March 5, 2008

The actual world needs better writers

Posted by Arcane Gazebo at March 5, 2008 10:43 AM

I must confess that I don't share Cory Doctorow's intense interest in all things Disney-related, and as a result I tend to skip past the (many, many) Boing Boing posts on this subject. However, his co-blogger Mark Frauenfelder posted one today that caught my eye, about planned changes to the classic "It's a Small World" ride:

[T]he gorgeous New Guinea rainforest scene, replete with some of Mary Blair’s most whimsical character creations (a crocodile with an umbrella, colorful birds hatching from eggs) and her drummer children with Tiki Masks on the opposite shore will be replaced with a Hooray for U.S.A sequence.

Now, I don't have any particular attachment to this ride. But, this kind of thing makes me wonder if we're living in a fictional world, and the writers are on strike. I mean, imagine if you saw a movie where some evil executive takes control of a Disney-like corporation and, to establish his character, the film has him modifying a Small World-like ride by tearing down the rainforest and replacing it with a nationalistic display. We'd all laugh (or cringe) at such a heavy-handed metaphor. It would be like that movie with the ultra-militaristic U.S. vice president who actually shot a guy in the face while hunting. Yeah, we get it. His poor judgement and belligerence caused him to attack the wrong target. Subtle.

In conclusion, reality has excellent, immersive visuals and sound, but terrible writing. I give it two stars out of five.

Tags: Culture
Comments

I never liked that ride, but this is just made of suck and lose. Of course, I never forgave Disneyland for getting rid of the "Inner Space" ride. :)

Posted by: Mason | March 5, 2008 2:13 PM

wow it amazes me how low we can sink as a country that disney would see the need to do this...

Posted by: shellock | March 5, 2008 2:45 PM

Doesn't Disney have a park in France? Will that one be getting a Vive la France ride?

While I love the metaphor, why assume the writers are on strike? I could easily imagine Hollywood using scenes like that, if they hadn't happened on recent-ish episodes of Earth.

Posted by: Justin | March 5, 2008 3:40 PM

Not jiving with the love of Disneyland is one thing, but have you read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom? That book made me share every bit of his fascination, at least while reading it. Really fun, cute book.

Oh, and lethargy be my savior. I'm surprised I'm not more peeved at this, considering how big of a deal it was for us to go on that particular ride any time we went to Disneyland.

Posted by: Lemming | March 5, 2008 4:50 PM

When Disney executives went to China to see about opening a park there, they took with them, as presents for their Chinese hosts, green hats- to underscore their commitment to the environment. However, when presented with the hats the Chinese steadfastly refused to put them on and would have nothing to do with them whatsoever.

Turns out, in China, "wearing a green hat" is a euphemism for having been cuckolded. True story.

Posted by: JSpur | March 6, 2008 10:38 AM

so... I'm supposed to leave a comment here re this blog-meme; you may be interested in continuing it: http://fliptomato.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/a-blogomeme/ and http://metadatta.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/meme/

Posted by: sujit | March 9, 2008 11:39 PM
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