A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[EricsBiscuit]

In practical terms,
Animal Kingdom’s a theme park about the relationship between animals, nature, and humanity. Each land is constructed around an environment where you are meant to engage with animals in their natural habitats. Wakanda, a man made environment built off the extraction of the Vibranium asteroid, doesn’t fit within this context.

WRT racism,
“Black Panther” was a big event because it was a black led film with black talent behind the camera telling a story about black people who live in a society where slavery/colonialism never happened, tapping into the rich tradition of Afrofuturism last also offering a rich commentary on black life in America.

What does that have to do with the thematic aims of Animal Kingdom? Why is it that you can dump a popular IP featuring PoC goes into an existing space because Africa? (I could write a whole column about cultural appropriation and Epcot’s new IP direction) Very little themed entertainment has been created about the peoples and cultures of the African continent. Given BP’s popularity, isn’t now the time to build more themed environments based on Africa? Inclusion isn’t some one shot deal, it’s continual and permanent with the goal of creating art that better reflects the totality of the human experience.

That’s how it’s racist.

I never suggested putting it in Africa. It's a horrible fit for the park. Epcot is the park for the BP IP.

 

[Haymarket2008]

I never suggested putting it in Africa. It's a horrible fit for the park. Epcot is the park for the BP IP.

An equally horrible fit.

 

[Californian Elitist]

*reading the past few comments as a Black user on this site*

Thank you to @the.dreamfinder and @lazyboy97o for breaking it down and pointing out the issue.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

An equally horrible fit.

Maybe a bad fit but better than DAK

 

[mickeyfan5534]

An equally horrible fit.

In Future World? Wasn't almost all the tech in the movie somewhat grounded in reality beyond the magic kitty people? The mag-lev trains able to go light speed? The stealth planes? Edutainment central in terms of showing people what we can do with technology.

 

[Cesar R M]

Follow the link to the Vidanta page. The theme park section no longer mentions, or references in images, Cirque.

Still, why would they lose the license. Did they have a fixed limited timeframe for this particular project?

Because as far I know, Vidanta still has Circle shows in other areas (like La Joya in Cancun).


As IMHO, I found them to have such "short" timeframe completely dumb.. specially when you have to take into consideration a) corrupt politicians and even other factors that want a slice of the permits. b) the uneven land that is half swampland, half river zone with having to put barriers everywhere and infrastructure. c) lawsuits for using federal land too close to the river d) lawsuits for breaking natural pathways of the river and the river sea exit, plus destroying mangle and swamp areas.

Regardless, what is done is done.. Now I wonder what kind of project are they going to push with that Ex Disney Imagineer.

Would they still build the Circle style theater? (they are at like 20% right now)

 

[Cesar R M]

Please no

How would it be racist if Wakanda is in Africa?

Because it has nothing to do with animal conservation or anything like that?
Wakanda doesn't specific details anything related to real life Africa.

 

[Cesar R M]

Here, have some Avengers at Dizzy Parks.

The image in the answers is hella on point.

 

[Bairstow]

Because it has nothing to do with animal conservation or anything like that?
Wakanda doesn't (have?) specific details anything related to real life Africa.

On the other hand, putting a Wakanda pavilion next to the existing Harambe section of the park would certainly bring the creative choices of Harambe's designers into sharp focus, what with their "third world travel ", "look how precious it is that the wires on their electrical poles are all screwed up" approach to representing Africa. Not that this depiction was inaccurate, but it would be perverse fun from a philosophical point of view to have juxtaposed someone like Joe Rohde's fascination with the flaws and failings of modern Africa with the aspirational fantasy of Black Panther.

But yeah, it's still a bad/impossible idea for like five different reasons.

 

[brb1006]

Can we all take a moment with this discussion and remember Chuck McCann (Dreamfinder)

 

[Fantasmicguy]

I'm a black man and I feel it would not be racist at all if Black Panther/Wakanda was included in the animal kingdom. It would be put in the animal kingdom as black panther holds a focus in nature and alot of the animals themselves. Not because the characters are black.

 

[Haymarket2008]

But like.....you see some steel-plated rhinos and some hallucinatory panthers once in the film.....the film has little to do with animals.

 

[SamMaxwell]

They lost the Cirque license. It’s a generic resort complex with an amusement component now.

I’ve been following this project and I hope it succeeds and is successful. Cirque deserves some kind of cool/elaborate attraction. (They also proposed a really cool casino/theme park/showplace in Montreal a few years ago)

North America seems oversaturated—for ‘from the ground-up’ parks, it seems.

Hard Rock opened a music-themed park in 2008 in Myrtle Beach that lasted less than three months.

