Inside Out + Journey Into The Imagination With Figment

Last night, the DH and I went to go see Inside Out. I'll post a full review soon -- I don't think I expected it to resonate with me as deeply as it did, and I'm still processing it.

But. From the beginning of the movie, the one thing that struck me was how similar the concept was to Figment ride at EPCOT, Journey Into Imagination With Figment. The video below is from the "reboot" of the ride--when they added Eric Idle and played up the whole Imagination Institute aspect, but I remember the original version of the ride with Dreamfinder (which is actually now a Marvel comic).

This was one of my favorite rides when I was little: (1) it was (and kinda still is) one of the only rides at EPCOT and (2) there's this interactive "play land" at the end of the ride where kids can just go crazy.

According to Wikipedia, the original version of the ride featured Dreamfinder who

"uses his vehicle (called the Dream Mobile or Dream Catcher by some fans) to collect dreams and ideas to create all sorts of new things. Soon he creates a figment of his imagination...Both Dreamfinder and the dragon Figment imagine things to fill the "idea bag". When the idea bag is full, Dreamfinder declares that the ideas need to be emptied in the "Dreamport" which, as he says, is "never far away when you use your imagination." [...] At the end, Dreamfinder tells Figment and the audience that Imagination is the key to unlocking the hidden wonders of the world."

Then you've got the plot of Inside Out:

"A girl named Riley is born in Minnesota, and in her mind, five manifestations of her emotions—Joy, Sadness, Fear,Disgust, and Anger—come to life. The emotions live in Headquarters, Riley's conscious mind, where they influence Riley's actions and memories via a control console. Her new memories are housed in colored spheres, which are sent into storage at the end of every waking period. The most important memories, known as "core memories", are housed in a hub in Headquarters and power five "islands" that each reflect a different aspect of Riley's personality."

(c) Disney/Pixar

The similarities are, to me, quite striking. First--there's the anthropomorphism of abstract concepts -- Figment of Imagination in the ride, and the emotions Joy, Sadness, etc. in the film.

Then there's also the idea of -- literally -- traveling into Imagination. It's the premise of the ride, of course, but in the film, Joy and Sadness literally go into Riley's Imagination:

(c) Disney/Pixar

Then there's this Easter Egg:

(c) http://heckyeahfiggy.tumblr.com

A picture of Figment is in the trash heap of Imagination land. :(

I'm a bit worried for one of my childhood favorites. Perhaps an Easter Egg is just an Easter Egg -- a cute tongue-in-cheek reference to Imagination and its decline as you grow older. Just as Bing Bong isn't as important to Riley, so Figment isn't as important to EPCOT and its visitors. 

But, given Disney's recent remodeling Enterprises in other parks -- New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom, Avatar-land in Animal Kingdom, the expansion of Pixar Place in Hollywood Studios, and the Frozen ride in the Norway pavilion at EPCOT -- I don't think it's far-fetched to believe that Journey Into Imagination might be getting a makeover soon. 

What I would love to see is a merging of the two ideas -- an expansion of the ride-concept -- rather than just a complete take-over, even though I would imagine that that's the plan. I don't know how it would work logistically, in terms of the building space (they could get rid of Captain EO and take that over, I wouldn't mind), but it'd be a great way to honor the original ride and still tie in the movie. Amy Poehler would probably replace Eric Idle's Dr. Nigel Channing (one comedy genius to another) and I could imagine Joy taking guests on a tour of the mind rather than of the Imagination Institute. But, when it came time to visit the Imagination, Bing Bong and Figment could take over together. 

*sigh* A girl can dream, right? 

After all, even the control console that the Emotions use to "guide" Riley seem tailor-made to replace the consoles in the play-land after the ride:

(c) Disney/Pixar

If Figment is replaced with the Inside Out characters so soon after Frozen has infiltrated the World Showcase...well, EPCOT may soon look quite different. And I don't know if that's a good thing or not...

"...nobody gets left behind."

LoveWins #equality 😍💛♥️💚💜💙😍 @Disney Cinderella's Castle tonight just beautiful❗️❗️ 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 #disneyprincess #cinderella #castle #disneyworld #gaypride

A photo posted by Styles 2 Blaze (@styles2blaze) on Jun 26, 2015 at 7:16pm PDT

I try to avoid being political here and focus only on the academic side of things, but I can't let this moment go unacknowledged. And I'm so glad to see that Disney recognized and supported this decision -- because if anyone should support the expansion of the legal definition of "love"it's the company that defined "love" and "happy ever after" for America in the twentieth century.

