Archive for the ‘Culture Wars’ Category

A new Disney ride opens June 28, splashing right out of the culture wars – KSL.com

ORLANDO, Fla. A ride based on the story of Disney's first Black princess opens to the public on June 28 in Orlando, Florida, replacing the decades-old Splash Mountain attraction that was beloved by many Disney fans yet also widely criticized.

Walt Disney World's new ride, inspired by the movie "The Princess and the Frog" and its heroine Tiana, is currently in preview mode for groups including employees and annual passholders and has already elicited mixed reactions in the midst of the culture wars.

The structure of the log-flume ride has not changed, but the theme has been completely redone four years after Disney first announced the project in 2020, during the same season of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.

The original Splash Mountain ride which first opened at Disneyland in 1989, and at Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland in 1992 was based on characters from "Song of the South," a 1946 Disney movie that has long been criticized as racist for its stereotypical portrayals of African Americans and a romanticized view of the antebellum South.

Turning Splash Mountain into Tiana's Bayou Adventure is also happening at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, with an opening date yet to be announced. Tokyo Disneyland is also home to a Splash Mountain ride, but the theme in that location is not changing.

Disney has kept "Song of the South" from being re-released and has even kept the movie off its streaming platform, Disney+.

Victoria Wade, a theme park content creator, got to try Tiana's Bayou Adventure in early June as a guest of an employee.

Wade, who is Black, told CNN it was powerful to finally experience a Disney attraction where the characters look like her.

"I got very emotional immediately towards the finale scene of the ride in particular it was just nice to be seen," she said.

She added that she would have loved to see that kind of representation when she was a child. For her little cousins and the children she babysits, "They can just go there and see themselves in a positive light in a positive representation. So it just, it warmed my heart. It was just like, finally, we had to beg for all these years for this to happen. And it's finally happened."

While fans have agreed that the new technology on the ride, including projection mapping and the fluidity of characters' movements, is far superior to the prior version, criticism has centered around lack of plot.

Disney has said that the ride's story takes place chronologically after the movie ends and involves Princess Tiana inviting guests to a big celebration in the bayou.

Jack Kendall, host of the theme park fan podcast DSNY, also experienced the new ride recently as a guest of an employee.

He said that for an attraction based on the suspense of a 50-foot drop, "there's no kind of antagonist within the attraction to have that kind of push and pull of that trepidation building up the lift hill and going down the other side," noting that people are saying "there's no real story to it."

Kendall added, "To be honest, it's a lovely collection of scenes, of show scenes, very beautifully put together, but there's not really much of an impetus for why we're going on this journey now."

But online vitriol has sometimes gone far beyond the merits of the ride.

Several petitions on change.org over the years have attempted to "save" Splash Mountain.

One such petition organized by Eric Thibeault stated: "It is absurd to pander to a small group of 'Disney haters' that dont (sic) understand the story, and re-theme such a nostalgic ride. The characters in Splash Mountain do not specifically generalize any race or group of people, they are nothing more than caricatures based on the turn-of-the-century America.

"Modifying Splash Mountain will not change history and will only encourage the 'easily offended' to continue making desperate attempts at finding offense in additional attractions."

Disney has rethemed or modified old rides before, garnering similar attention from fans who resisted change. In recent years, for example, a woman in red featured in a Pirates of the Caribbean ride scene was changed from a wench "for sale" to a pistol-carrying pirate.

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A new Disney ride opens June 28, splashing right out of the culture wars - KSL.com

A new Disney ride opens soon, splashing right out of the culture wars – AOL

A ride based on the story of Disneys first Black princess opens to the public on June 28 in Orlando, Florida, replacing the decades-old Splash Mountain attraction that was beloved by many Disney fans yet also widely criticized.

Walt Disney Worlds new ride, inspired by the movie The Princess and the Frog and its heroine Tiana, is currently in preview mode for groups including employees and annual passholders and has already elicited mixed reactions in the midst of the culture wars.