And of course there are the endless scam proposals (Like a Wizard of Oz themed park in the middle of Kansas, a Michael Jackson theme park in Gary, IN, and that weird proposal for identical, Westcot-style resorts in Fort Worth and Birmingham, AL from a company that didn’t even exist)

 

[SamMaxwell]

At the end of the day it's still Africa viewied through a white lense, made for a mostly white, American audience. You can apply the same kind of thinking to World Showcase or Adventureland, but they can at least use the excuse of romanticism and/or humour.

I'm not saying Harambe is so politically incorrect that it needs to be removed or altered, if that were the case most of WDW would have to go, but it's still a perspective that exists and can be funny to acknowledge. Most guests stuck in line for two hours at KS will never think of it.

This. Harambee is very cool and well themed and all--but to explain a large part of BP/Wakanda's appeal, especially among PoC is that it portrays a (fictional) African nation that is stable, intelligent, and technologically advanced. In Western media, Sub-Saharan Africa is always portrayed as "Lions & Wildebeests", "Jungle villages full of naked people", "War and Famine", or "Dusty, ramshackle tin-roof cities that used to be developed". In reality, African nations have skyscrapers, beautiful neighborhoods, luxury malls, and better transit systems than some American cities. I can understand America's fascination with the wildness and natural beauty of the continent, but it's kind of annoying that you only really see the "quaint" and "wild" sides of Africa. Africa can build stuff too!

And don't get me started on the general lack of knowledge about ancient African empires. (C'mon Disney, there's a wealth of stories/settings there!)

 

[bcoachable]

This. Harambee is very cool and well themed and all--but to explain a large part of BP/Wakanda's appeal, especially among PoC is that it portrays a (fictional) African nation that is stable, intelligent, and technologically advanced. In Western media, Sub-Saharan Africa is always portrayed as "Lions & Wildebeests", "Jungle villages full of naked people", "War and Famine", or "Dusty, ramshackle tin-roof cities that used to be developed". In reality, African nations have skyscrapers, beautiful neighborhoods, luxury malls, and better transit systems than some American cities. I can understand America's fascination with the wildness and natural beauty of the continent, but it's kind of annoying that you only really see the "quaint" and "wild" sides of Africa. Africa can build stuff too!

And don't get me started on the general lack of knowledge about ancient African empires. (C'mon Disney, there's a wealth of stories/settings there!)

I could get into some Mansa Musa stories... Not sure there is enough pixie dust to make him disney though...

 

[Bolna]

This. Harambee is very cool and well themed and all--but to explain a large part of BP/Wakanda's appeal, especially among PoC is that it portrays a (fictional) African nation that is stable, intelligent, and technologically advanced. In Western media, Sub-Saharan Africa is always portrayed as "Lions & Wildebeests", "Jungle villages full of naked people", "War and Famine", or "Dusty, ramshackle tin-roof cities that used to be developed". In reality, African nations have skyscrapers, beautiful neighborhoods, luxury malls, and better transit systems than some American cities. I can understand America's fascination with the wildness and natural beauty of the continent, but it's kind of annoying that you only really see the "quaint" and "wild" sides of Africa. Africa can build stuff too!

And don't get me started on the general lack of knowledge about ancient African empires. (C'mon Disney, there's a wealth of stories/settings there!)

It always gets me slightly upset when a CM on the Kilimanjaro
Safari tells me that the Okapi is so rare that it wasn’t discovered until the 20th century. They omit to say “by white men“. Of course the locals knew about it!!

 

[AEfx]

Keeping this tongue in cheek because at the end of the day this is all just a bunch of white guilt hot takes.

That kind of was obvious as soon as the "PoC" term was used - which most of my black and Hispanic friends roll their eyes at and call "the whitest term ever", LOL.

 

[AEfx]

It always gets me slightly upset when a CM on the Kilimanjaro
Safari tells me that the Okapi is so rare that it wasn’t discovered until the 20th century. They omit to say “by white men“. Of course the locals knew about it!!

That would be pretty racist to say "by white men", as it would exclude the Asians, Hispanics, and other races of the world who have also contributed to the larger body of science and knowledge who were also unaware of what that pocket of local tribes knew.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Disregarding the racist angle, Wakanda doesn't belong in Dakfrica for the same reason Buzz Lightyear's Space Rangers doesn't belong in Star Wars Land, despite both being set in space. Completely different stories that merely happen to sorta but not really share the same location.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

That would be pretty racist to say "by white men", as it would exclude the Asians, Hispanics, and other races of the world who have also contributed to the larger body of science and knowledge who were also unaware of what that pocket of local tribes knew.

Indeed. My neighbourhood recently got discovered by international tourism. This does not imply I never knew my neighbourhood was there until foreigners pointed it out to me.