Yeti kitsch

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The Imagineers at Disney World in Florida have erected a mandir to the abominable snowman next to their new Himalayan-themed roller coaster. Expedition Everest opens in spring (via Boing Boing):

Yeti another mandir

The artificial mountain is not a reproduction of Mount Everest; it is the fictional “forbidden mountain” guarded by the yeti… One of the highlights of the attraction is an encounter with an enormous audio-animatronic yeti… Although moderate by contemporary roller-coaster standards, Expedition Everest is unique for having its trains travel forward and backward as a result of the yeti’s interference…

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… [Link]

Disney is taking over Times Square immediately after Valentine’s Day:

Disney plans to transform the exteriors of the W Hotel and the adjacent Argent building at Broadway and 47th Street into a gigantic backdrop of Mount Everest. An aerial acrobatic troupe will perform there Feb. 15 and 16 on a stage 57 stories high, rappelling down the mountain and coming face to face with a Himalayan yeti — the legendary abominable snowman. [Link]

I’ve never felt entirely at ease in simulacrum cities like Orlando and Vegas, miniature Matrices. There’s something odd about Imagineers daubing tilaks onto idols of yeti which look like ‘roid-crazed Hanumans, leaving offerings of plastic fruit and hanging a poster of Krishna stealing butter. Disney movies like Aladdin and Pocahontas often mince cultures into purposely inaccurate baby pap which plays to stereotype.

(And in the other direction of mashup done badly, I can’t stomach the weak-ass rap in Bollyflicks. French and Spanish rap has coalesced as the language of the barrios, but Little B rapping is as silly as Nic Cage going gangsta.)

But let’s not be yenta about yeti. At first glance, the props around this roller coaster look pretty cute. I love the hand-painted signs.

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p>See more photos. All photos by “Pema Dorje.”

7 thoughts on “Yeti kitsch”

  1. Hanuman on ‘roids? I don’t know. It reminds me of something out of the Thundercats.

    Btw, great essay on South Asian stereotypes under your tag “purposely inaccurate.” I really enjoyed reading it.

  3. The whole thing seems a bit cringeworthy to me. I can imagine the confusion for a non-desi youngster who encounters the Hindu imagery for the first time at this venue, and then in his/her Hindu friend’s home later on. “Wow, your family worships the yeti?!?” They’re already all confused about the elephant-god thing…

  4. though I don’t agree with his analysis of federal multiculturalism in canada — Neil Bissoondath says some valuable things re: disnyfication and what one might call the performance of ethnicity. I’ll try to dig up some quotes.

  5. I’m very upset by the similarities of the yeti and Hanuman… Especially the depiction of the yeti carrying the mountain which clearly a riff on the images of Hanuman carrying the mountain (I’m looking at one of those pictures framed on the desk next to me right now.) That story of Hanuman and the mountain from the Ramayana is very special, and very different than what’s pictured here. Hanuman picks up the mountain to carry it back to his friend so they can use the plants on the mountain to save his life. It’s a symbol of a supernatural, heroic devotion and loyalty to friends.

    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.

  6. I am a devaout Hanuman Devotee and I think that the comments and comparison between Hanumanji and a yeti is worlds apart. Hanuman was adorned with jewelery when he was born. Although he was born in the from of a Monkey he had adorable features. The yeti in the pictures doesn’t look anything like Hunuman.