castlecake2.0
Well-Known Member
Just to clarify, they have had cultural reps at DAK for many years. Here’s a cm explaining her role (at 1 min mark). Very similar to epcot, just a much smaller scale.
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News Morocco Pavilion redevelopment
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Yes and thats something the current Disney seems to lack (imagination) and the leadership wont spend on parks until almost forced to at gunpoint.
Technically, Disney had plans to receive rental money from the Brazilian company that would be selling Brazilian food. Disney wouldn't be running the restaurant themselves.
nickys
Premium Member
As they do at AKL. Hopefully they can start bringing them back soon.
tcool123
Well-Known Member
Agreed! If Disney wants to keep it generic make it a generic Central/South American Refreshment Port to spread the love around more to a region lacking any right now at either park.
If they want it to make it full on pavilion for Central/South America there's plenty of IPs to choose from: Encanto is set in Colombia, Emperor's New Groove is set in what would be modern day Peru, Indiana Jones could be thrown into any country with an ancient empire they want, Saludos Amigos/Three Caballeros/Melody Time all have portions in Brazil and would free Mexico up for Coco. There's opportunities here!
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I'm surprised to read this from you after you noted the problematic overuse of animals in certain parts of it's a small world.
- Word Showcase
- Animal Kingdom
The contrast between their names is itself enough to indicate why one of these locations is far more fitting than the other as a venue for highlighting human achievement.
And yet... DAK does a better job at times highlighting the Asian and African human cultures than a WS pavilion. DAK even has international cultural representatives.
It's all there in my post.
As well as a dig at the Refreshement Post which is something you'd see in IaSW.
I don't get what you don't get.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I don't deny that the theming at Animal Kingdom is superior, but that doesn't mitigate the issues of framing that I've pointed to. One location is centred on animals, the other on human achievement. That surely means something to how visitors experience and perceive the cultures represented.
I'm reminded of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, whose "Human and Culture Halls" (interspersed among animal and fossil exhibits) are entirely devoted to African, Asian, and Native American peoples. For Western civilisation, one has to travel across Central Park to the Met, where human achievement is vaunted in its own terms rather than as an extension of the animal world. No matter how well done the human galleries may be at the Museum of Natural History, they are necessarily denied the prestige that comes with being situated in an institution devoted to culture rather than nature.
The issue is vividly encapsulated by a diorama of Isfahan I encountered during a visit to the Museum of Natural History a few years ago. What this former Iranian capital has to do with natural history is anyone's guess; the city was one of the world's most important trading centres in the early modern period, filled with impressive works of architecture. But the real kicker is to be found floating above the miniature city: a man on a flying carpet! It's difficult to imagine a city like Paris or Rome receiving comparably demeaning treatment in a leading national museum, just as it's difficult to imagine a section in Animal Kingdom themed around the English countryside.
Flying Carpet Over Isfahan
A controversial magical figure is hidden within a diorama of the city.
www.atlasobscura.com
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I think you're missing just how much DAK also includes the human. If you want to argue it should be more exclusively focuses on the animals, that's a fine point to argue. But, on the ground, we're immersed in Asian and African continental human cultures, too. The bird show was updated to include Indian culture including a celebration of Dwali and nearby dancers, as just one example.I don't deny that the theming at Animal Kingdom is superior, but that doesn't mitigate the issues of framing that I've pointed to. One location is centred on animals, the other on human achievement. That surely means something to how visitors experience and perceive the cultures represented.
I'm reminded of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, whose "Human and Culture Halls" (interspersed among animal and fossil exhibits) are entirely devoted to African, Asian, and Native American peoples. For Western civilisation, one has to travel across Central Park to the Met, where human achievement is vaunted in its own terms rather than as an extension of the animal world. No matter how well done the human galleries may be at the Museum of Natural History, they are necessarily denied the prestige that comes with being situated in an institution devoted to culture rather than nature.
The issue is vividly encapsulated by a diorama of Isfahan I encountered during a visit to the Museum of Natural History a few years ago. What this former Iranian capital has to do with natural history is anyone's guess; the city was among one of the world's most important trading centres in the early modern period, filled with impressive works of architecture. But the real kicker is to be found floating above the city: a man on a flying carpet! It's difficult to imagine a city like Paris or Rome receiving comparably demeaning treatment in a leading national museum, just as it's difficult to imagine a section in Animal Kingdom themed around the English countryside.
Flying Carpet Over Isfahan
A controversial magical figure is hidden within a diorama of the city.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
No, I'm not. My post addressed that very issue by discussing the American Museum of Natural History, which also "includes the human". The point I'm trying to make is that only certain kinds of human from certain parts of the world tend to get included in such settings.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Yes, if the setting is the jungle or the savanna or the rainforest, the included human element will likely be selected from societies that neighbor or live within those biomes. This is not a surprise.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
That's fair to an extent, but it still doesn't address the broader issue that began this discussion: the conspicuous absence of certain regions and cultures from World Showcase. Far from being an adequate substitute, their presence at Animal Kingdom only highlights their omission over at the "human" park. There's no reason they can't have a spot at both.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
I don't disagree, and I didn't really mean to take the discussion down a path that would exclude their future inclusion. I only meant that I would personally be interested in seeing things added to the World Showcase from regions of the world represented nowhere else in the parks before I'd like to see some degree of duplication, but I could certainly get behind a revamped and more robust African Outpost based on a specific country.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I don’t think we need to worry about duplication: there’s much more to Africa and South Asia than is currently covered at Animal Kingdom.
James Alucobond
Well-Known Member
Very true, but northern Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, South America, and Australia have literally nothing.
Central America isn't represented at Epcot or AK either, even though the whole region is very rich in culture and nature
castlecake2.0
Well-Known Member
So should they not have had Cultural Reps at DAK and DAKL all this time sharing their culture? The Lodge has one of the largest African art collections outside of Africa, and there was even a tour you could take by cultural reps to show and explain it to you. Is all that voided because the hotel has Animal in the name?
CaptainNicko
Active Member
You're the President of AK, right? Make it happen, Cap'n.
i just made this while bored, involves relocating the italy pavilion. my idea for a massive new venice themed area thats also a massive hotel. hotel is yellow. All the room face inward, towards the venice themed area providing guests with a really immersive experience that hotels and park guests can enjoy. All the building are only 3-4 stories tall so you cant see them from the park. The restaraunts/gift shops/cafes are sprinkled throughout the land, along with fountains and the giant red box on the top is a showbuilding for something. have gondola rides, and maybe the center area is a massive fountain or pool for hotel guests.. I dunno im bored. Then you would have to put a new pavilion in the old italy spot. Also the massive building port is relocated some sort of door mechanism thats the small pink box
