Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will get a warm Disney welcome when he arrives at the White House tonight. Cat Cora, chef and proprietor of Kouzzina by Cat Kora, will prepare a Greek dinner for 400. Opa!
Disney News reports that the meal will include “several dishes from Kouzzina, including the Fisherman’s Stew, which is a stew of scallops, lobster, shrimp, clams and ouzo butter. One of the desserts will be loukoumades, a Greek donut that is drizzled with honey.”
I hope Prime Minister Papandreou and his entourage has the opportunity to visit Walt Disney World in person, too. And come to think of it, wouldn’t it be great if Disney opened a Greek pavilion at EPCOT World Showcase? A Greek mythology dark ride would be awesome! And now that Disney characters are making showings in EPCOT, Hercules would be the perfect host for a Greek pavilion.
How easy it is to put down Disney as politically incorrect. Once again, a major newspaper — The New York Times — has dismissed Disney with hardly a thought, just to prove a point.
The New York Times got Disney wrong.
In a sympathetic article about voodoo in Haiti that makes the valid and relevant point that voodoo has been unfairly misrepresented in the media, NY Times reporter Samuel G. Freedman goes on to unfairly criticize Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” for having a voodoo-using villain (Dr. Facilier). What Freedman fails to notice is that the fairy godmother of the story is also a voodoo priestess! (See lovable Mama Odie in the video above.)
Here’s what Freedman writes:
Within the past year, the animated film “The Frog and the Princess” featured a voodoo magician as its villain. The movie was produced by Disney, which if anything has been relativistic to a fault. But voodoo, apparently, does not even merit the condescending sort of exoticization that Disney afforded American Indian polytheism in “Pocahontas.”
Disney can’t catch a break with most culture critics. The Mouse Factory worked so hard to make “The Princess and the Frog” the sensitive, brilliant multicultural gem that it is, yet all many people will ever see is “Song of the South,” cerca 1946. Fortunately, the kids and families who enjoy Disney films get it — today’s Disney knows we’re all magic.
Disney women artists finally get their due in the new “Vanity Fair,” out just in time for International Women’s Month (March). It’s a good time to recognize some unheralded stars.
Superstar pop singer Mary J. Blige is the awesome keynote speaker for Disney’s Dreamers Academy in Walt Disney World this week.
Wow! The 100 African-Amerian kids attending the inspirational seminar must be super excited to meet Mary J. Blige. Very cool lady who I’m sure will inspire the group. She’s gonna sing, too, right? Awesome.
In addition to Mary J. Blige, the following people will speak share their “blueprints for success”, according to the Disney Parks blog:
Have fun, Dreamers!
Now that African-American Disney fans have a hero in Tiana of “The Princess and the Frog,” another underrepresented group is actively seeking a Disney character: gays and lesbians. I’m excited that someone is expressing a desire for greater representation of gays and lesbians in the Disney world, although I’m not sure the adversarial approach is ideal.
Disney aficionado Anna Temby is using social media to raise awareness, creating a Facebook group called Disney Needs To Create A Lead Gay Character! The Facebook group already counts more than 500 members, according to PinkPaper.com.
“There are already so many gay undertones in Disney films and characters who most definitely aren’t straight (*cough*) like Ryan from High School Musical [see campy video above], let’s not beat about the bush and openly have a film with a gay lead,” Temby comments on her Facebook page.
Temby makes the valid point that Disney didn’t fully embrace ethnic diversity until fairly recently: “It’s taken over 80 years for Disney to create a black princess protagonist, let’s not wait another 80 years for a gay lead character!” Temby writes.
What Temby fails to mention is that Disney has done a lot more for diversity in the past two decades or so than create an African-American princess. As I write about in We’re All Magic, Disney has introduced many ethnically diverse characters in its films, TV shows and other entertainment, including Asian heroine Mulan, Disney Channel’s new Latina stars Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato and popular African-American star Raven Symone, and the very diverse cast of “High School Musical,” among many others.
The company has also done a great deal to promote lesbians and gays in its worldwide staff: supporting LGBT employee organizations like PRIDE (People Respecting Individual Diversities in Everyone) in Disneyland; and offering same-sex partner benefits. For theme park guests, Disney opened its Fairytale Weddings program to lesbian and gay couples; and is very supportive of unofficial Gay Day events at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
I agree whole-heartedly that Disney should include gay and lesbian characters in its entertainment. I hope Disney Needs To Create A Lead Gay Character! has a positive impact. I also hope people will appreciate all that Disney does for its variety of fans, and tries to reach out to company representatives as potential friends and allies, not just as adversaries.
