Splash Mountain re-theme announced

Status
Not open for further replies.
lightningtap347

lightningtap347

Well-Known Member
If their objective was to remove problematic media, but they also wanted to increase capacity, why didn't they do this?

Reopen and Reimagine the old plans for Western River Expedition. That fits more into frontierland and could replace splash.

Nuke Tom Sawyer Island and replace it with a bayou dark ride for PatF.

Now you have representation and the removal of two problematic properties while mildly leaving the area unbroken?

Please someone shoot me down.
 
Dapper Dan

Dapper Dan

Well-Known Member
MisterPenguin said:
In order to keep Splash Mountain from being associated with what Disney is acknowledging is a racist movie, Song of the South; Splash Mountain 'whitewashed' the stories to remove them from Uncle Remus. In doing so, the folktales of the ride no longer have a connections to the American Slaves or their original African folk tales.

So, what do you mean by African-American folklore? There's nothing in the ride that tells you it's African-American (originally, African).

So, you know what we call taking a culture's stories and presenting them devoid of their origin as if they were just our shared American heritage: Cultural Appropriation.

By avoiding connections with one form of racism, Disney stumbled into another.
Click to expand...
That doesn't make any sense. Black people didn't tell Uncle Remus stories, they told Brother Rabbit stories. Remus is just the narrator created by the white author that appropriated the tales. In the ride, the narrator is clearly Brother Frog, voiced by James Avery, who is black.
 
NateD1226

NateD1226

Well-Known Member
drcasey said:
I am sick over this. When I saw the news I literally felt like I was going to vomit. Splash Mountain is classic Disney. I may seriously be done with them
Click to expand...
1593127447920.png
 
cookiee_munster

cookiee_munster

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
This post is probably going to be strongly disagreed with and lost in the barrage of posts on this issue, but I feel its worth sharing and explaining a few aspects regarding my opinions on this.

You should be able to look back on my post history and see that I was pretty strongly against most attraction rethemes: from Frozenstrom to Guardians. Out of the recent string of ride rethemes that Disney has done, I can genuinely say that this one bohers me the least by a pretty sizable margin. Enough to the point where I'm not just tolerating it, but supporting it. So... why? This seems like something that, based on my track record, I should be strongly opposed to. To make this a little easier, I'm going to compare it to another operating attraction at MK with some in poor taste cultural depictions and talk about how that could/should change and how that does and does not apply to Splash Mountain's case.

For the sake of this post, I will be comparing Splash Mountain with the Jungle Cruise. For starters, Jungle Cruise has a more clearly problematic portrayal of African people in the attraction, as seen in the head hunters section, where stereotypical "savage" images are used as a threat to comedic effect. Thankfully, this could easily be corrected by removing this one section and replacing it with another gimmick, maybe bring in the pirañas from DL or something. Regardless, it is one part of a larger attraction.

Splash Mountain is clearly different, in that its racist moments are not at all explicitly found in the attraction; in fact, the attraction even tries to hastily cover up some of the problematic moments ported over from the films. As one of many examples, Brer Rabbit's capture with the beehive honey is intended to replicate his capture with the "tar baby" (the name alone should throw up about five red flags). Or there is the way that Brer Rabbit is meant to evoke the mannerisms and actions of a slave (African-American Vernacular and all) while Brer Fox is effectively a white slave owner of the time. Finally, one of the most unknown offenders is the iconic song itself "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah" which is derived from blackface performances intended to actively mock the African-American population. The ties to racism is so intertwined with the attraction that it would be impossible to modify in the same way as Jungle Cruise. For JC you just get a new scene' for Splash Mountain, take away the way the Brers are presented, some of the tropes from the film, and the song, and you barely have a ride left. At that point, if you remove that, there has to be a conscious effort to keep Song of the South involved, which I can guarantee there is next to no desire to do.