Like A Girl

I cannot begin to explain how much I love the fact that these photos are going viral. They're a girls softball team in Oklahoma and the name of the team is Freeze. (According to Buzzfeed, they wanted to be the Sparkling Elsas, but then thought "Freeze" sounded tougher. It's not clear who decided that it sounded tougher...perhaps they had some help...but still.)

One of the things that bugs me most about Disney Princess discussions is the idea that girls who watch Disney Princess movies and buy Disney Princess products will somehow be inundated with outdated values and will grow up thinking that the role of a domesticated 1950s housewife is the only route open to them. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a housewife and mother -- I take issue with the logic that watching Disney Princess movies will teach girls that that is the only option available to them. That "princesses" and "being active/assertive/independent" are somehow incompatible -- that a princess only means being dainty and fragile and passive. Even the First Wave Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora) aren't entirely fragile and passive. (Although the case for Aurora is admittedly tough to make.) 

So I love that these photos demonstrate that a girl can wear a sparkly princess dress and still be tough. Because the two are not, believe it or not, mutually exclusive. 

Zootopia Teaser Trailer

This one flew under my radar -- while I knew about The Good Dinosaur, I hadn't heard about this one. Teaser trailer doesn't give much away story-wise, but it looks cute! And Disney has a long tradition of cute, anthropomorized-animal movies -- particularly with foxes. (Plus, Ginnifer Goodwin is the voice of the female lead, though you wouldn't know it from the trailer!)

#TBT

Throwback Thursday to when...:

Circa 1988. I must have been about...3 1/2 here? And my brother must have been tiny. (Most likely why he is not pictured.) Also, my dad has never been the best photographer -- where's the top of the castle? -- but I'm front and center so that counts for something. I'm also amused (and fascinated) by the fact that this picture was taken before digital cameras existed -- you had to use that mythical device called film, and its not like you could check the picture and take another one if you weren't satisfied.

Frozen Ever After

Big news out of Disney Parks today -- a first look at the new Frozen ride in the Norway Pavilion at EPCOT.

Photo Credit: Disney Parks Blog

According to Disney Parks Blog, 

Guests will be transported to the Winter in Summer Celebration where Queen Elsa embraces her magical powers and creates a winter-in-summer day for the entire kingdom. They will also visit Elsa’s Ice Palace and the ice-blue world of the North Mountain along with other locations before returning to the Bay of Arendelle. Of course, favorite “Frozen” characters, including the Snowgies from the animated short “Frozen Fever,” will be part of this new attraction, along with the spectacular sights inspired by the film.

Now. As a long-time Disney fan -- and especially as one who remembers a time when the Maelstrom (the ride whose place Frozen Ever After notoriously usurped) was one of the only "fun" things to do at EPCOT -- this is a bit confusing for me.

On the one hand, I loved Maelstrom. While I was never under the impression (and thus never disappointed by the fact) that it was a "Viking Mickey Adventure," it was still a crucial piece of my childhood.

There's also the fact that the very intrusion (and I don't use that word lightly) of the movie and the characters into the Norway Pavilion in such a blatant way is problematic. After all, the Pavilions are supposed to be "culturally authentic," given the existence of the Cultural Representative Program, which allows for (mostly young and attractive) citizens of each country to work at their respective pavilion.

When you allow the Disney-fied, animated cultural representation to overtake the actual culture...it's a bit problematic for me. Yes, the World Showcase countries have always been connected with relevant animated films (e.g. Snow White hangs out in Germany, Belle and Aurora in France, Mulan in China, etc.), but it's never been to the extent that Frozen is currently reaching. There are no other animated movie rides (those are in the Magic Kingdom, appropriately enough) and most of the characters don't have designated internal meeting spots. (Most of the princesses/characters hang out outside, and only come out once every 1-2 hours.) Anna and Elsa, however, will have their own, presumably air-conditioned, meeting spot indoors -- most likely at the expense of one of the cultural shops.