Disney Channel star Demi Lovato (”Sonny With a Chance”) shows her Latino pride by campaigning for “Be Counted,” a new Voto Latino project encouraging Latinos to make sure they’re counted in the 2010 Census. Way to go, Demi!
Lovato joins fellow Latino actors Wilder Valderrama, Rosario Dawson, Ana Ortiz (from Disney/ABC’s “Ugly Betty”), Luis Guzman and others in supporting Latino empowerment. Check out behind-the-scenes video of a photo shoot the group did, above. You can learn more about the “Be Counted” campaign at Voto Latino.
Thanks to Disney Society for posting this positive news!
A big “Hey howdy hey!” to the host of a new series of Disney California Adventure expansion update videos: Eddie!
Eddie has terrifically upbeat Disney energy, and he adds welcome diversity to a Disney organization that reflects modern America more and more all the time.
Eddie seems to be Latino, although I haven’t been able to confirm that. Regardless, he looks like a lot of Disney fans who come from Latin America and other parts of the world who deserve to see people like them on screen. Hooray for diversity!
Eddie adds a fresh, enthusiastic presence to the Disney family. I look forward to his upcoming DCA expansion videos, and I hope we’ll be seeing him in other Disney productions, as well. Eddie, do you sing well enough to play in Camp Rock 3 or High School Musical 4?
Israeli kids will soon enjoy original Disney TV shows in Hebrew. Mazel Tov! Disney is teaming up with Israel’s Herzliya Studios to create Hebrew-language kids shows for The Disney Channel in Israel, according to WDW Daily News.
I applaud Disney for including Israel in the creative mix, and trust them to do it sensitively and inclusively. It takes courage and conviction to brave the controversy that often challenges co-productions with Israel (sometimes with good justification, sometimes unfairly). I’m happy for the children of Israel who will enjoy new dreams in their home language, with familiar cultural references mixed with universal Disney magic.
Disney has faced the challenge of Israel projects before. EPCOT in Walt Disney World featured a “Journey to Jerusalem” attraction in its Millennium Village in 1999-2000. Arab and Muslim groups, including the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, threatened to boycott Disney in protest of the Jerusalem exhibition, but Disney managed to work out a compromise in time. Key to the protesters’ concerns was that they do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s national capital (neither does the U.S.), and Disney satisfied that concern by referring to Jerusalem as “the capital of the millennium” and the “heart of the Israeli people,” according to this J Weekly article.
Israel almost got a permanent pavilion at EPCOT World Showcase, but that project never came to fruition. There are many reasons why the Israel pavilion and others (Spain, Equatorial Africa) never get off the drawing board, as you can read in this very interesting Magical Mountain posting. I remember being excited as a recently Bar Mitzvah’ed Jewish kid when I saw a sign that declared: “Future Site of Israel” in EPCOT (see above). I was disappointed when that never came to pass, but I understand that Disney doesn’t have unlimited resources and they do all they can for us fans. Honestly, I believe India would be the best choice for a new pavilion today, and their major religions — Hindu and Islam — deserve to be more fully represented with Divali celebrations and Ramadan collector’s pins.
Princess Tiana made a really entertaining appearance in the Disney Christmas Parade today. So glad she’s part of the festivities now!
Anika Noni Rose herself (voice and inspiration of Princess Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog”) performed “Down in New Orleans” in my favorite place in the world, New Orleans Square, Disneyland. A great number by a spectacular performer, including a wonderfully sexy 1920s-style interlude by “Dancing With the Stars” pair Tony Dovolani and Cheryl Burke, and ending with Rose boarding the Mark Twain steamwheeler and riding away.
See the original Princess Tiana in the video above. Enjoy!
Disney XD, the new boys’ channel, is showing how kids from different ethnic backgrounds can be brothers — even twins — in the newly announced comedy series, “Pair of Kings.”
Two young Disney Channel stars will play twin brothers who discover they’re heirs to the throne of an island kingdom, according to Disney Dreaming. Cool thing is, one of the actors is African-American and the other is Italian-American, and they play twin brothers.
Disney Channel audiences will recognize both teen actors. Doc Shaw is part of the ensemble on Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life on Deck” (see video above). Shaw is also well-known for his previous role on Tyler Perry’s popular cable TV comedy series “House of Payne.” Michel Musso is on the cast of the Disney Channel hit show “Hannah Montana.”
Creative casting like this opens whole new ways of seeing the world. I’m excited that young people will soon have the fun of imagining twin brothers who are black and white and cool all over. Way to think outside the box, Disney!
