Whoopimecalit Forever? Thankfully no...

_caleb

_caleb

Well-Known Member
I’ve always found the World Showcase representations to be presented through an American lens. The things that are highlighted (as being interesting, beautiful, curious, or unique) about each country seem to be selected for the contrast they provide to typical American culture. Cultures have unique perspectives on other cultures, after all. But I think this is behind much of the “stereotype” accusation comes from. Thoughts?
 
Rich Brownn

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
"El Scorpion" said:
It’s not just Disney. But Disney does more than its fair share to contribute

“But this is precisely the problem with these cultural products: they paint this “Africa” as an imaginary space but nevertheless use broad, stereotypical tropes about the continent (animals and warrior tribes and mangled accents). This inaccuracy is longstanding and pervasive in Hollywood,”

www.google.com

Trademarking ‘hakuna matata’ is a tipping point in Disney's portrayal of Africa | Namwali Serpell

Hollywood has long used stereotypical tropes in depicting Africa, says the writer Namwali Serpell
www.google.com www.google.com

www.theobserver-qiaa.org

Disney’s EPCOT and African Culture: A Look Into Corporate America’s Point Of View — The Observer

www.theobserver-qiaa.org www.theobserver-qiaa.org

newrepublic.com

Americans Think Africa Is One Big Wild Animal Reserve

Delta and 'The Lion King' are part of our long history of stereotyping the continent.
newrepublic.com newrepublic.com
Click to expand...
Did the author of the article not know the countries that were built has sponsors and that's why they were built? As for Africa, the pavilion was to be Equitorial Africa (so a very specific area) with parts dedicated to various countries and exhibits on animals and history. Whats there was supposed to be temporary. What I heard (I dunno if its true, but probably) is one of the holdups at the time was people thought Africa = South Africa which was in the midsts of the whole aprartied thing so Disney decided to not go there.
 
Rich Brownn

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
_caleb said:
I’ve always found the World Showcase representations to be presented through an American lens. The things that are highlighted (as being interesting, beautiful, curious, or unique) about each country seem to be selected for the contrast they provide to typical American culture. Cultures have unique perspectives on other cultures, after all. But I think this is behind much of the “stereotype” accusation comes from. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
One of my friends (from France) remarked "Oh, it's just like France... only clean" :D
 
Rich Brownn

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
ImperfectPixie said:
If memory serves, sponsorship played at least a partial role in which countries were chosen for representation. I seem to recall something about wanting to avoid countries that could be "problematic" due to politics, as well.

We've already got Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada in World Showcase.

What about Peru? Madagascar or Mozambique? Egypt? Sri Lanka? Thailand? Australia? (Please be nice...I don't know if there would be any potential issues with any of these countries, except that there were tourism issues with Sri Lanka up until 2009 because of civil war. I went around the globe and tried to get a country from each region...I'm sure I overlooked at least a few that would be possible but I did leave some out on purpose...political issues.)

It's too bad they couldn't use part of The Land and The Seas to represent land-based Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.
Click to expand...
One of the original future countries was Iran. That would have been.... interesting. Later evolved in to an Arbian area pavilion before being abandoned. But one of the future countries actually advertised as Israel.
 
_caleb

_caleb

Well-Known Member
Rich Brownn said:
One of the original future countries was Iran. That would have been.... interesting. Later evolved in to an Arbian area pavilion before being abandoned. But one of the future countries actually advertised as Israel.
Click to expand...

Who knows? Maybe an Iran pavilion could be a good PR move for that country. They are trying to bring in tourists.

Wasn’t the sponsorship approach abandoned in large part because countries were reluctant to invest? Participating countries were not seeing a rise (as advertised) in tourism as a result of their presence in the park, were they?

By the way, I don’t think Disney gets enough credit for how tactfully they’ve handled the representations of the countries featured—particularly in regard to religions, politics, and history.
 
T

techgeek

Well-Known Member
I seem to recall a lot of speculation back when the Millennium Village ran for the Millennium celebration, that it could be seen as a sort of 'test run' for several of the participating countries to see if there was interest or support for a full-blown pavilion. Obviously nothing ever came out of it.

