I have 25 ideas for ways in which Disney could inject some Hunchback references into their theme parks.
A lot of these ideas would be easy or low cost add-ins (I think) but some would be more costly. I’m not asking for a Hunchback dark ride where you see movie scenes as you ride around on a ride vehicle shaped like a gargoyle, though that would be cool. And Side note, Disney, If you want to use any of these ideas I will not sue even though I know they will not since I don’t think they can.
But first a few notes; -These ideas could be in any of Disney’s Theme Parks Worldwide but I was mostly inspired by Walt Disney World especially for some Epcot specific ideas but really these could go anywhere. -A lot of these ideas follow Disney’s marketing trend for Hunchback so lots of Clopin related stuff. -Some of these ideas are half-baked, meaning I didn’t give them much thought.
This somewhat organized by least likely to maybe Disney would consider it, maybe, someday maybe if Hunchback gets more popular and makes more money for the company.
To be honest there is a not lot of Hunchback theming or references across the Disney parks but there isn’t exactly nothing either. Call-backs to Disney’s Hunchback are there if you’re in the right place at the right time. I’m not saying this is good or bad, it’s just how it is currently.
So this is a list of Hunchback references across multiple Disney Theme parks that are currently there (to my knowledge as of this post) and Hunchback stuff that was there in the past.
Please Note, this list maybe not be complete. I have no clue about merch or pins or any expert information. (Though there has been Hunchback pins)
I maybe the only person to find this remotely interesting but at EPCOT in Walt Disney World there is a part of the park called The World Showcase, (that’s not the interesting part.) It’s made up of Pavilions that are themed on a specific country or region.
However today were are only going to consider the France Pavilion and the Italy Pavilion. Both pavilions were opened on October 1st 1982, so they were there on opening day. The France pavilion is very heavily themed on the golden age dating from the mid 1800s to early 1900s before WWI. A Parisienne neighborhood full of impressionists and the Eiffel Tower.
The Italy Pavilion is more of a collection of buildings that evoke architecture from all over Italy. Like a recreation of the Doge’s Palace. The Doge’s Palace is an example of Venetian Gothic architecture. It was established in 1340 and has had many remodels throughout the centuries.
The point I’m getting at is that Hunchback of Notre Dame characters would look more in keeping with their movie outside the Doge’s Palace at Italy Pavilion than in the France Pavilion. I do not think that if Disney had the Hunchback characters at EPCOT they would place then there. In fact, Phoebus has been seen at the France pavilion before. And logically it makes so no brand sense to have them near the Italy Pavilion, it’s just an aesthetics thing that the characters would look more at home in front of gothic architecture than Belle Epoque or Art Nouveau.
However if you’re Disney bounding as a Hunchback character, maybe take a picture outside the Doge’s Palace at the Italy pavilion just for fun.
There is a lot of discourse around Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Two elements that get addressed are the Beast’s age relative to his curse, I.E was he eleven when he was cursed or an adult and Belle’s desire for adventure in the great wide somewhere.
First lets consider the Beast’s age. Technically both readings are correct according supplemental media. In the 2017 version makes it clear from the word go that he was an adult BUT in the christmas mid-quel he was a kid, who was cursed on Christmas. So both readings are correct in a way.
But let’s just consider the 1991 movie and ignore the other movies. The first clue that points to his age at the time of the curse is the narrator saying that the enchanted rose would bloom until his 21st year. And then Lumiere saying that they have been cursed for ten years. Which means he was eleven. It’s kinda hard to ignore that. Unless you don’t like math, like me.
However maybe Lumiere was merely saying that for while the servants carried on with business as usual and it’s only been in the last ten years they gave up trying and the narrator’s line indicated that Beast was a beast for 20 years before the rose bloomed. Or maybe this movie has no real concept of time. It’s an enchanted castle after all.
There are also a few other elements that sight that the Beast was an adult at the time of the curse or the enchantress was just really mean-sprited. First there is the portrait which him as an adult. It’s hard to argue against that one. But maybe it was an enchanted portrait that aged with the Beast? Though if that was a thing in the curse it would have gotten mentioned in the narrative, I mean the mirror did. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one. It’s was a portrait of the Beast as an adult human, that is not a child’s portrait.
Then there is a Chip. How old is Chip? Because if Beast was cursed as child then Chip would have either been born a teacup or spent most of his life not knowing he was ever human. Seems cruel, you go through your whole life thinking you’re a talking teacup only to learn that you were once a human, a creature Chip would have never even seen before. Though Chip being in favor of breaking the curse indicates that he remembers being human. Though that would mean he been a child for about 20 years.
Also there is whole aspect of aging within the castle. If Beast was an adult at the time of this curse that means no one was aging, which seems to be the case since Beast recognized everyone when they were cured. I just want to point out Mid-quel ignores this, only the Beast ages no one else.
