News Disney plans to include a black Santa Claus at Walt Disney World this year as the company continues its diversity and inclusion program

Angel Ariel

Angel Ariel

Well-Known Member
Brian said:
Using the topic at hand of black Santa, if Disney were to sample it's average demographics and find that roughly 15% of it's annual visitation is black (complete guess, I was never privy to those figures), would it be fair, in your opinion, to have +/- 15% of the CMs "hanging out" with Santa be black?
Click to expand...
TBH, I don’t really see the point of delving that deep into this, as the likelihood Disney will ever release the information officially is slim to none 🤷‍♀️

colorblind casting isn’t new for Disney. I didn’t have an issue with it with Frozen at DLR, and I don’t think it’s problematic here either
 
RobWDW1971

RobWDW1971

Well-Known Member
BuddyThomas said:
I’m not discussing this with you people anymore. You clearly don’t get the point and not do you want to get it.
Click to expand...
Wasn't a trick question, quite straightforward actually.

Either you do support (without asterisks) colorblind casting of historical figures or you don't.

The fact you wouldn't answer the simple question is frankly fascinating.

Personally, I don't have an issue with colorblind casting. Had no issue with a black Washington and Jefferson in Hamilton and wouldn't have an issue with a white Malcolm X or Frederick Douglass.

Their "blackness" is as important to their role and time in history as was Washington or Jefferson's "whiteness" in their time of 1776 as wealthy, white, landowners.

No black person could have held those positions or achieved what they did at that time. So having them portrayed by a black person is in no way "representation", it's fantasy.

I loved Hamilton, saw it multiple times, and if Miranda did a Malcom X musical with a white lead, I'd also be fully on board.

You either support colorblind casting of historical figures, or you don't. And if you don't, that doesn't bother me.
 
G

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
The appropriate meet and greet Santa for Disney properties should be;
1636934553391.png
 
Castle Cake Apologist

Castle Cake Apologist

Well-Known Member
Brian said:
Out of interest, would you be ok with a musical whose "point" was to provide representation to white people?
Click to expand...

"Out of interest." Right. 😂

Are you under the impression that there is a need for representation of white people? I'm assuming you're not that ignorant, and are just setting up a straw man, like the rest of your side has spent this thread doing.

This is such a ludicrous loaded question that I'm shocked a moderator hasn't removed it yet.
 
Last edited:
Castle Cake Apologist

Castle Cake Apologist

Well-Known Member
Brian said:
So I'll take that as a "no?"
Click to expand...

100% a no. As a white person fully aware of my status and privilege in the world, I would find a production fully intended to give representation to white people absolutely asinine. I'm not scared of your stupid bad faith non-arguments, sorry.

I can't imagine why anybody would think such a production is necessary, which is why it's abundantly clear that you're trolling this thread. Which, I'm sure you're aware, is against the forum rules.
 
Last edited:
Brian

Brian

Well-Known Member
DisneyExpert said:
100% a no. As a white person fully aware of my status and privilege in the world, I would find a production fully intended to give representation to white people absolutely asinine. I'm not scared of your stupid bad faith non-arguments, sorry.

I can't imagine why anybody would think such a production is necessary, which is why it's abundantly clear that you're trolling this thread. Which, I'm sure you're aware, is against the forum rules.
Click to expand...
Imagine feeling so morally superior and on such a high horse that you believe that anyone with a dissenting opinion is trolling the thread. I certainly can't.

The point, which I think you're missing, is that representation is indeed an important thing in society. As others have correctly eluded to, up until about the midpoint of the last century and beyond, there wasn't much in the way of non-white representation in the arts. However, one does have to wonder how far representation can and should go? Should Hamilton, a production focusing on the lives of exclusively white people, have a cast of virtually all non-white people? Should Disney have a cast of non-white performers playing the role of Santa Claus, a figure who, despite what the naysayers may say, has been depicted for all of our lives as a fat old white man with a beard?

As others have pointed out, representation ought to be proportionate to the demographics of the patrons (guest in the park, audience member in the theatre). In that case, I fail to believe that nearly 100% of the visiting guests in a Disney park one day would be non-white, or that the audience for Hamilton would be either.

And yes, if you follow the rabbit hole down to where I was going with that question, you'd find that if you rail against a play giving representation to white people, while you celebrate a play giving representation to anyone but white people (ie Hamilton), maybe you're a bit of a racist too. But I think that "your side" knows that.
 
Last edited:
Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
BuddyThomas said:
You mean the coward’s way out like the bunch of people on here who are so triggered by the thought of their precious little children seeing a black Santa that they splatter a bunch of thinly veiled racism all over a Disney chat board? Is that the kind of cowardice of which you speak?
Click to expand...

You know, it's possible for people to have a different opinion without them being a racist, homophobe, or other slurs hurled by insecure people...
 
Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
RobWDW1971 said:
Wasn't a trick question, quite straightforward actually.

Either you do support (without asterisks) colorblind casting of historical figures or you don't.

The fact you wouldn't answer the simple question is frankly fascinating.

Personally, I don't have an issue with colorblind casting. Had no issue with a black Washington and Jefferson in Hamilton and wouldn't have an issue with a white Malcolm X or Frederick Douglass.

Their "blackness" is as important to their role and time in history as was Washington or Jefferson's "whiteness" in their time of 1776 as wealthy, white, landowners.

No black person could have held those positions or achieved what they did at that time. So having them portrayed by a black person is in no way "representation", it's fantasy.

I loved Hamilton, saw it multiple times, and if Miranda did a Malcom X musical with a white lead, I'd also be fully on board.

You either support colorblind casting of historical figures, or you don't. And if you don't, that doesn't bother me.
Click to expand...
Well, and then there's folklore. John Henry is a mythical black American folkhero. But if he were played on film or elsewhere by a white man, that'd be cultural appropriation, at the very least...funny how "cultural appropriation" is never applied when a white character is played by a POC...as if white people don't have their own culture (many cultures, actually), and their own white heroes, and aren't necessarily being racist if they prefer that their white heroes be portrayed as originally conceived...

You wanna know how representation in the arts and fiction is best achieved? By POC artists creating new characters. For instance, my favorite animated show right now is "Amphibia". Its central character, Ann Boonchuy, is a Thai-American and an absolute delight, as is the show itself. Every now and then, the show has the characters discuss the Thai culture (Ann's parents own a Thai restaurant), and Ann's Thai neighborhood and language (the second season, where Ann's frog friends end up in the human world, is especially focusing on this). The creator of the show, Matt Braly, is Thai-American himself. He created something based in part on his own culture, something ORIGINAL. And what he created is just about the best new animated TV show anywhere. THAT'S the way, IMO, to achieve real authentic representation in the arts. Check out the show if you haven't already. It gets a bit dark at times, but only in the service of good storytelling.
 
Last edited:

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

Back
Top Bottom