BUT. (Because there's always a But.)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit excited about the ride. (I'm a sucker for a new attraction at Disney Parks.) Right now, we can only speculate about the ride, but the artist rendering (I'm assuming) looks interesting:

• First--it seems as if the old Maelstrom Viking-Inspired Boats will still be in use. (Or, if they're new, they at least pay homage to the old ships.) 
• Second--it's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but it's unclear whether the Frozen ride will keep the log-flume track from Maelstrom or go more the way of the trackless ride that SeaWorld's Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin utilizes. The picture above would almost seem to  imply the latter (or maybe that's just my wishful thinking) as it looks more like a floor than water. 
• The blog does report that, in addition to "fantastic Disney storytelling" and "favorite moments and music from the film" (re: "Let It Go"), the ride will also use "new technology" -- a nice, vague term if ever there was one. Do they mean ride technology (like the trackless ride)? Do they mean animatronic technology? I suppose it could be like the technology they used over at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in both Escape from Gringotts and the Hogwarts ride where the actors are holograms and "interact" with you, although Disney's characters are animated. 

A bittersweet time, to be sure. While I am definitely excited for the new ride (and will almost surely use it as an excuse to return in 2016), there will be a rather large part of me that misses the Maelstrom. And I sincerely hope that this isn't a new trend for Disney -- and that most of the Pavilions in the World Showcase stay devoted to cultural authenticity (or, at least as much authenticity as the miniature Disney version has ever managed to package in a few gift shops and restaurants). 

Disney's Live-Action Adaptation Continues

Photo Credit

The guy above is Chernabog. Also known as "The Super Creepy Evil Guy from that Fantasia segment."

This is one of the floats from Walt Disney World's (now retired--RIP) SpectroMagic parade. In all honesty, it is one of the creepiest electric parade floats Disney has ever made. (And this is a parade which contains the creepiest, glowing, grinning, spinning clowns in existence. *shudder*) It always frightened me.

What's interesting is that Disney recently announced that they're developing a live-action film about this guy. I'll admit--I'm scratching my head a bit on this one: 

“The segment in question is “Night On Bald Mountain,” named after the music of 19th-century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, which the entire segment is set to. Night On Bald Mountain” centered on a dark winged demonic creature who was literally the size of a mountain, who raised spirits from the dead. The spirits then dance, fly around through the air and enjoy a night of mayhem until they are forced to retreat as the night ends and the sun begins to rise. Although the winged creature seems to be a representation of Satan, he’s actually a demon with the awesome name Chernabog."

 The Nerdist speculates that this adaptation might "follow in the vein of Maleficent so expect a script where we find out that Chernabog isn’t really evil, just misunderstood." It's an interesting theory...and one which I hope doesn't pan out, if only because I like my villains to be, well, villainous.

Plus, unless you're going in a Paradise Lost direction, I'm not entirely sure how you humanize a demon since they're...you know...demonic.  Apparently, though, the scriptwriters are the ones who wrote Dracula Untold which, while I haven't seen purports to do exactly that: humanize the demonic. *sigh*

The full clip from Fantasia can be seen below--so judge for yourselves!

New Beauty and the Beast Songs in Live-Action Film

So...as we've already established, I'm super excited about the new Beauty and the Beast live-action film.

And today, there was some interesting news about the songs in the film. As the CinemaBlend article points out,

Unlike Maleficent and Cinderella before it, the film will follow in the footsteps of its animated counterpart by being a musical.

And while I remain a little skeptical about the singing ability of the main characters -- Emma Watson, Dan Stevens and Luke Evans, if only because I haven't heard them sing -- I'm super excited about the supporting cast. And this news seems promising.

First, there are going to be three new songs in the movie -- and they're not going to be songs from the musical. (Not that that's a bad thing; the songs in the musical are fine...but not as memorable as the songs from the film. Maybe that's just because I love the film-music so much.)

Second, one of the songs, "Days in the Sun," is going to be a lullaby "about all of the castle’s enchanted objects remembering what their lives were like as humans before they were transformed by the curse." In a way, I hope that this replaces "Human Again" (from the musical and a deleted scene on the DVD) because it just...didn't do it for me. Plus, if you cast Audra McDonald as Mme de la Grande Bouche, you should give her every opportunity to sing.