Notably, there was a lot of controversy over the Israel exhibit at the time, which I'm sure influenced Disney's desire to walk lightly when considering future Epcot projects involving the region.

www.wdwmagic.com

Map of the Millennium Village

Map of the Millennium Village
www.wdwmagic.com www.wdwmagic.com

www.orlandosentinel.com

EXHIBIT ON ISRAEL HAS UNEASY DEBUT

Walt Disney World on Thursday opened its Millennium Village at Epcot, giving invited guests their first glimpse of the controversial Israeli exhibit that has been the focus of worldwide protest amo…
www.orlandosentinel.com www.orlandosentinel.com


(from above OS story published 10/1/99):

The Israeli exhibit is among those of 24 countries invited to showcase their cultures and histories at Epcot as part of a 15-month millennium celebration that opens to the public today. Its theme is "Celebrate the Future Hand in Hand."

The Israeli exhibit has been under fire for several weeks as Arabs and Muslims feared it would depict Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. That's a thorny issue in the Middle East because Arabs view the eastern section of the city as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

At a meeting in New York City last week, Arab foreign ministers decided not to call for a boycott against Disney, saying the company had allayed their concerns.

But a coalition of American Muslim groups remains dissatisfied after seeing the exhibit on Thursday.

"The average person will leave this exhibit with the impression that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel," said Khalid Turaani, executive director of American Muslims for Jerusalem, which last week called for a boycott of Disney. "The Israelis designed it to further their own political agendas, not to educate Disney's guests."

Disney World spokesman Bill Warren denied that exhibit was offensive, saying "it does not have the feel of a political venue."

As Disney officials announced earlier, there is no explicit reference to Jerusalem in the exhibit as the undivided capital of modern Israel.

The beginning of the preshow movie includes a disclaimer that the exhibit is sponsored by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and is "based on their perspective."
Click to expand...
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
The only park at WDW that Wakanda could go into (ignoring the legal restrictions with Universal) without making someone angry is DHS and maybe MK. It's fictional status makes World Showcase a tough sell. Putting a celebration of black culture in a zoo is problematic. Adventureland is possible, but so different in tone than the whimsy of the MK. DHS seems safe unless I'm missing something.

I am surprised no one has mentioned a hotel that is an obvious celebration of African culture is called "Animal Kingdom ______".
 
Me 'Earties

Me 'Earties

Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate
monothingie said:
I am very disappointed in this entire message board that it took until the 5th page that I (of all people) had to get this posted.



Very disappointed in you all. Especially you @Bob !
Click to expand...

75D07F75-42E8-4BBF-894F-806500F2C63D.gif
 
Epcot82Guy

Epcot82Guy

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
Ironically it seems we might need that right now more than ever.
Click to expand...

I was just there Saturday and couldn't help but think that. How we are giving that up to see the next popular character. "Getting along and inspiring collective growth isn't popular enough. Add Elsa and that raccoon." It was a sad narrative on our world as I thought about it.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
"El Scorpion" said:
If memory serves me the countries rumored (maybe even announced at some point) were Spain, Israel and maybe Switzerland.
Click to expand...
These were the announced but never built pavilions.

New-Picture-2.png


Prior to the parks opening Venezuela signed a letter of intent, but it obviously didn't happen. Switzerland with the Matterhorn was drawn up but abandoned in favor of Germany and retheme the Matterhorn to Mt Fuji. Russia was also a serious contender. More recently Brazil and India are the rumors.

Edit: looks like @_caleb beat me to it.
 
aladdin2007

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
These were the announced but never built pavilions.

New-Picture-2.png


Prior to the parks opening Venezuela signed a letter of intent, but it obviously didn't happen. Switzerland with the Matterhorn was drawn up but abandoned in favor of Germany and retheme the Matterhorn to Mt Fuji. Russia was also a serious contender. More recently Brazil and India are the rumors.

Edit: looks like @_caleb beat me to it.
Click to expand...

and back in the 90s mid 90s, Denmark came close. (yes even though Norway had only been open a few years)
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom