Last year, Disney decided to renovate the designer Mary Blair's masterpiece, the It's A Small World ride and replace some of Blair's animatronic children with Disney movie characters. The ride is set to reopen to the public this weekend, and Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider somehow managed to get invited to the press preview. Possibly by being an snarky corporate apologist who flaunts his disdain for any serious consideration of culture:
A few moments into your first ride, the music and setting refresh your spirit with a deep breath of good cheer and optimism. But by the end of the 10-minute ride, the constant repetition - of dolls and of music - has reduced the experience to theme park minimalism. It's Philip Glass, if he'd been commissioned by your local kindergarten.The point isn't defending Philip Glass for kindergarteners, no matter how hilariously awesome that would be. It's not even [only] that Disney's imagineers have irreparably defaced an historic Work of Art; even assuming those animatronic figurines were original, I'm sure the company didn't toss them in the dumpster or shred them and make them into park benches. The ride could be restored someday.Of course, some people cherish "It's a Small World," and wouldn't change a thing. (And some people adore "Einstein on the Beach," too, but no one's building a theme park for them. At least, not if there is a God.) Unfortunately for those the first folks, the wardens of "Small World," Disney's Imagineers have made changes.
My beef is that by conflating Disney's imaginary worlds with the real small world, the company fundamentally alters the ride's meaning, from one of global harmony, to one of global harmony through the shared appreciation of Disney licensed properties and merchandise. Small World is about children, not marketing. It's about smiles, not consumption. We should demand that Disney stop trying to exploit Small World for its own corporate ends, and instead return the ride to its altruistic origins--as the Pepsi Pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Disneyland debuts changes to 'It's a Small World' [with video] [themeparkinsider]
I cannot believe that they would alter that ride. That is just ridiculous. I thought the changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride were bad, but this is crazy talk!
As wrong as it all is, I was actually a little disappointed there wasn't a Small World Jack Sparrow.
As wrong as it all is, I was actually a little disappointed there wasn't a Small World Jack Sparrow.
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/06/video-philip-glasss.html">Philip Glass for for kindergarteners! And it is awesome.
(unfortunately the video is gone from youtube.)
dude that's a boingboing link to my post, and, the Philip Glass animations for Sesame Street, are very much still around.
http://daddytypes.com/2007/12/06/when_was_sesame_street_cool_enough_to_have_philip_glass_animations.php
Hah! I thought I had read it here first, but the fact that you *didn't* mention it seemed weird. And then I googled and the boingboing link came up and I thought "oh, it must have been there" and clearly didn't look much further.
In any case, Philip Glass for kindergarteners remains awesome. (And my girls love it.)
my kids love it too, but I forgot it. When I saw "Philip Glass commissioned for kindergarteners," I was focused on the ultimate: the whole class in unitards singing at the South Park Elementary Non-Offensive, Non-Denominational Christmas Pageant.
"Happy happy happy. Everybody happy"
ooh, which you can watch here:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/
I cannot believe Disney has screwed with another ride. "Small World" will never be the same. Here are my thought on Disney synergy. http://jvpentertainment.blogspot.com/2009/02/disney-destroys-itselfagain.html