Disney's Cultural Faux Pas

[Woody13]

Isn't a "chav" similar to a "townie"?

 

[barnum42]

Isn't a "chav" similar to a "townie"?

Here is a guide to Chavs:

http://www.chavscum.co.uk/

Whilst the site is to a degree tongue in cheeck, the photos and facts are real

 

[Gail Hayden]

Don't get me started on "chavs"! Why, for goodness sake, can't people just have a little decorum and manners? What makes them think that tons of cheap gold jewellery looks good? Fake Burberry, not squeezing yourself into clothes two sizes too small, I could go on...........

Do you have these sorts in the US as well??

Yep, we sure do. I often wonder what floor they had to jump from to get into some of the pants they wear. And, for God's sake can't some of these people afford a belt to keep their pants up?

Up here we call them PWT (poor white trash).

 

[Gail Hayden]

HAHAHAHAHA!!:lol: :lol: That is sooooo funny!! I do the exact same thing! When people ask for my last name it comes out in one word "Englandlikethecountry"
Then they'll usually say "Spell that for me" I'll say "ENGLAND.......Like the country!?!?" and they just give me this blank expression:veryconfu. How sad is that?

It is very sad. Guess they don't talk about England in schools anymore. ;(

 

[barnum42]

And, for God's sake can't some of these people afford a belt to keep their pants up?

Chavs don't wear the big baggy jeans. The males stick to track suit bottoms, the females either the same or low slung trousers/miniskirts, regardless of how much spare tyre and butt crack is then put on show.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Sad, but yes we have then in the U.S. In fact, sad to say again, it seams that its a big hit with the young teenage crowd. You know, the 13-15 yo girls who dress, well, like hookers. They have been labelled "prosti-tots" around these parts by the highschool age crowd .....

 

[Gail Hayden]

Sad, but yes we have then in the U.S. In fact, sad to say again, it seams that its a big hit with the young teenage crowd. You know, the 13-15 yo girls who dress, well, like hookers. They have been labelled "prosti-tots" around these parts by the highschool age crowd .....

Prosti tots? Kind of harsh, but, it does fit the image.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Chavs don't wear the big baggy jeans. The males stick to track suit bottoms, the females either the same or low slung trousers/miniskirts, regardless of how much spare tyre and butt crack is then put on show.

Whats bad is that these people have no idea where the fashion came from, they merely do it because they see it on TV. I dressed like that when I was in high school, but I grew up and went to school in the inner city. I lived that lifestyle, these fools are only frontin(acting) .

I've had first hand experience of life in the streets. These fools you see nowadays are rich little spoiled brats who have been spoon fed their whole lives and then act and dress this way to rebel against mommy and daddy. How the heck you gonna walk outta your Mom and Dads $400,000 house in the suburbs and then try to say you from da hood and you gangsta? I just wanna slap these fools sometimes . Y'all need to send those "Chav" fools out to South Central L.A. and see how long they last. Betcha they wet their pants after about 2 minutes.:lol:

 

[barnum42]

Not all UK Chavs are mummy's boys. You will still find them around the council estates (I believe the American slang is "projects") and the fact that they are not from wealthy families is the reason they drive Novas - the newest Nova must be about ten years old, wear crappy catalogue jewlery are on pay as you go phones and drink vast quantities of value brand lager.

But you are right that if they ened up in "da hood" they would wet themselves in the extreme, they only have the "courage" to pick a fight with an individual when they are traveling in a pack.

 

[Fraisie]

I have found the selection of stuff in the UK store quite laughable. A pathetic amount of chocolate by the tills, lots of tea, grandma style smellie things and football shirts. What on earth do people think of the UK based on that!?

I bet its the same thing for every country. THe image they give of Canada in the movie is the worst ever... we still live in 1982 :/

 

[PurpleDragon]

Not all UK Chavs are mummy's boys. You will still find them around the council estates (I believe the American slang is "projects") and the fact that they are not from wealthy families is the reason they drive Novas - the newest Nova must be about ten years old, wear crappy catalogue jewlery are on pay as you go phones and drink vast quantities of value brand lager.

