Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
The Harlem Renaissance would make some sense (although not entirely), but the mural really doesn’t evoke any of the relevant artwork I can find or with which I was familiar. The mural feels very 60s/70s to me.
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News Tiana's Bayou Adventure - latest details and construction progress
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
The mural seems very consistent with the usual style of the artist, Malaika Favorite, and I don't think she herself is trying to evoke any specific historical moment. If there is any attempted evocation of the Harlem Renaissance at play (and I'm less convinced by the idea than when I first posted about it), it is coming from the Imagineers' decision to select her as the artist.
My sense now is that the mural isn't really meant to be rooted in, or conjure up, the period in which the ride is set. Rather, it is meant to encapsulate the feel of the attraction, much as Splash Mountain's equally anachronistic sign used to:
The mural, of course, is much more extensive than the sign, and so presents a bigger disturbance to the theming. I'm OK with it based on what we've seen so far, but I can see why it's a controversial move.
Casper Gutman
Well-Known Member
The sign was consistent with broader Magic Kingdom sign conventions even if it was incongruous if we took Splash as literal (and not “theme park”) reality. The issue with the mural is that it doesn’t really fit from any particular perspective.The mural seems very consistent with the usual style of the artist, Malaika Favorite, and I don't think she herself is trying to evoke any specific historical moment. If there is any attempted evocation of the Harlem Renaissance at play (and I'm less convinced by the idea than when I first posted about it), it is coming from the Imagineers' decision to select her as the artist.
My sense now is that the mural isn't really meant to be rooted in, or conjure up, the period in which the ride is set. Rather, it is meant to encapsulate the feel of the attraction, much as Splash Mountain's equally anachronistic sign used to:
The mural, of course, is much more extensive than the sign, and so presents a bigger disturbance to the theming. I'm OK with it based on what we've seen so far, but I can see why it's a controversial move.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I agree with your first sentence; I'm less sure of my position as regards the second. I feel I need to experience the attraction first before deciding whether the mural is an appropriate visual announcement of it. It's tucked away enough (from my perspective) that I don't think it'll introduce any real visual/stylistic discord into Frontierland as a whole.
Ayla
Well-Known Member
It all depends on how confident they are in the timeline of finishing by a certain date.
TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
I did do some digging into this as I was curious. There was the New Orleans Renaissance going on in the 1920s and then more broadly in the first half of the 20th century there was the Southern Modern movement which did create art that feels similar to that - though I will say most examples I found that seemed similar were more from the 1930s and 40s
For example, this is from 1941
So it feels more inspired by what was starting to go on in that time, but not yet typical (which feels similar to the rest of the cenpts for the ride which are a bit ahead of their time/not common but also not totally outlandish)
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Examples please?
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
I think the bright, saturated colors and inclusion of actual Disney characters (Louis) is adding to the anachronistic feel.
Using earthier tones, as in the example above, and having animals drawn in another style would go a long way.
Not having a hard edge at the top and bottom would also make it look more like it was hand painted and less like a decal.
CinematicFusion
Well-Known Member
All Disney has to do is make it 10 times better then the All Time classic splash mountain ride… (maybe one of the greatest rides ever) and Disney will be fine.
Disney pulls another journey into imagination reimagining face plant and the struggles for Disney from 2023 will continue.
Disney pulls another journey into imagination reimagining face plant and the struggles for Disney from 2023 will continue.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
Why hire a new Orleans artist at all for this... The mural does not evoke the timeplace or setting, it does not further the storyline or evoke the film... it was an expensive add-on just to be able to say Hey Look we hired an artist from New Orleans, look how authentic....though it is the wrong style from the wrong time period... What always made the Disney thematic settings wasn't necessarily how literal they were, but how evocative they were...How they could transport you to a different time and place...evoking the setting VS literally trying to recreate it... The fake trees and the bayou-fication of the mountain are fine to me...it is gestural, makes sense, and I understand it as placemaking... The fact that no one seems to get the mural shows that it is not necessarily evocative...It sure doesn't make me think of the time and place the ride is supposedly set... quite the opposite.
