that goes into an attraction or land to tell a story. I've heard the term 'heavily-themed queue' to describe the queue for Expedition Everest, for example. Tell me, what's the theme of Main Street USA? Frontierland? Liberty Square? We don't need to parse on the literary textbook definition of theme here. This isn't Shakespeare, it's an amusement park, albeit an elaborate, carefully crafted amusement park that sets out to entertain, sometimes inform, and tell stories rather than just provide some rides or cheap thrills.
Literature is storytelling. Cinema is storytelling. Theater is storytelling. Themed entertainment is storytelling.
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
verb
past tense: themed; past participle: themed
  1. give a particular setting or ambience to (a venue or activity).
    "Independence Day was celebrated with special themed menus"
-- Oxford American College Dictionary
(Emphasis of 'setting' is mine).
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
Literature is storytelling. Cinema is storytelling. Theater is storytelling. Themed entertainment is storytelling.
Of course it's storytelling. But the concept of 'themed' entertainment and it's very definition isn't the same as the academic literary definition of the word theme, as my post above illustrates.
 

Kman101

Well-Known Member
So Indy isn't allowed to go into a jungle and encounter dangerous animals, it can't tie into the theme of AK? He could easily fit. Should he? Probably not but there are worse things they could do. This could all be for nothing and he doesn't come to AK.

I don't see the harm some do, it wouldn't ruin the park if done right.

This isn't, as someone had pointed out, Wreck-it-Ralph in the Jungle.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Some old saw comes to mind... something about the one who pays the piper calling the tune...(or theme, if you wish)...
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Of course it's storytelling. But the concept of 'themed' entertainment and it's very definition isn't the same as the academic literary definition of the word theme, as my post above illustrates.
You picked that definition illustrates nothing except your desire to exclude themed entertainment from the sort of consideration given to other storytelling mediums. It is amazing how a medium’s so-called fans despise the idea of it being something respected.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
That's pretty generic - it could be used with many of the themed lands in WDW (tomorrow land, liberty Square, Future World)..
Of course it's generic. But it's still the theme that sets the guideline for every element of the land and sets the mood. The point is Main streets theme is not it's setting. A turn of the century town setting could take countless different forms but together with that theme we get what we know as Main Street USA at the Disney parks.
 

mikejs78

Premium Member
You picked that definition illustrates nothing except your desire to exclude themed entertainment from the sort of consideration given to other storytelling mediums. It is amazing how a medium’s so-called fans despise the idea of it being something respected.

I'm not saying that literary themes don't and can't exist in theme parks. They can and do. But to be so rigid to say that every single area/detail has to adhere to a literary theme is not consistent with how theme parks have evolved and are viewed. And that in popular language, themed as it applies to theme parks often includes elements of setting, ambiance, attention to detail, etc. It's all those things I love about themed entertainment.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
I'm not saying that literary themes don't and can't exist in theme parks. They can and do. But to be so rigid to say that every single area/detail has to adhere to a literary theme is not consistent with how theme parks have evolved and are viewed.
The best and most noteworthy experiences are those that are consistent. If poor examples and poor understanding defined a medium then there would be no concept of literature.
 

Haymarket2008

Well-Known Member
As has been stated before, and after the treatment of Avatar in DAK, Indy could fit thematically. It would have to be set in a country with an illustrious culture and association with its' animals/natural elements and would have to center around conservation and archaeology. It isn't the best fit, but it could work. The Indy property is far more tonally appropriate for DHS. He has always, at least to me, been a "resident" of MGM/DHS.
 

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