The structure of the log-flume ride has not changed, but the theme has been completely redone four years after Disney first announced the project in 2020, during the same season of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.

The original Splash Mountain ride which first opened at Disneyland in 1989, and at Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland in 1992 was based on characters from Song of the South, a 1946 Disney movie that has long been criticized as racist for its stereotypical portrayals of African Americans and a romanticized view of the antebellum South.

Turning Splash Mountain into Tianas Bayou Adventure is also happening at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, with an opening date yet to be announced. Tokyo Disneyland is also home to a Splash Mountain ride, but the theme in that location is not changing.

Disney has kept Song of the South from being re-released and has even kept the movie off its streaming platform, Disney+.

Victoria Wade, a theme park content creator, got to try Tianas Bayou Adventure in early June as a guest of an employee.

Wade, who is Black, told CNN it was powerful to finally experience a Disney attraction where the characters look like her.

I got very emotional immediately towards the finale scene of the ride in particular it was just nice to be seen,she said.

She added that she would have loved to see that kind of representation when she was a child. For her little cousins and the children she babysits, They can just go there and see themselves in a positive light in a positive representation. So it just, it warmed my heart. It was just like, finally, we had to beg for all these years for this to happen. And its finally happened.

Wade said she found the scenes colorful and vibrant, and she could tell how much the Disney team had researchedLouisiana culture to create the new theme.

You can even see bits and pieces of that within the queue, Wade said, referring to the area where riders wait in line and see fictional letters written during World War I, when Princess Tianas father, James, served in the military.

In a blog post, Disney has said the photos that served as reference for the expanded backstory of James were those of soldiers who served in 369th Regiment, one of the first African American regiments to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. This unit was renowned for its bravery and many members were awarded the prestigious Croix de Guerre medal by the French government for their valiant service in action.

That reference had special significance for Disneys project lead Charita Carter, whose father served in the US Air Force.

She and a team of Disney staff had visited New Orleans to create an authentic visual style for the ride. They met with Stella Reese Chase, whose mother Leah Chase was a renowned New Orleans chef and TV personality.

Chase visited Walt Disney Imagineering in April alongside CNN and other mediato see this rides advanced animatronics, the likes of which had yet to debut in a US Disney park.

As Chase watched Princess Tiana wave and talk for the first time in 3D, she said, Im just amazed, you know. What can I say? Ive never seen anything like it. This is really a wild experience.

While fans have agreed that the new technology on the ride, including projection mapping and the fluidity of characters movements, is far superior to the prior version, criticism has centered around lack of plot.

Disney has said that the rides story takes place chronologically after the movie ends and involves Princess Tiana inviting guests to a big celebration in the bayou.

Jack Kendall, host of the theme park fan podcast DSNY, also experienced the new ride recently as a guest of an employee.

He said that for an attraction based on the suspense of a 50-foot drop, theres no kind of antagonist within the attraction to have that kind of push and pull of that trepidation building up the lift hill and going down the other side, noting that people are saying theres no real story to it.

Kendall added, To be honest, its a lovely collection of scenes, of show scenes, very beautifully put together, but theres not really much of an impetus for why were going on this journey now.

But online vitriol has sometimes gone far beyond the merits of the ride.

Several petitions on change.org over the years have attempted to save Splash Mountain.

One such petition organized by Eric Thibeault stated: It is absurd to pander to a small group of Disney haters that dont [sic] understand the story, and re-theme such a nostalgic ride. The characters in Splash Mountain do not specifically generalize any race or group of people, they are nothing more than caricatures based on the turn-of-the-century America.

Modifying Splash Mountain will not change history and will only encourage the easily offended to continue making desperate attempts at finding offence in additional attractions.

Disney has rethemed or modified old rides before, garnering similar attention from fans who resisted change. In recent years, for example, a woman in red featured in a Pirates of the Caribbean ride scene was changed from a wench for sale to a pistol-carrying pirate.

Kendall said that the opening of the rethemed rideis a culmination of the culture wars in which the Disney company has been entangled over the last several years, including a battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over a controversial bill that restricts certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom.