Now excuse me while I go contact Banksy to do the murals for the Mary Poppins attraction in EPCOT....
Now excuse me while I go contact Banksy to do the murals for the Mary Poppins attraction in EPCOT....
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Goofy Ninja
Well-Known Member
I would have rather seen Tiana go somewhere else, like Fantasyland or her own land somewhere else. The ride just doesn't make any sense in Frontierland. It still won't, even if they do change the whole left side to New Orleans (Pecos, etc).
They'd just be messing up 2 lands in the process and making each of them way too small. Sightline wise it is awful as well, you're not supposed to have two large mountains, for separate lands be that close to one another.
They'd just be messing up 2 lands in the process and making each of them way too small. Sightline wise it is awful as well, you're not supposed to have two large mountains, for separate lands be that close to one another.
Snow Queen 83
Well-Known Member
Someone brought up an interesting idea (I forget who lol). They said they should change the name of the land to "Critter Country". This way it is a more inclusive name for Tiana, Country Bears and the rest of the gang. The section would no longer have to be just about the Old West.
_caleb
Well-Known Member
About 100 pages ago, I fell down a rabbit hole of research into this. For starters, Malaika Favorite is an artist with her own distinct style. I believe she was selected for the TBA mural because her current work is evocative of a particular African American movement in the southern U.S. stretching from the 1900s to today.
From Reconstruction to the Civil Rights era, the movement of self-taught (for obvious reasons) artists known as memory painters who used traditional folk art colors, styles, and techniques to chronicle life events (like funerals, weddings, births, harvests, etc.) in the post-war South. Until photography became more accessible to African Americans, this is how much of their history was recorded. These artists are considered storytellers.
One of the most famous of these was Clementine Hunter (active a bit later than 1920s, but part of the same movement and style). Her work was often painted on found objects (no money for canvases) called childish and amateurish by critics, but has since come to be seen as exemplary of the movement:
Another example would be Sister Gertrude Morgan:
The earliest were people like Bill Traylor, who were born enslaved but later became free to depict life from their own perspectives. The movement ran deep in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Carolinas, but spread north during the Great Migration. You can see some of the same colors and imagery that became so prominent in the Harlem Renaissance (which @LittleBuford has pointed out).
I don't believe the TBA mural was done to imitate this style, I think Favorite was just being consistent with her own style. But hers has its place in a long and sacred tradition that would be consistent with what Imagineers seem to be going for: community memory folk art in the African American tradition.
Is it too much of a reach for WDI to go in a direction like this and expect audiences to dissociate the style from more contemporary versions drawn from the same inspiration? Maybe. Or maybe this is a good way to build in the authenticity they say they're committed to when representing cultures in their attractions and films.
Attachments
I did my Internet research a while ago, and couldn't find examples of that type of art that was typical for the early 20th century. I'm guessing they're going for modern Orleans on the outside for some reason.
Unfortunately, I can't spin this into period-appropriate art. I guess I'm an awful shill.
Anyhoo... here was my previous post (with pictures!)...
plutofan15
Well-Known Member
Or maybe we wait until the attraction is complete before being judgenmental.
𝕴𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖊𝖗97
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Why didn't anyone care when people criticized Tron or Guardians and their giant showbuildings when they were being built? Some on this board, whether they're on Disney's payroll or not, seem to see it as their full-time job to defend this attraction against any criticism, even of the slightest amount. I've never really seen anything like it.
plutofan15
Well-Known Member
I think it is asinine all the complaints made on any attraction/hotel or any project during construction. Many on this forum think they are all knowing experts, it is sad really. I prefer to wait until any project is complete and I see it in person before passing judgement.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I suspect there’s a feeling amongst some of these creatives that PatF was problematic because 1) Tiana didn’t dream big enough, 2) she was defined as a character relative to her relationship, and 3) she was a frog for most of the film.
Surely the long-gestating production of the D+ series which has gone through multiple creative leads and still does not have a clear release date will improve on the character.