This is an impossible standard to maintain unless roles were to be restricted by gender, ethnicity, weight, age, etc., as they do for face characters. Also, people are clearly less concerned about theming than they are about a general notion of looking clean-cut; otherwise, they would want bearded and tattooed CMs staffing the area around Pirates, for example.
Some roles already are restricted in this way, but it's obviously not wholly impossible to meet the original standard since they once did, and not terribly long ago at that. In large part, cast were historically asked to look "neutral" so that the costume did all the thematic lifting rather than whatever cosmetics, jewelry, or tattoos they were personally bringing to the table.
Type casting was a thing at one time.
I edited my post before you responded. A neutral can, as I suggested, work against the theme. Moreover, what read as neutral in the past isn’t the same as what reads as neutral today. Beards and nose rings, for example, are pretty unremarkable these days; someone sporting either wouldn’t stand out to me.
I have to imagine people get moved around a ton anymore, but maybe I'm wrong. My thing is that I feel I have a "graduated" tolerance wherein I think the standards should be strictest on Main Street and in Fantasyland; less strict in terms of grooming/shaving and tattoos in Adventureland, Frontierland, Animal Kingdom, and World Showcase; and most permissive in terms of modern cosmetics and accessories in Tomorrowland and Future World. Again, probably completely unachievable, but this is just broadly how I feel about things.
Indeed, something like a nose ring might be unremarkable in the context of certain roles, but it would definitely still stick out to me in Fantasyland. Maybe that's a personal hangup.
Multi colored shoes also wouldn’t be remarkable but CM’s aren’t allowed to wear them.
I just think it’s a very slippery slope. Nose rings are extremely common among South Asian women, for example, and have been so for centuries. What for you may stick out is for others entirely normal.
I’m not suggesting they should do away with costumes. On the contrary, like @James Alucobond, I’m happy for the costumes to do the thematic heavy lifting. My comments concern bodily/grooming standards rather than sartorial ones.
The point I was making was that nothing I saw detracted from theming in any way. (Previous posts had mentioned even current standards have done so).
This is really what I'm getting at - even with current standards, the costume - for me - IS doing the thematic lifting. I've not ever seen anything in cosmetics/jewlery/tattoos that has detracted from it.
I don't really see how that's a slippery slope given the framing of my earlier thoughts. The fact that certain things are common in southern Asia has nothing to do with the fact that, depending on the costume, those same things could very easily feel visually incongruous in parts of European Fantasyland or Main Street, U.S.A.
Which is an opinion you're welcome to, as I said previously. I just think it's wrong to say that because it doesn't matter to you, it must therefore not matter at all, nor do I think it's right to dismiss all concerns about such things as pearl-clutching or regressive.
I made no comments about how anyone else should or should not feel. I simply spoke for myself.
You said, "Clearly nothing detracted from the show." I took that as more of an absolute statement than an opinion, hence my followup about how I definitely think modern cosmetics and jewelry can detract from show in certain lands in particular. If you meant it as only your opinion, I apologize, but I think the discussion is still relevant to the topic at hand.
I am of the mind doing your job well is more important than if someone's hair is purple. I always thought it was ridiculous that a job would dictate your whole life like this.Some of our family hardware store’s smartest, most capable staff are tattooed, pierced, dyed-hair former food and bev veterans.
I respect wanting the best workers, and not discriminating based on appearance.
You can’t say “Disney is creating rides for younger generations, so stop complaining!” and then complain that body mods that younger peeps don’t have an issue with are game-changers
Especially as competition for the most competent workers ramps up.
Exactly. It seems like most people have at least one tattoo now. I don't have one because I can't decide what I want. LOL
Indeed. People are talking about all of this as though there is no challenge staffing all the parks and resorts around Orlando. Disney obviously has to find a sweet spot where they can attract and retain workers without compromising quality, but that calculation also involves how many closed facilities it is worth tolerating in order to enforce grooming standards that, lets face it, impact the lives of CMs beyond their time at work. And, yes, times change, so what might have seemed a reasonable demand from your employer decades ago in terms of grooming may not seem reasonable now.
I was relating my experience for myself.
People for whom nose rings are culturally normal can and do end up working as CMs in the American parks. For very obvious reasons, plenty of Fantasyland CMs already look "incongruous" with its Old World European theme, regardless of whether they have beards, piercings, or tattoos.
They can always try and plug the hole with more DCPers... Seems like there's an endless supply.
