Charita's resume is strong and reflects someone who has grown and evolved in the industry, whether she is a household name or not. It's a little concerning that she started in accounting and finance, rather than a creative or technical field (reminiscent of Eisner's much-maligned Strategic Planning group), but she's clearly been around long enough to have a pretty solid understanding of the design process.
While your optimism is admirable, I'm not that convinced with Charita Carter's resume. She started as an accountant and was an accountant for a decade, which means she has a degree in Accounting. Then she went into Producer roles, which is a Hollywood way of saying Project Manager. As an accountant.
Ms. Carter may not have a creative bone in her body. Most accountants don't. Or if they do, they keep their creative side hidden until a third drink at Karaoke Nite.
The question remains: What has Charita Carter done and what rides has she created? What stuff did she work on? And what was her role with that stuff?
All of the information from WDI tells us is that Charita Carter spent the last 20 years as an accountant and project manager for unnamed projects. That doesn't instill a lot of confidence.
Carmen's resume, on the other hand, is more difficult to decipher. Given the terminology, I almost have to wonder if she's in the part of WDI that used to be Consumer Products. Phases like "creative product," "editorial participation," and "global marketplace" just don't seem to fit with the typical jargon of the design and construction industry. Consumer Products was merged into Imagineering about 3 years ago, so there's a large group of employees who have spent their careers managing vendor contracts and product licensing, rather than design. At the very least, she seems to have a more corporate/business-oriented background than what you'd typically associate with WDI. I don't doubt that she's quite accomplished at what she does, but it doesn't seem like she necessarily has a lot of experience with designing theme park attractions, experiences, and environments.
Bingo! I think you are 100% accurate that Carmen Smith came to WDI via Disney Consumer Products. Her resume is obviously from that early 21st century world of Consumer Products, not design and creation.
And yet Carmen Smith's resume is even murkier and unknown than Charita Carter's. Ms. Smith appears to be that 21st century breed of executive who is cloaked in HR psychobabble and corporate buzzwords. Often, there is very little there when you strip that stuff away from an executive.
You are very kind in stating that Ms. Smith must be very good at what she does. It would just be nice to know what she actually does do.
Because from her resume and official WDI press release, it's still impossible to know what she actually does.
Isn't that pretty much what they're doing with the Jungle Cruise? Removing outdated depictions of black characters, in favor of cute animals?
I think that's the outcome here for the Jungle Cruise. They are going to go the Lion King route and pretend that no humans native to the continent actually live there, that it's a continent entirely populated only with animals. That solves the problem some have in thinking it's "problematic" to show African peoples living in Africa, no matter how faithfully you recreate their costumes and culture for a boat ride.
No humans exist on the continent of Africa except for visiting tourists! Problem solved.
