So over the past week, I was away in Disney World with my family having a great time in the Florida sun! We went to all the parks and got to enjoy the great food and shows, along with the awesome rides. So, bragging aside, I noticed something this time around that I had not noticed before when at Disney World. I had gone to Disney several times prior, but the last time I had gone was in my Junior year of high school. There were 2 big things I noticed, which I'll try to cover in a detailed fashion in this article.
The first of the big things was the historical inaccuracies around the park. Now, of course, this is Walt Disney World, and things are based off of the movies and the ideas of Walt himself, but there are just some astounding historical inaccuracies in Disney World. The biggest one for me is the very concept of Epcot. Epcot, for those uninitiated, stands for Experimental, Prototype, City, Of, Tomorrow. So this bothers me, just because it assumes that with technology and advancements in the world, the world will become a better place. Now, call me a cynic, but just because we get better tech doesn't mean that it will end wars and bring about world peace. But I have to admit Spaceship Earth is pretty good with the history, even if it is pretty one-sided with a bias toward white people in the West...but that's for another article.
The second big thing that bothers me about Disney World is the amount of subtle racism and sexism, that isn't really so subtle. For this, I will point to the example of two rides, Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean, both featured in the Magic Kingdom park. With Jungle Cruise, the ride is supposed to be a ride through the rivers and jungles of Africa. However, instead of being a factual ride, we are given the very antiquated, British Colonial depiction of 'Deepest Darkest Africa.' The ride features African natives chanting and dancing with 'horrifying tribal' masks on and other natives, who have shrunken the heads of British explorers. It's a bit on the racist side to say the least. Now with Pirates of the Caribbean, the issue is more sexism than racism. Despite a severe lack of women in the ride, the Imagineers (those who build, alter, and at times repair rides at Disney) did correct their sexist content in the ride...kind of. There's a scene that people pass by in their little pirate ship, where a pirate USED to be auctioning off women. However, they have changed this to have a pirate auctioning off chickens that a woman is holding...it's a bit clunky, but to a degree it works. They also added a badass female pirate, but sadly this is the only time there is a female pirate seen on the ride.
So I know that these points might seem like silly gripes with the park, it is for kids after all, but the thing is that the sexism, racism, and empty hopefulness can be removed, and it can still be a magical place. Just one with a hopeful view of today, and no subtle racism or sexism, because those things are the opposite of magical.
