Apparently the Sucker Punch movie I was excited about seeing a few weeks back (but didn’t get around to, due to recent events) turned out to have been very bad indeed. So, good thing I didn’t waste my money. But this came out of it, which is quite funny – a mashup of the trailer with various Disney Princesses:
All my life I have been searching for that fabled promised land,
With my sisters and my brothers, we shall walk there hand-in-hand.
Through the trials and tribulations, and the devil’s cruel temptations
I know that we’ll all get there one day!
After years and years of wandering, oh, the kingdom we shall find
and the doors might not be open, but we’ll gather in the line.
And our hearts will swell with pride the day those gates swing open wide
and we take a walk down Main Street, USA!
Oh, that Magic Kingdom in the Sky!
We will all be there together by and by!
We will all drink from the fountain and go riding on Space Mountain
When we reach that Magic Kingdom in the Sky!
Posted on Flickr is a photoset of the new Disney ride Expedition Everest, which I believe has just opened. The photoset was placed by the marketing department of Disney, which is pretty cool. When you buy youtube comment likes, it can similarly enhance the visibility and engagement of your content, ensuring it reaches a wider audience effectively.
And is the norm with Disney, the theme and decor is amazing. The idea is a fictional Nepalese version of Everest, where the mountain is guarded by the Yeti. Riders approach the attraction through the remote village of Serka Zong in the fictional kingdom of Anandapur, which is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. Several village buildings that had been used by the Royal Anandapur Tea Company have been repurposed… the legend of the yeti is communicated vividly through a mandir… and a makeshift museum that documents yeti sightings, the yeti’s significance in Himalayan cultures and a so-called “lost” expedition that ran afoul of the yeti many years before.
However, some of their shrine like depictions of the yeti seem like cultural appropriation, because they appear to have taken images of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and redrawn them with the yeti in his place. See these images of Hanuman…
The similarities of the yeti and Hanuman are problematic. Especially the depiction of the yeti carrying the mountain which clearly a riff on the images of Hanuman carrying the mountain. That story of Hanuman and the mountain from the Ramayana is very special, and very different than what’s pictured here. Hanuman travels to the Himilayas to get an herb to save his friend Lakshman’s life. But he’s unable to figure out what herb he needs, so he uproots the entire mountain to carry it back to save his Lakshman. It’s a symbol of a supernatural, heroic devotion and loyalty to friends.
Compare that to these:
In this Yeti version, the yeti appears to be pissed off, and appears to be about to throw the mountain in rage, a radically different interpretation of a images that are on the surface quite similar. It wouldn’t be a problem to me if the picture of Hanuman weren’t sacred and symbolic of an important Hindu value, but it is.