News Reflections of Earth confirmed to be replaced by Harmonious

[Castle Cake Apologist]

For all the corporate talk about cultural sensitivity and inclusion, it's amazing "Arabian Nights" and "I Wanna Be Like You" were chosen for the soundtrack. The former has had a checkered history from the start, and the latter apparently was problematic enough to warrant the cultural sensitivity warning on Disney+. And this is for the park that supposedly celebrates worldwide cultural diversity? The grossest thing about the show is how Disney promotes itself as the dominant global culture -- what's the message, imperialism starts at home? If anybody wants to co-author an academic article...

Right! I was shocked when Arabian Nights started playing.

 

[danlb_2000]

Can we change the name of this sub forum to "Devolving Epcot"?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Another problem is that they didn’t even pull of promoting themselves as something that brings cultures together well! If that’s your angle (and I really don’t think it should be), really drive it home. This is a mess. I wouldn’t be shocked if it get’s a bit of reworking at some point in the near future. Give us **in show** context and story. I hope it happens and it’s enough to help.

That's one of the things that most has me scratching my head here. The one thing that might have been nice was to showcase different languages and voices from around the world and connect the films to their settings in different parts of the world. I felt the English versions of the songs mostly overpowered the versions in the other languages and there was no real sense of showcasing global diversity or harmony to be gleaned from the vocals or imagery. Also no connective thread either through narration or visuals to suggest that was the idea here. It was kind of weird, in a way, as Disney showed a bunch of clips of films they'd based on stories they'd taken from other parts of the world and then mostly had people from those countries (or other random ones) sing along with English-language vocals.

No attempt to showcase different parts of the world, never handing over the dominance of English, no weaving in of music or cultures from other parts of the world that weren't Disney-created, and no real connection to the WS pavilions. This whole thing leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth when you think about what they're selling it as and what it is.

 

[Overlordkitty]

Here is our first video of Harmonious.

Thank you.

I found this much better than the official Disney video. I get that Disney wanted to highlight the screens, but they lost a lot of the fireworks. Your video did a much better job at capturing the entire show, and I feel a bit better about the night show.

Never going to be ROE, but I doubt anything ever will.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

This show was lacking an inferno barge..

 

[trainplane3]

So.. umm... whatever happened to the Compass theme early rumors mentioned?

It appears for about 10 seconds about 4 1/2 minutes in:

 

[castlecake2.0]

Wait. Do the pavilions no longer light up?

 

[trainplane3]

Wait. Do the pavilions no longer light up?

They light up at the beginning and the end. That's all I can see.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Then they shouldn’t have wasted the huge sum of money they were given. Like most things for years now, lack of funds is not a problem.

Indeed. They had plenty of money to put together a new show, but there were so many bad choices here in terms of the technology used and in how the show was conceived and put together.

 

[Squishy]

Can we change the name of this sub forum to "Devolving Epcot"?

or "Evolving Chapek's Epcot"

 

[James Alucobond]

It appears for about 10 seconds about 4 1/2 minutes in:
View attachment 590150
View attachment 590151

Pretty sure the central barge was also originally supposed to resemble an armillary sphere with screen rings that could rotate independently. I suppose the compass theming waned when the scope of the physical center of the compass was reduced.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Wait. Do the pavilions no longer light up?

From what I saw in other videos they are lit...

 

[trainplane3]

Pretty sure the central barge was also originally supposed to resemble an armillary sphere with screen rings that could rotate independently. I suppose the compass theming waned when the scope of the physical center of the compass was reduced.

Yep, goes back to the initial concepts they showed off.

Wasn't it mentioned here a pitched name for the show after RoE was going to be called Illuminations: Windows on the World?

 

[Figgy1]

Since I’m up late for work and waiting on some things, I decided to take a look around a few social media platforms about this. It’s trending heavily towards “Bad”, like 95% or more of the comments I’ve read have been negative about the overall show. I’m truly stunned by the reactions so far.

When the “casual” park goer is agreeing with us old curmudgeons about something, you know it’s not good.

My late teen watched it with me, well I can't type many of the words he had to put money in the jar for using so he's not old at all but he's hardly a casual park goer

 

[fgmnt]

Join the club.

We have 5 members. Feels like high school again…

It seems obvious to me, as someone who saw it online, why the online reaction is so poor. The best thing to translate from in person to online in terms of experiential fidelity is the soundtrack, and it seems like the worst part of the show. Does that seem right? I don't expect to love it in person but I imagine you can see the bones of potential when you're there.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I reached out because folks want to know the story. The theme is “music brings us together” and the vignettes are meant to show music bringing people together to make a better world by building a mutual sense of curiosity, respect, and friendship.

