The brilliant aspect of World Showcase is the ability to convey culture through a variety of experiences. Using architecture, cuisine, exhibits, storefronts, shows, and more, the World Showcase acts as a window to a world unexplored by most tourists. As noted by Illuminations, we’re all joined by one Earth, but how we inhabit it differs greatly by culture. Have guests been to these various countries? Probably not, but the World Showcase can consolidate the important parts of a culture in a pseudo-summary of that country’s best aspects.
On October 1, 1982, World Showcase opened with nine pavilions and only four attractions. Though World Showcase comprised half the park, the focus on giving an immersive experience in each of the respective countries rather than offer Magic Kingdom-esque momentary pleasure attractions of fantasy defined Disney’s newest venture. It’s important to understand that Epcot wasn’t as much a theme park as it was an extended World’s Fair, with educational dark-rides (something Disney had experience with) and theater shows reflecting on the world’s history and natural beauties. In fact, O Canada! is similar to a Circle-Vision 360 film at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition titled Canada ’67, directed by Robert Barclay and produced by The Walt Disney Company.
When O Canada! opened at EPCOT Center, guests were guided on a narrated, eighteen minute journey through the gorgeous visuals of the Canadian wilderness. What O Canada lacked in charm it made up for in beauty, as guests stood still (or against a handrail) and watched the wonders of nature surround them in all of the vivid 360 degrees Circle-Vision can bring. A monotone narrator directed guests through the film and continued to list stereotypes and generalizations of Canadian life. The World Showcase is a lovely feat of thematic design, but the inherent ignorance required to both present a foreign nation while having it be accepted by the American tourist was surely a detriment to the film. Despite the fact that Canada contains a wide variety of provinces with various cultures, the tourist is most likely to understand the syrup forests densely populated with Moose and flannel-wearing cabin men.
The film was relatively popular with guests, but immediately drew criticism from all sides. One issue with Circle-Vision is the length of the show and how that relates to the theater structure. Unlike most movie theaters, Circle-Vision theaters require guests to remain standing at all times so that they can turn their bodies a full 360 degrees as to view the film from all angles. Though an interesting concept, pairing this method with a day of walking around a theme park can lead to physical stress, something theater shows should never induce. Having to stand is one thing, but having to stand while listening to a monotone speaker drone on and on for twenty minutes led to boredom. Asking guests to stand and watch nature on a screen is a tough sell, which is made even tougher when the guide directing them on this exposition has the inflections of a cardboard box. Canadian guests also took issue with the film for the aforementioned cliche, as Americans tend to see Canada as they do the backwoods of Pennsylvania: log cabins, fishing, and natural life dissimilar to the bustling cities of America. If Disney wanted to show Canada, they only captured a small part of it.
To fix this, Disney closed the original O Canada! on August 6, 2007. After operating for 25 years, the outdated film would be replaced by a refreshing, more faithful representation of Canada. On September 1, 2007, O Canada! would finally reopen.
Numerous complaints from the Canadian Tourism Commission resulted in a new attraction aiming to reflect some of the modern aspects of Canada not represented previously. The film opens with Martin Short in a dark, cold blizzard, as previous narrator Corey Burton sets the scene in “Canada. Big, wide and very, very cold. Here in the Great White North, it snows 24 hours a day, every day of the year.” Martin Short proceeds to correct the narrator that, while some of Canada is a natural marvel, that’s only part of the picture. In fact, most of this film was an apology for the previous hodgepodge of cliche and boredom.
Instead of focusing exclusively on Canada’s country life, the film now shows cities, experiences, and most importantly, famous stars from the Great White North. Guests still had to stand, but with a reduced runtime of 14 minutes and the comedy of Martin Short, it all became a little more bearable.
For 12 years, Martin Short’s O Canada! educated American tourists on the real values of our neighbors to the North. Finally, the World Showcase would fulfill its goal of bringing an accurate representation of the world’s culture to the modern park guest. After these changes were implemented, the world got a little bit smaller, and Canada was no longer defined by outdated stereotypes of ignorant cliche.
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On August 1st, O Canada! temporarily closed in preparation for a new film later this year. Though much of the content will be retained, and we aren’t sure exactly what the next film will contain, the second O Canada! will always be an important landmark in Epcot history. One shouldn’t advocate for purism, but a clear understanding of what made this incarnation so special is required for understanding the evolution of World Showcase. Short’s O Canada! was the first time Disney took a step back and realized that they had failed to achieve the park’s goal. The original film wasn’t an educational window to another culture, but a cliche piece of entertainment neglecting the often missed aspects of a wonderful country. Canada is much more than a couple of trees, and the decision to reflect that in a new film showed a clear understanding of thematic integrity. We can only hope that the next phase of Canada’s presence in Epcot is just as respectful.
O’ Canada! will reopen later this year with an updated film as part of Epcot’s Project Gamma.
Ryan Dorman is a Columnist and the Content Director for the Boardwalk Times. He can be found on Twitter at @OpentheDorman, and as a host of the Boardwalk Talk podcast on iTunes.