But you are right that if they ened up in "da hood" they would wet themselves in the extreme, they only have the "courage" to pick a fight with an individual when they are traveling in a pack.

But most of these "Chavs" are only mimic-ing American hip-hop culture. They have no understanding of where it came from or what it means to be hard or gangsta. They are only mimic-ing what they see in hip-hop and R&B videos. I'm sorry but to hear someone say "Fo-rizzle" with a british acccent just doesn't make me think of "da street", it actually makes me laugh.

 

[cru5h]

Here is something out of place - American editions of the Harry Potter novels in the UK Pavilion

Also, am I the only one who finds it odd that a security guard rummages through by camera bag at the park entrance to check for possible weapons, but I can then stoll over to the Chinese or Japanese pavilions and purchase a stonking great sword?

:lol:

ROFL!! That's really ironic. Isn't Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Harry Potter and the Philisopher's Stone or something like that in the UK?

 

[barnum42]

But most of these "Chavs" are only mimic-ing American hip-hop culture. They have no understanding of where it came from or what it means to be hard or gangsta. They are only mimic-ing what they see in hip-hop and R&B videos. I'm sorry but to hear someone say "Fo-rizzle" with a british acccent just doesn't make me think of "da street", it actually makes me laugh.

I guess they are going for the Bling thing with the crappy gold jewlery and the hip-hop poses. But I've not seen them wearing the baggy jeans and eight foot long basketball shirts.

I guess they don't realise that Ali-G is a comic actor taking the mick out of that whole fake-gangsta' thing.

On a side note, when I was last over at Disney I saw quite a few black lads in the baggy outfits and long basketball shirts having a good time in the parks. But when I saw some skinny white kids in the same ensemble, it was quite a comical sight.

 

[barnum42]

ROFL!! That's really ironic. Isn't Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Harry Potter and the Philisopher's Stone or something like that in the UK?

Correct, the suits in America decided that American kids would not know what the meaning of "Philosopher" was, so they changed the title. The same thing happened with the movie, they had to shoot some scenes twice, once calling it "philosopher's stone" and one "sorceror's stone".

 

[PurpleDragon]

On a side note, when I was last over at Disney I saw quite a few black lads in the baggy outfits and long basketball shirts having a good time in the parks. But when I saw some skinny white kids in the same ensemble, it was quite a comical sight.

ROFL!!:lol: See thats what I'm talking about!! You see a few black guys with baggy shorts, long throwback jerseys, and their hat cocked to the side and you don't think anything of it. But when you see a couple of lanky, pimple faced high school kids dressed the same way, its freakin hilarious. They think they are so cool being dressed that way, but its obvious they have no idea what they are representing. Like Fat Joe said in the song Lean Back:
"These (edit:animwink: ) (edit:animwink: ) even made gang signs commercial
Even Lil' Bow Wow throwin it up
B2K crip walkin like that's what's up!"
Hes basically sayin that people are doing these things because they think its cool but they have no idea of their true meaning or representation.

 

[trentino]

Come on thats just unexcuseable, that Disney would throw out authenticity, just to make an extra buck. How sad!!

Unfortunately, that's what it's all about for them. Someone asked why they're selling replica guns in the Canada pavillion (when Canada doesn't have much of a gun culture)... When I worked in the Canada pavillion the Canadian CMs would beg management to remove the big fake rifle merchandising display because it wasn't very Canadian. Apparently Canadian cultural representatives were asking for this to happen for years. The reply always was... "sorry, they make too much money for us... find us something that sells as much as these guns and we'll consider it." We tried to convince them to sell hockey sticks instead and were asked to conducts a "guest satisfaction measurement" (GSM) survey to record the number of people asking about purchasing hockey sticks.

I think for a while they did remove the guns and were selling small plastic hockey sticks with the some Canadian team logos on them. I think the guns are back now though.