As for "why Princess and the Frog?" it's really the only IP that could easily slip into both mountains. Sure it's a stretch in Frontierland, but so was Song of the South. As for the "yes, but why not keep Splash Mountain and give Tiana her own ride?" crowd: Splash Mountain was on borrowed time due to its irremovable ties to racist symbols, and (at least at DLR) there wasn't really a good spot to give Tiana her own ride. Really this kills two birds with one stone (and we don't have to see some god-awful visuals of Splash being demolished Horizons-style.

I know Splash is a sentimental favorite for many, but if we want a better future we need to account for past mistakes. Letting a ride that has inherent ties to racist portrayals of African-Americans would not let that happen.


As kind of a P.S., I've seen a lot of people suggest that Tony Baxter was forced into being involved with this. I have had it confirmed by different people that he wasn't, and that he was asked and he elected to be involved with this.
Click to expand...

I could not agree with this anymore if i tried! :D

I think the only negative thing i find with the whole project is them saying this has been in development since last year. Why can't they just admit its a response to the current (and progressive) climate we now all live in.

I watched a POV just the other day, and as whimsical as it was, i thought to myself if the ride did have a retheme it wouldn't loose it's splash elements and huge drop it would still be a great ride, regardless of whatever IP the ride has.

So i guess "zip a dee doo dah" is now going away too?
 
Dan Deesnee

Dan Deesnee

Well-Known Member
Start preparing yourselves now for the destruction of Peter Pan Flight, Tiki Room, Jingle Cruise, and who knows what else.

Disney Will be unrecognizable in 5 years. Nobody gives in to these Social Media lunatics like Disney. They've set a terrible precedent and now they will pay the price. As fans, will we just sit back and watch as our beloved rides disappear? Take to social media and push back.

https://www.ign.com/articles/jungle-cruise-ride-redesign-disney-splash-mountain-criticism
 
Horizons1

Horizons1

Well-Known Member
Magic Feather said:
This post is probably going to be strongly disagreed with and lost in the barrage of posts on this issue, but I feel its worth sharing and explaining a few aspects regarding my opinions on this.

You should be able to look back on my post history and see that I was pretty strongly against most attraction rethemes: from Frozenstrom to Guardians. Out of the recent string of ride rethemes that Disney has done, I can genuinely say that this one bohers me the least by a pretty sizable margin. Enough to the point where I'm not just tolerating it, but supporting it. So... why? This seems like something that, based on my track record, I should be strongly opposed to. To make this a little easier, I'm going to compare it to another operating attraction at MK with some in poor taste cultural depictions and talk about how that could/should change and how that does and does not apply to Splash Mountain's case.

For the sake of this post, I will be comparing Splash Mountain with the Jungle Cruise. For starters, Jungle Cruise has a more clearly problematic portrayal of African people in the attraction, as seen in the head hunters section, where stereotypical "savage" images are used as a threat to comedic effect. Thankfully, this could easily be corrected by removing this one section and replacing it with another gimmick, maybe bring in the pirañas from DL or something. Regardless, it is one part of a larger attraction.

Splash Mountain is clearly different, in that its racist moments are not at all explicitly found in the attraction; in fact, the attraction even tries to hastily cover up some of the problematic moments ported over from the films. As one of many examples, Brer Rabbit's capture with the beehive honey is intended to replicate his capture with the "tar baby" (the name alone should throw up about five red flags). Or there is the way that Brer Rabbit is meant to evoke the mannerisms and actions of a slave (African-American Vernacular and all) while Brer Fox is effectively a white slave owner of the time. Finally, one of the most unknown offenders is the iconic song itself "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah" which is derived from blackface performances intended to actively mock the African-American population. The ties to racism is so intertwined with the attraction that it would be impossible to modify in the same way as Jungle Cruise. For JC you just get a new scene' for Splash Mountain, take away the way the Brers are presented, some of the tropes from the film, and the song, and you barely have a ride left. At that point, if you remove that, there has to be a conscious effort to keep Song of the South involved, which I can guarantee there is next to no desire to do.