So it is an Epcot theme. Maybe some dialogue to explain that? A theme like this is admittedly a bit above the average American. That’s Epcot. The thought was “make them understand using music they know.”

I tip my hat to the creators on attempting to make an Epcot show within their boss’s parameters. Some of the comments here feel unfair.

I’m told the in-park response was not as negative as the online response.

Well... they kinda failed. Not to toot my own horn, but, I've got serious education in the Liberal Arts including delving into the hermeneutics of texts for theme and meaning. It's something I've been trained to do.

And the songs chosen for their intended theme just doesn't cut it.

If "bringing us together through music" is a theme, then you don't choose a bunch of songs sung from an individual's point of view of their own journey and wants (How Far I'll Go, Go the Distance, Out There). Putting them in different languages doesn't make it communal.

And Arabian Nights?

Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place​

Where the caravan camels roam​

Where it's flat and immense​

and the heat is intense​

It's barbaric, but hey, it's home (?!!)​

​

When the wind's from the east​

And the sun's from the west​

And the sand in the glass is right​

Come on down, stop on by​

Hop a carpet and fly​

to another Arabian night​

​

Arabian nights like Arabian days​

More often than not​

are hotter than hot​

in a lot of good ways​

​

Arabian nights 'neath Arabian moons​

A fool off his guard​

could fall and fall hard​

out there on the dunes​

Not a dance song. Not a "we come together song." Not a crowd pleaser, "Hey, cool, it's 'Arabian Nights'! That's my jam!"

It's clear the people that chose the music were thinking that if the music was associated with some culture, regardless of its lyrics, it is sufficient for their chosen theme.

It's not.

I know a lot of people put really hard work into this. But the ones who were responsible for the direction of the show dropped the ball.

 

[ThatMouse]

I'm actually surprised to see all the negative reviews, but I feel good that others feel the same way, so maybe they will swap out for some real composers and original EPCOT music sooner than later. The music has to be there or you got nothing. Whatever sort of RGB and fireworks and lasers you got doesn't matter as long as the music is there.

EPCOT is not the place to have YouTube/Twitch live stream cover band music. Any musician should know, crowds get annoyed when you make it sound different than the classic. Nevermind that this is EPCOT not Magic Kingdom, but you know, Celebrate You and Happily Ever After did pretty well in Magic Kingdom and those are original songs.

Disney knows how to do music when the right people are in charge.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

Well... they kinda failed. Not to toot my own horn, but, I've got serious education in the Liberal Arts including delving into the hermeneutics of texts for theme and meaning. It's something I've been trained to do.

And the songs chosen for their intended theme just doesn't cut it.

If "bringing us together through music" is a theme, then you don't choose a bunch of songs sung from an individual's point of view of their own journey and wants (How Far I'll Go, Go the Distance, Out There). Putting them in different languages doesn't make it communal.

And Arabian Nights?

Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place​

Where the caravan camels roam​

Where it's flat and immense​

and the heat is intense​

It's barbaric, but hey, it's home (?!!)​

​

When the wind's from the east​

And the sun's from the west​

And the sand in the glass is right​

Come on down, stop on by​

Hop a carpet and fly​

to another Arabian night​

​

Arabian nights like Arabian days​

More often than not​

are hotter than hot​

in a lot of good ways​

​

Arabian nights 'neath Arabian moons​

A fool off his guard​

could fall and fall hard​

out there on the dunes​

Not a dance song. Not a "we come together song." Not a crowd pleaser, "Hey, cool, it's 'Arabian Nights'! That's my jam!"

It's clear the people that chose the music were thinking that if the music was associated with some culture, regardless of its lyrics, it is sufficient for their chosen theme.

It's not.

I know a lot of people put really hard work into this. But the one's who were responsible for the direction of the show dropped the ball.

I mean, Arabian Nights literally had to have lyrics changed when it was first released due to the outcry. I believe the original line was something like, "where they cut off your hand if they don't like your face." The choice to include this song in a show meant to be inclusive and bring cultures together is beyond baffling.

 

[trainplane3]

At the risk of some flack here, I chuckled at this:


Zach's Instagram post on Harmonious has a shocking amount of negative comments still.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

So...I decided to watch this over my lunch break today on a YouTube video...

My thoughts:

Disney, give us back Illuminations and the Fountain of Nations. I caught a lot more feels from those rather than watching a water pageant with about 20 minutes of Disney movie references.

That is all.

Oh!

And take the darn lights off of Spaceship Earth! It looked great before you added the sequins.

Ok, I'm done.