He said he thinks that those who were upset at losing the Splash Mountain theme had largely already decided they would dislike the new theme.

If you took the attraction of Tianas Bayou Adventure, all the theming, all the scenes, all the technology behind it, and put it in its own new attraction building, people wouldnt be speaking about this attraction like they are, Kendallsaid.

Theyd be saying its fantastic. One of the best things that Disneys done But its because its being somewhat unfairly compared to what was there before. So I think thats where a lot of this online discourse is coming from.

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A new Disney ride opens soon, splashing right out of the culture wars - AOL

Stand up or sit down: are culture wars changing the way brands support Pride? | shots – Shots

Its that wonderful time of the year again.Rainbows are everywhere and much of the world takes a moment to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

Like clockwork, brands also look to show their support for Pride month with rainbow logos and branding. While, I admit, this has never been the most effective marketing tactic, advertisers now find themselves navigating a cultural and political landscape that is turbulent at best.

A month once celebrated in the corporate world, we are now observing even the loudest and proudest brands going silent amid boycotts strong enough to impact brand image and revenue even a year down the line, due to shifting political landscapes against LGBTQ+ communities in the US, and a growing backlash among fringe groups.

The threat of being the centre of a culture war means brands are rethinking their role in Pride. This could mean a shift from stand-out purpose-driven marketing back to a focus on value proposition and quiet campaigning.

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Stand up or sit down: are culture wars changing the way brands support Pride? | shots - Shots

A new Disney ride opens soon, splashing right out of the culture wars – The Albany Herald

(CNN) A ride based on the story of Disneys first Black princess opens to the public on June 28 in Orlando, Florida, replacing the decades-old Splash Mountain attraction that was beloved by many Disney fans yet also widely criticized.

Walt Disney Worlds new ride, inspired by the movie The Princess and the Frog and its heroine Tiana, is currently in preview mode for groups including employees and annual passholders and has already elicited mixed reactions in the midst of the culture wars.

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A new Disney ride opens soon, splashing right out of the culture wars - The Albany Herald

Keir Starmer will not end the culture war – Spiked

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to end the culture war if he becomes the UKs next prime minister.

Speaking to the Huffington Post yesterday, the Labour leader lamented that the public is exhausted by culture wars. The Tories have got nowhere else to go but this divisive culture-war area, and I do think that if we do win the election, I do want it to be a reset moment for politics, he said.

You can certainly understand why Labour might be keen to play down the culture war during the General Election. After all, Labours positions on all manner of cultural issues from the trans debate to racial identity politics have tended to place it on the wrong side of public opinion, common decency and objective reality in recent years.

Indeed, even when the allegedly sensible Starmer has tried to sit on the fence, he has ended up impaling himself on it. Who could forget his outlandish claim last year that 99.9 per cent of women dont have a penis? This was supposed to be a compromise between sex realists (who correctly say that no women have penises) and trans extremists (who say that people with penises can be women if they identify as such). But it still implied that potentially one in 1,000 women could well have a penis. Go figure!

Starmers promise to end the culture war should not be seen as some kind of peace offering to the unwoke. It is not as if Labour has seen the light on these issues and will now leave us all alone.

In truth, when Starmer says he will end the culture war, what he really means is that he will have zero tolerance for this kind of pushback. The woke will be free to run amok in our public institutions, but any dissent will be silenced, ignored or condemned. To this end, Labour has even mooted making it a crime to misgender that is, accurately describe the sex of trans people, which would make it harder still to defend womens rights from the gender ideologues.

The end of the culture war? No chance. If Starmer enters Downing Street on 5 July, the culture war will just be getting started.

Fraser Myers is deputy editor at spiked and host of the spiked podcast. Follow him on X: @FraserMyers.

To enquire about republishing spikeds content, a right to reply or to request a correction, please contact the managing editor, Viv Regan.

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Keir Starmer will not end the culture war - Spiked