I also remember the horrid clothing that the "Mercantile" used to stock in the Canada pavillion. Jackets and sweatshirts with ugly drawings of wildlife on them. Perfect for the guests we used to refer to as "TPT" -- Trailer park trash. This merchandise sold a lot but we begged management to get something that better reflected Canada. When the deal was signed with Roots and Roots merchandise took over the Mercantile we were all very happy!

So it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that there is Japanese merchandise in the China pavillion. If it sells and fits the "stereotype" that Americans have of that country -- good enough. The rule of thumb also seems to be that Disney will only sell merchandise that is readily available in the U.S. -- they rarely import merchandise. The merchandise selections in the world showcase shops used to be very different -- much more representative of each country. Over time Disney has replaced the slower moving, realistic merchandise with cheaper items that are easier to acquire and sell.

 

[PurpleDragon]

So it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that there is Japanese merchandise in the China pavillion. If it sells and fits the "stereotype" that Americans have of that country -- good enough. The rule of thumb also seems to be that Disney will only sell merchandise that is readily available in the U.S. -- they rarely import merchandise. The merchandise selections in the world showcase shops used to be very different -- much more representative of each country. Over time Disney has replaced the slower moving, realistic merchandise with cheaper items that are easier to acquire and sell.

Its sad that it has to be that way!! Whatever happend to quality over making a quick buck? Why must everything Disney touches nowadays be about the money it brings in and not the quality of the attraction?

It didn't used to be that way, and please don't say that its because of the changing market, because over the years Disney theme parks have always held themselves above market standards. They used to be more concerned about offering a quality park going experience, banking more on the customers returning year after year and spending their money, rather than trying to squeeze every penny out of a single visit and not worrying or caring about guests coming back.

The whole experience has been cheapened over the years, just so the Disney execs can make a few extra bucks. This is just one of many reasons to get Eisner and his financial approval commities out of there, so that quality can slowly be reintegrated into the Walt Disney company.

 

[Number_6]

I know I'm reviving a bit of an old thread here, but when I was driving to Disney Property today to get to work, the answer to the original question about why Japanese swords were being sold in the Chinese pavillion came to me. As far as I know, after WWII the Japanese were banned from personal ownership of Samurai swords. I believe, though I may be mistaken, that production of Samurai swords would also have been banned, since if you can't own them, then you would have no reason to make them. As such, many of the "Samurai" swords that are made in Asia, are actually made in China. So as a result, those swords are likely products of China and can actually be sold in the China pavillion without it being a "faux pas."

 

[Maria]

In many places, especially China and Japan, the space is leased out to popular retail stores / manufacterers who wish to be represented at Epcot. I'm pretty sure that in many cases Disney doesn't control much of what's in there. I think the areas that Disney does control (Canada, UK, Mexico, etc.) are pretty obviously so...

I can´t remember well, but I am sure Arribas bros. was one of those leasers in the Mexican pavillion. The silver store, I am not sure of.
I always wondered why we had those ugly flamingoes in the pavillion, but I guess they were representative of my area of the country (really?); the glass blowers are in Central Mexico, so I guess that´s why Arribas bros. was there too. The wooden toys are typical, so that was right. I still think though, that we should have had some beer factory or tequila samplers in the pavillion... hehe...
What I think would have been a big business though, would be having a typical dresses store, the real ones from all over the country, not the ponchos they sell there. Same applies for Norway and Germany and I would surely buy some nice one from Morocco or Japan (I think they are the only ones that sell them) if I had the money.

 

[FanofDinsey1981]

What I think would have been a big business though, would be having a typical dresses store, the real ones from all over the country, not the ponchos they sell there. Same applies for Norway and Germany and I would surely buy some nice one from Morocco or Japan (I think they are the only ones that sell them) if I had the money.

Maria, I agree about the dresses. The dresses that mayan women wear are amazingly beautiful (as my friend said, they look like flowers). They look quite comfortable too. I bought a shirt while in Mexico that was made by hand (I even watched her make most of it!) and those are also beautiful! The ones they sell at the Mexico pavillion look more like a store bought version of the one I bought, but much higher priced.