It’s a very similar strategy for dealing with children. We can’t do/ you can’t have x but we can do or you can have y and/or z. Following up a negitive with a few positives. Then the negitive doesn’t feel as dismissive or disappointing because of the positive options.
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A fictional character from a book that kids have only seen in their imagination, or even something aimed at adults, go for it - female Hamlet, no problem. But when you’re talking about small children coming to a Disney park to see their favourite character from their favourite film, they need to look like that character.
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I want to clarify a point here.
So, first of all, my apologies to the CM who was playing Alice if she is in fact a she playing the character. But the very first impression I got looking at the picture was that it was a male playing the Alice role. The question came, why is that a problem, and yes, I find it a problem.
Why?
Because…Disney has really gone to great lengths over time to represent the heroine princess (or princess-esque) characters as having strength within. We’ve seen more recenly, for example, in characters such as Mulan where the idea is that a woman can be stronger and offer more than previously thought…basically, not needing to be a man, or need a man, etc. In fact, we saw this twist play out in Frozen where the “true love” that saves was a sister’s love, not a man’s kiss, etc.
So, it is empowerment of women, and these characters become a kind of role model for girls. But what does it say when you then represent this female role model for girls by making them a man?
Historically, men would play the parts of females out of sexist “keep women in their place” type cultural ideas. (Not talking about situations like drag, etc.) There are maybe artistic decisions in live productions to gender swap, such as having Peter Pan played by a female on stage…but that is to “render” Peter Pan as young…not easily done with a male.
So, you have a male playing a female heroine, and it is, to my mind, no different from having, say, a blond norwegian put on black-face to become Tiana, etc. That would be unacceptable…and, to my mind, so is the idea of casting a man to play a woman in a visible way.
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Good point as well. I’m generally torn with this. I think everyone should get equal opportunity, in general. But there is this gray area when it come to casting/roles. The end result needs to match a certain visual expectation that was originally intended.
In this particular instance, I think it’s just the picture. To me, it’s a believable Alice over all. My expectation of Alice is to be a very young girl. I think children will have no issues with seeing this Alice (masculine or feminine attributes). It’s us adults that are more aware of the nuances here.
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And a “snow” is what?
Also too, this thread needs a Bateman:
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I get what you’re trying to say, I think.
I’m not sure I agree, but I hear you nonetheless.
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Uh oh. Who’s going to die? Or is he just generally rethinking which Huey Lewis album is the best?
He’s trying to decide if Les Mis or Oh Africa, Brave Africa was more of a laugh riot.
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At this point, I’ll offer my two cents…
One of Walt’s motivations for a theme park was that he saw people doing studio tours and they could catch Grable or Cooper on the set or in the parking lot but when they came to his studio they saw a bunch of unidentifiable guys hunched over their sketches.
“They want the Mouse”.
So, I think that characters on site should help people - especially those beloved snot-monkeys we call our offspring - suspend disbelief and immerse themselves by meeting the characters they’ve seen on the screen and other media. I don’t think it’s the place to introduce new takes to a character.
ETA: not saying that that is occurring in the Alice pic but hey everybody else is on a soapbox.
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My kids were happy with the interactions at a couple of character meals. However, they were always more interested in the rides than standing in line to see characters.
DH and I visited in 2000 pre-kids and had several random interactions with the characters walking around. I miss that spontaneity and surprise of what you might experience each day. Now, we just look for different surprises to pop up.
Given that cartoons are caricatures of how people/children/animals actually appear IRL, I think strict adherence to a very very specific “look” to portray a character is a bit silly. The translation from animated movie to real life requires a fair amount of suspension of belief in the first place. Alice is a child in the movie, but portrayed by full grown women in the parks. Most of the time, costumes, wigs, makeup and placement/surroundings are doing 90% of the work to trigger the association between the human in the park and their cartoon counterpart.
Given how many kids are enthralled to “meet” people in knock off / horrible costumes of their favorite characters in places likes Times Square, not to mention the variety of Santa’s available, it’s clear most kids are very very comfortable using their imaginations to fill in any perceived gaps.
That portrayal of Alice above being questioned as male makes me very uncomfortable. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it feels like a level of scrutiny and speculation that is unnecessary at best, and transphobic at worst. One still picture of a performer triggering the questioning the ability of that performer to portray a character feels icky to me.
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This is true, but I think they’re doing more than balancing their books. The OC Register recently described a new analyst report.
Disney’s U.S. parks have bounced back from a loss of $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2020 to break even in the third quarter of 2021 to a projected profit of $1.3 billion in the third quarter of 2022, according to the report.
Disney’s U.S. parks are expected to approach 2019 levels of profitability and generate $4 billion in earnings before interest and taxes in 2022, according to the report. Those numbers are expected to grow to $5.2 billion in 2023 and $6.3 billion in 2024. That’s well above the $4 billion in 2018 and $4.4 billion in 2019 before the pandemic struck.
I think they’re making the parks more expensive because they can. If those prices were going towards adding to the guest experiences and/or paying the CMs more, I’d be a lot happier about them but somehow I doubt that’s where the funds are going.
On the other hand, I love your optimism and I think that the world (both the WDW and the world in general) needs optimistic people! Especially these days. 
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I dont think the intention was to question this persons ability to present as Alice or that Alice should be played strictly by a bio female. This maybe getting mixed up. Alice is supposed to be a very young girl. If Alice in the parks appearance strays too far from that (get too masculine), it’s not a “believable” Alice… to some. I do get the “body positivity/ gender acceptance” part if this but then that is the role of a new character. Changing too much of the appearance of old character is like saying the old character wasn’t “right”, which can also be exclusive.
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I had the same thing going on with Donald for years! I was desperate to meet him in his sailor suit.
Finally did last trip 
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That happened to us too yesterday! It’s a small world 
Our oil furnace got clogged and ended up setting off the smoke alarm. Thank god they were able to fix it, but the house fell to about 35 degrees in the meantime. Fun times 
We’re in MA too. Crossing our fingers that no one is without power over the weekend!
When my son joined cub scouts, I totally thought that’s what they meant when they announced the pinewood derby. Boy was I relieved when I found out his derby was a car made from a small block of wood!
Kind of OT, but when DD was 3 she dressed up as Alice when we went to Epcot and HS. I thought she made a much cuter Alice than the actual CM playing the role though I may be biased 
Here she is having a special moment with Doc McStuffins.
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I posted the picture and honestly never scrutinized it in that way. I saw the Alice live and she was like any other Alice I have seen in WDW. I really had to zoom in and squint to even see what the issue might have been. It was evening when I took the shot and I was doing it as I passed by, so it’s not going to be the best picture out there. 
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Others can certainly disagree, but I see nothing wrong with commenting on how accurate a portrayal of a known character is. I don’t care whether it’s “She’s too tall”, “She’s too masculine”, “Voice is too squeaky”, “he’s too scrawny”, “His nose is too big”, “He’s too feminine”, etc. In performing arts, that scrutiny comes with the territory. They signed up for a job that’s largely based on their looks and embodying a specific character. We are very detail-oriented people as liners. If someone thinks a portrayal looks a bit off compared to the widely held expectation and says why, I think that’s fair game without getting it all tangled up as part of some bigger societal culture argument. It’s not.
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