ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
They’re doing that anyway. Been to DAK or DHS lately? By 2021, CMs will wear scrubs and Crocs. I sense sponsorship potential!
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News The 'Disney Look' to be further relaxed at Walt Disney World
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Mouse Trap
Well-Known Member
I love the costumes, but I realize they're real (underpaid) people beneath those costumes first and small bits of personal appearance choice don't matter nearly as much to me as it may matter to them.
Again, I used this example earlier... should we ban non-slip shoes in parts of the park where they may not have existed in their era? What about sneakers all together? Watches? Eyeglasses? Hearing aids?
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Have you been living under a rock? It absolutely has..
Read a fascinating article recently about how everything we wear is athleisure. What was considered professional in the 50s was athleisure from the early 1900s. What is professional today was athleisure from the 80s... It's a cycle.
I agree with this in general.. However, I don't think the wearing of modest jewelry or cleanly-kept facial hair falls into this.
I manage software development teams for a living. I am Gen X (barely), and fairly clean cut/professional by any standard. But if I set my own standards as my hiring practices, I wouldn't have any employees under 40. That's just the reality of the workforce today.
This isn't a big deal.
bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
I never said I don’t care about details. I care about details in a lot of places. I care about animatronics working and good paint jobs and cohesive fireworks and the list goes on. But I’m ok with CMs getting to have a small amount of personal expression.
The majority of them work hard for crap money and if wearing likely subtle jewelry or getting to wear a slightly longer beard brings them a little happiness, I’m fine with it. This policy change isn’t going to make CMs go wild because people are generally normal, Florida is hot, and necklaces/bracelets are sweaty extras. And again it’s not like management will not be allowed some scrutiny. I doubt you’re going to notice much change... unless you’re looking for it, in which case more power to you. I’m not going to be.
We generally agree on things, but in this case, I personally do not view this a a ‘declining by degree’ thing, to reference a long lost Spirit.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
I admit, there practical matters to consider, like eyeglasses, hearing aids, etc, but we are talking about bracelets and necklaces, which have no practical purposes (unless they are a medical ID). Control the details you can control. I have spend years in community theater and have no problem telling an actor they can't ware a wedding ring on stage if their character isn't married.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
The hypocrisy of Disney has been on display for a long time concerning this. Clean shaven or Beard, jewelry or none, how can they be so concerned about that when one of there own, famous imagineers, that constantly has massive public exposure while his earlobe is dragging on the ground. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if he has it other then for the fact that he is about 100 years old trying to be a teenager. Someone needs to tell him that no one thinks he is anything other then ridiculous looking. And he is going to trip over it someday and probably break a hip!
danlb_2000
Premium Member
Again, it's a shame people don't care about the details anymore.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
I would wholeheartedly welcome more authentic costumes. I’d even welcome someone going full Wyatt Earp if they worked in Frontierland. Slip resistant shoes are a matter of safety, but Disney should allow more styles and colors that are better coordinated with the costumes. Sunglasses are exactly the sort of personal accessory that has become permissible that can often detract from the costume.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I wear a bracelet because I had an injury 8 years ago that required a skin graft from my wrist. The scare unfortunately gives the impression that I attempted suicide. I grew tired of uncouth people asking me how many times I tried and if I loved myself. So...bracelet. But I assure you I’m qualified to earn $11/hr to send honey pots into the 100 Acre Wood. Most CMs are not literally characters in their respective attractions. Managers can use their discretion to say, “ok, he wants to wear this. I won’t send him to these specific attractions where that would be distracting.” I doubt we will see HM butlers with crucifix necklaces visible over their costumes.
bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
I said I care about details. Please don’t ignore the rest of what I posted. And though I care, it doesn’t mean I can’t make an exception once in a while. And truthfully I still care about the costumes. I can just let the tiny amounts of jewelry go. I know I’m not going to notice one bracelet. I’m not gonna to try to look for it.
I’ll leave it with this seems silly to me. And if a theoretical pink bracelet ruins it for you, I truly don’t know what to tell you, but it’s ok, it’s your vacation. *shrug*
Kram Sacul
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
danlb_2000
Premium Member
The problem is not any one small detail, it's the sum total of all the lost details.
danlb_2000
Premium Member
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Is that why the WDWRR is down all year? They let a shady guy with stubble drive it? Gosh darnit, Mitchell!
The whole point of the Disney look was so that cast members didn't "detract" from the show and become the show themselves. Examples of this would be unshaven beatniks in the 50s and hippies in the late 60s with long beards and hair. Alas, as time has gone on what we consider "appropriate" has changed drastically, along with a far more diverse workforce, comprised of people from many different nationalities and religions. Frankly the Disney Look was originally designed when the on-stage workforce was mostly white Anglo-Saxons.
Disney, as a progressive employer, must work to ensure the needs of their business are met without being too regressive in their Disney Look policies and continuing to embrace diversity in their workforce.
Complicating this is the fact the company has drastically underpaid its theme park employees and exhausted the labor pool in central Florida, which has resulted in a more dire need for talent and this has led to a relaxing of some standards with time (ie cornrows and goatees became allowed in the early aughts).
The policy has ALWAYS applied to on-stage, working cast only - not creative executives. Walt himself had a mustache when they weren't allowed per the Disney Look. He thought he looked "debonaire" with one.
Disney, as a progressive employer, must work to ensure the needs of their business are met without being too regressive in their Disney Look policies and continuing to embrace diversity in their workforce.
Complicating this is the fact the company has drastically underpaid its theme park employees and exhausted the labor pool in central Florida, which has resulted in a more dire need for talent and this has led to a relaxing of some standards with time (ie cornrows and goatees became allowed in the early aughts).
The policy has ALWAYS applied to on-stage, working cast only - not creative executives. Walt himself had a mustache when they weren't allowed per the Disney Look. He thought he looked "debonaire" with one.
Plenty of Morbidly Obese people are not hired because they are in fact not seen as healthy. Many more would /have been turned away in previous years. It may not always be the right thing to do, but people do judge presentation as they do confidence in interviews and placement. It actually goes more in line with being less strict on standards as others have said, to widen talent pool. You can have a small nose stud now at Universal.
Also a thing in public education. I do not automatically think that a teacher having a visible tattoo and or nose stud makes them a bad person, but I can tell you a parent and guardian of the children's preference would be. Appropriate and innapropriate gets thrown around a lot as a euphemism or terms for dirty or obscene, but it really does mean a time and a place.
phillip9698
Well-Known Member
It's not as if people are pushing for Gaston to have a Mohawk and neck beard.
Its completely laughable that someone would even begin to argue that a CM working the Pirates gift shop is out of character with a beard. When roaming the frontier it's that baby smooth shave that makes all the difference in character believability, right.
Mouse Trap
Well-Known Member
Totally understood, but working at a theme park is not theatre, film or television. I'm not sure why the comparison keeps getting drawn (not just you)? We're comparing art to general labor. Just because employees are given dolled up names and referred to cast members does not mean they should be treated as if they are in show business.
I'd love for everything to be 100% thematically accurate and buttoned up. But I realize it's not feasible anymore. Gone are the days where people want to work for organizations where suits and ties are the norm as well as a 9-5PM and this sort of expectation has trickled down to all sorts of labor including low paying jobs. Disney doesn't pay enough or provide enough benefits to attract a mass amount of labor with strict requirements across the board, so they've adapted and conformed where necessary. While not in the same capacity, I myself cut an interview in Burbank short a few years ago because Disney at the time had no flexibility on scheduling or WFH which I've had for most of my career.