Finally--and perhaps the most interesting bit of news to come out of the interview with Menken -- is the song "Forever More," which replaces a song from the musical, "If I Can't Love Her":

According to Menken, the reason for this is:

The idea that "the Beast's moment in the film is a much later moment" is particularly interesting, and I'm curious as to how it will play out. What is the Beast's moment? Is it later than it is in the musical, or in the animated film? I'm really hoping there'll be some subtle, but important, changes to the animated film script -- at least with The Beast's characterization.

The best thing to happen at LaGuardia Airport EVER

What's a couple of groups of Broadway performers to do when they're stranded at LaGuardia? 

Start a sing-off, naturally:

I just gotta say -- nothing like this ever happens when I'm stranded at airports. (I would probably fangirl all over the place if it did, so maybe that's a good thing.)

#TBT

It's been a while since I honored Throwback Thursday, but here's to renewed intentions:

circa 1990 -- me, my little brother, and my dad at Chef Mickey's Restaurant. This was back when Chef Mickey's was a stand-alone restaurant in the Disney Shopping Village (back when Downtown Disney was called that) and before it was shoved moved to the Contemporary Resort.

It may be a bit hard to tell in the photo, but I'm holding a stuffed Lady and my brother is holding Tramp. We each got one stuffed animal per visit. :)

Tangled TV Series

One of the news stories making the Internet Rounds today is that the Disney Channel is developing a Tangled animated series.

Now, Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies. Rapunzel is pretty high up on my list of favorite Disney characters -- #3, behind Elsa (#1) and Tink (#2). It was always one of my favorite fairy tales, but I love the Disney version -- due in no small part to Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi. (Seriously. How ADORABLE are they??) I love the music, I love Rapunzel's spunkiness, and I love, love, love the lantern scene. After all, "I See The Light" was the song my husband and I danced to for our first dance at our wedding. 

So when I read that the Disney Channel was making a TV series, I'll admit I rolled my eyes and sighed a little. 

After all, I remember The Little Mermaid TV show (which was horrible) and the Aladdin one (which was even worse). So low budget. 

BUT. Then I read that not only have "Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi have signed on to reprise their roles" but also that "The duo responsible for the movie’s original score, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, also will serve as songwriters on the series." That in and of itself is a pretty big deal. 

But it gets better. Not only are we introducing a new character, "Cassandra" who is a "strong-willed handmaiden who also serves as Rapunzel’s confidant" but here's a brief summary of the plot:

“Her irrepressible spirit and natural curiosity about the world drives her to the realization that there is so much more she needs to learn before she can truly accept her royal destiny. She boldly puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures, much to the dismay of the King who, after missing out on Rapunzel’s youth, must accept that his daughter is now an independent young woman.”

For the Disney Princess franchise, this is kind of a big deal. The TV series will take place after the movie but before Flynn & Rapunzel's wedding (from the short "Tangled Ever After"). The implication is that, as the plot summary states, she "puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures." That is, we'll get a Disney princess who, despite some progressive moves (she wielded a frying pan!), was still firmly relegated to the traditional Disney princess sphere of love and marriage. When I put on my Critical Cap, one of the things that strikes me the most about Tangled is that Flynn Rider controls the story -- and at the end, he reassures the reader that despite the fact that Rapunzel is going to be a great queen, don't worry -- they got married and live happily ever after. An innocent, romantic ending perhaps, but there's also the potential to read that as the patriarchal voice shifting focus away from the female-as-ruler and placing her back in the safe, domestic role of wife. And then, the focus of the short is, of course, their wedding.

But this TV show proposal changes all that. Or, at least, expands the story and Rapunzel's character to be more consistent with the progressive character we initially see in the film. The fact that she's deferring her marriage to explore the world and discover herself is an amazingly progressive role for a Disney princess. (I know the summary blurb also mentions that she defers her crown but that really doesn't make much sense. After all, her parents are still alive, and thus the rightful rulers of the kingdom. She should, in theory, only be able to take the crown once they've passed -- and, as the plot summary mentions the King's disapproval, it seems to indicate that we'll keep our nuclear family intact -- again, another "different" move for the parent-killing Disney storytellers.)

I have such high hopes for this show -- which, maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment, but I think Rapunzel could have the potential to be another Elsa in terms of independent princesses.