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

wdwmagic

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Putting aside the fact that the company that charges mucho $$$$ to have access yet pushes for inclusivity is a complete joke. I really don’t think or see how anyone would be upset or offended by this. But you have to wonder why they just didn’t do this, instead of making it a PR spectacle which would invariably invite the unneeded ginned up controversy.
What PR spectacle has been made?
 

monothingie

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It's not a press release. Literally says so in the article.

"Disney is yet to make an announcement about diversifying the representation of Santa Claus at Walt Disney World, and details here should be treated as speculation."
So your saying Disney is just going to do this and not make some type of self promoting announcement about it?
 

monothingie

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What PR spectacle has been made?
Poorly worded response, I was referring to what it will become. You don’t think when this is officially announced it won’t become one? Just like almost anything else done in todays media environment.
 

monothingie

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I don’t think there will be an announcement.
Call me surprised then coming from the company that always uses its many traditional and social media outlets to promote themelves. I mean they had their PR flack in Imagineering waxing poetic about the deep life impact of floor tiles in the Epcot gift shop on Instagram.
 

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
I'd be OK if it was Meet and Greets. I don't think this belongs in MOUACT. Sorry! I'm not bad but let's preserve MOUACT! IDK, maybe I'm wrong.
"Preserve" it for whom?

As others said, Santa Claus is a fictional character -- an amalgam of European traditions (the original Saint Nicholas having been a Turkish monk born in Greece), representing people of a variety of hues. He can be any color.
 
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CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
No but honestly, I hope they expand on this. Color-blind casting for Santa the way they do Frozen on Broadway/in Disneyland would be great.
Except colorblind casting for Frozen creates actual narrative discontinuity. Anna and Elsa not being the same race implies that one or both of them is adopted and that they're not biological sisters. Genetics is still a thing, and it matters in family-based stories.

You could do a Frozen where the whole family is Black. Or where the parents are mixed-race and the children are plausibly descended from the two of them. But two ostensibly biological siblings being different races is confusing, especially to young audiences.
 

Disney Glimpses

Well-Known Member
I think we need an Indian Santa. If not I will be offended.
I realize this is a joke but it raises a legitimate point. Inclusion efforts seem targeted towards a single point of inclusion rather than a breadth of inclusion. I have no issues with this, Black Santa has been widely featured/available in decorations and merch for decades. But Disney’s approach to this initiative is flawed.
 

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