Then again you can just sight enchanted castle and maybe no one in the castle knows what year it is anymore or their ages.
Belle
Then there is Belle. Her line about wanting adventure gets thrown around but next line gets ignore. So she wants adventure but she needs someone who understand her. Want vs Need is a pretty basic concept. So some people think Belle got the short end of the narrative stick because she didn’t get adventure in the great wide somewhere. Which is the point, it’s what she wanted not what she needed.
The bad part of this the 2017 version trying to fit this in with the book of teleportation. I suppose they could have made it more of thing but they just used it to show how Belle’s mother died by illness. Adventure? A minor trip to Paris for backstory is the correction for Belle wanting adventure?
What the 2017 version could have done is changed it so that enchantress was sneaky and curing the Beast required a quest but only Belle could figure out what the magical macguffins were to break the curse. So Beast and Belle would have gone minor adventures to learn and grow and bond and fall in love. And in the end it’s still love that cures him. Then again that would have changed things too much and 2017 version was more concerned with fixing plot holes that didn’t really need fixing. But it made money so doesn’t really matter.
In the scheme of things these elements don’t really matter, they do not change the overall enjoyment of the movie. So if you think Beast was child or adult at the time of his curse either reading of the text is fine. If you wanted Belle to have more adventure, can’t fault you for that either.
This is the exact reason I still have Google Alerts.
Quasimodo during Out There Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Disney announced today that Hunchback is the next film in their roaster to get a live-action remake. I have been waiting for this day for a long time.
Here is what is know so far. Josh Gad is produce the film. Just a quick note back in late 2015 I did a post which discussed a fan casting that appeared in my google alerts and Josh Gad was their pick for Quasimodo you can read it here
Josh Gad
Now I couldn’t see this casting pick at the time but Gad is an actor so if he DOES follow suit like so many men who have played or have aspired to play Quasimodo to showcase their acting prowess and have a hand in the production, he might be fine in the role. Just a note, he may not play Quasimodo but there is a trend that men spearheading Hunchback versions do so to play the role, Gad may just want to produce, we will have to wait and see.
Another piece of information we have is they Tony- winning Playwright David Henry Hwang is writing the screenplay and the film will simply be called Hunchback. Like the 1997 version.
Hwang’s work include Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child,The Dance of the Railroad. He also has worked on Aida, Flower Drum Song, Disney’s Tarzan and M. Butterfly.
It would seem that the remake will take its cue from the 1996 movie and the book and not the stage production.
Also this version will be a musical with Menken and Schwartz heading the music. So that is good.
What do you think? Are you over the Disney live-action remake trend? Are you excited? Are you afraid Disney is going to ruin it? Thoughts and feelings welcome.
I have been obsessed lately with Jenny Nicholson’s video on Pandora- The World of Avatar at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. Also she drops a Hunchback reference, so if you haven’t seen that video, go see it. I have seen it multiple times and it’s and it’s like an hour long and I have no attention span.
In Jenny’s video she talks about the history of Animal Kingdom and how there was supposed to a medieval fantasy section called Beastly Kingdom as the concept of the park was explore animals of the present, past and myth but they ran out of money and went for the Dinosaur part. Long story short, after Disney lost out on Harry Potter to Universal, the management of Disney went for another cultural significant movie franchise experience that was insanely immersive, so they went with Avatar, not the Airbender one, the Dances with Wolves in space.
Unlike Harry Potter or Star Wars, the buzz and staying power of Avatar haven’t held up over time so it’s odd that Disney just went for this concept but the land looks really cool and does speak to the fantasy element and conservation angle. But it also of speaks to Disney’s influencing power. It maybe a generalization but kids haven’t seen the movie, it was rated PG-13, came out nearly a decade ago and is really only good in an imax setting but Disney went for it and kids can now adopt Banshee puppets for $65 dollars a pop, $90 if you include the perch. FYI I think the Banshee puppets are cute.
It really fascinates me that Disney pushed so hard on this project and yet a lot of their own properties get ignored within the parks, like Hunchback. So I have been on a slight deep drive into Disney parks, learning what I can about them, mostly via Youtube videos since I have no plans as right now to go to any of the parks.
First let’s talk about the Characters, the Face characters, though I guess Frollo and Quasimodo are not technically Face Characters but all I mean is characters that you meet. The Question is can you even see/meet/greet any of Hunchback Characters at any of the Disney parks worldwide?
According to Fill my Passport, you can but not a Disney Land or Disney World. This information is a bit old as it’s from 2017.