As for "why Princess and the Frog?" it's really the only IP that could easily slip into both mountains. Sure it's a stretch in Frontierland, but so was Song of the South. As for the "yes, but why not keep Splash Mountain and give Tiana her own ride?" crowd: Splash Mountain was on borrowed time due to its irremovable ties to racist symbols, and (at least at DLR) there wasn't really a good spot to give Tiana her own ride. Really this kills two birds with one stone (and we don't have to see some god-awful visuals of Splash being demolished Horizons-style.

I know Splash is a sentimental favorite for many, but if we want a better future we need to account for past mistakes. Letting a ride that has inherent ties to racist portrayals of African-Americans would not let that happen.


As kind of a P.S., I've seen a lot of people suggest that Tony Baxter was forced into being involved with this. I have had it confirmed by different people that he wasn't, and that he was asked and he elected to be involved with this.
Click to expand...
Man, I would hate to live in the world some of the posts on here portray. People are so intent in finding racism in every single place they can imagine. It’s a ride about a rabbit running away from a fox and a bear. YOU are the one associating Brer Fox with a white slave owner...I can’t even type that with a straight face.

I love your post because it beautifully highlights so much of the racism and ignorance that the people crying about being “woke” actually conduct themselves while screaming everyone that is not on their side is racist.
 
Last edited:
D

DarkMetroid567

Well-Known Member
I've seen the real tired sentiment echoed that "if you don't support the ride being re-themed then you will be called RACIST!"

not only has that Not happened, but there's literally nothing wrong with being sad the ride is going away. What is gross is lashing out in hatred, vitriol, and name-calling because you're a brat who isn't getting your way.
 
Brer Oswald

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Horizons1 said:
Man, I would hate to live in the world some of the posts on here portray. People are so intent in finding racism in every single place they can imagine. It’s a ride about a rabbit running away from a fox and a bear. YOU are the one associating Brer Fox with a white slave owner...I can’t even type that with a straight face.
Click to expand...
We call people who find inappropriate things in innocent places “Dirty Minded”. What’s the term for those who find racism in innocent things?
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
I would like to remind everyone of the terms and conditions of posting here.

Terms and rules

Specifically:

Be courteous and respect your fellow members. To be clear, personal attacks, aggressive messages, and passive-aggressive behavior is unacceptable. If you take particular issue with another user and are unable to reply in a civilised and constructive way to their posts, you should ignore the user.

Everyone can have a different view, and everyone can have a say - that is OK. What is not OK, is to to launch into attack mode against anything you don't agree with. If anyone can't follow this simple request they will be prevented from taking part in this discussion.

I have been forced to remove more than 200 posts so far that are simply unacceptable, all in the space of a few hours. That is not the WDWMAGIC community that I know.

Thank you to those of you who are behaving like sensible adults and expressing your views in a calm and controlled manner.
 
MisterPenguin

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Dapper Dan said:
That doesn't make any sense. Black people didn't tell Uncle Remus stories, they told Brother Rabbit stories. Remus is just the narrator created by the white author that appropriated the tales. In the ride, the narrator is clearly Brother Frog, voiced by James Avery, who is black.
Click to expand...

*In the ride* they got rid of Uncle Remus to avoid association with SotS's racism. So, *in the ride* there is no connection of the stories to their cultural roots. That is cultural appropriation.

It was a damned if they do and damned if they don't situation... other than not trying to whitewash a racist movie to begin with and just used anything else other than SotS.
 
Last edited:
BigDlover

BigDlover

Well-Known Member
cookiee_munster said:
I think the only negative thing i find with the whole project is them saying this has been in development since last year. Why can't they just admit its a response to the current (and progressive) climate we now all live in.
Click to expand...
Seriously. I'm not going to complain about it bc in the end they are doing something good but I don't understand why they did that either. It must be their way of trying to keep politics out of it as much as possible. I mean look around here at the meltdowns 😂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

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

Back
Top Bottom