According to Fill my Passport Quasimodo makes extremely rare appearance at Disneyland Paris. Esmeralda can often see at Tokyo Disney and once in a while at Disneyland Paris. Frollo can be see at Halloween at Tokyo Disney. He used at appear at Disney USA parks during Halloween but not so much now. Clopin can be see at Disneyland Paris. And Phoebus doesn’t show up anymore. Fill my Passport as talks about other rare Disney characters in the Disney park so do check out that blog.
However videos from a year ago show a rare meet and greet with Esmeralda and Clopin. It seemed to have occurred at DVC Moonlight Magic Special Event during after hours in the Magic Kingdom, in early 2018.
Here is a meet and greet with Phoebus from 3 years ago at the France pavilion at Epcot.
Hunchback characters meet and greets seem to be extremely rare these days so if you see a hunchback character walking around try to see them, if you like that experience.
Alas there are no Hunchback of Notre Dame ugly Christmas sweater just yet but since this blog has a Disney leaning here are some Disney Ugly Christmas Sweaters that you can get right now via amazon.
Also I had wanted to showcase a Notre Dame Fighting Irish sweater just to be funny but I couldn’t find one. But there are a TON of Disney Ugly Christmas Sweaters, because of course there is, it’s Disney and Christmas.
If I ever do make a Quasimodo/Hunchback Ugly Christmas sweater I will post here because where else would I put it? And it will be very ugly because I suck at art. Of course you can always get my Quasimodo Ornament at Zazzle for your Christmas tress.
Esmeralda and Quasimodo Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
You know who in the Disney line-up would make the perfect Disney Princess? Who embodies the ideal of what it means to be a lovely human being? Quasimodo.
In all seriousiness, Quasimodo meets all the qualifications for Disney Princess-dom, whatever that means and to be fair to this idea“the official rules*” don’t actually make a stipulation that the “Princess” has to be a female. It’s implied but not stated.But given that Quasimodo is presented as a man lets consider him and the only female human character isn the movie, Esmeralda and lets’ look at the the official rules and the meta guidelines.
Let’s just unpack this bit of casting news. Recently Naomi Scott was cast as Princess Jasmine in the upcoming Live-Action Remake of Aladdin and some people are upset. Scott is half Indian and half British and Jasmine is Middle-Eastren which means for a lot of people that she isn’t White or Indian. The reason for her casting is that she can sing and dance. At least that is excuse given.
Karen David as Princess Jasmine in Once Upon A Time
It’s a hard one. Personally I think Scott would have been better suited for Esmeralda, though I would rather see Gigi Radics in the role but this isn’t the first time Jasmine has played by a women of Indian Descent. In Once Upon a Time she was played by Karen David who can also sing and dance, watch Galavant, that show is awesome. One point people are making against Scott playing the role is that is was great chance by Disney to have a Middle Eastern woman in a prominent positive role. Another issue is that casting Scott looks like Disney doesn’t understand that Middle Eastern culture and Indian culture are different, even though some have defended Scott by saying there is overlap in the styling of Aladdin like the palace look like the Taj Mahal and Raja’s name. Also at Disney World Aladdin character frequent the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot. Disney has aways mixed vaguely similar cultures. I mean Agrabah is a combination of Arga and Baghdad, which is where Aladdin was originally supposed to be sets. Agra is an Indian city in Uttar Pradesh where the Taj Mahal is located.
Princess Jasmine
Oh, boy am I generalizing today but a lot people feel that everyone should play any role and some feel that if you whitewash you have to cast everything like in voice acting in accordance with a character’s race and background and it just a can worms. First off Whitewashing is a BIG issue. If a character is a specific race and if it’s important to their character and setting than YES cast someone who fits the mold. I had no idea that years ago bitch about Chinese women playing Japanese women in Memoirs of a Geisha that should have been grateful they were at least East Asians. I did here people complaining about black people in the new Beauty and the Beast movie as historical inaccurate. Forget about the implications of a forgoten Prince hanging out after I guess the Revolution, it’s the race of few minor characters that irked some people.
Mena Massoud
Disney is in a unique position with its remake movies, they don’t need bankable actors. Sure, they help but people are going to see these movies more for nostalgia than the actors. So far with Aladdin, Aladdin is being played by Egyptian- Canadian actor Mena Massoud and Will Smith playing the Genie. If there reason for casting Scott was predicated on Singing and Dancing made they either rethink making these remake musicals or they could considering dubbing.
Naomi Scott
I think if Disney had expanded their search or at least rethought the singing necessity there might have been a better Jasmine. Scott might do fine in the role but I can understand both side of the argument of her casting. It seemed like filmmakers gave up trying to cast the role and settled for some who nearly had the right ethnic background.
Or maybe the film will make Agrabah a reverse Mughal-equse regime where the ruling and noble class are of Indian descent and the lower class are Arabic to justify this casting choice. (This will more than likely not happen.)
