Racial stereotypes, offensive language or the social conventions of decades ago, obsolete in relation to what is currently considered politically correct, are reasons Disney decided to restrict access to some of its best-known animated films.
Disney considers “Dumbo”, “Peter Pan” and “The Aristocats” to be racist and cannot be seen by anyone under the age of 7
The huge catalog of Disney + and its collection of novelties is immense, but from now on some titles will cost a little more to find or it will be impossible even for those under the age of seven. They are titles that generations of viewers have grown up with, but which sometimes feature their characters with customs or nicknames that are currently considered offensive.
The films Disney has now decided on are the following:
– «Dumbo»: The derogatory stereotype towards African Americans is based on the portrayal of two ravens with an exaggerated accent that can be considered ridiculous, in addition to the name of one of them (Jim) and the fact that it is a crow (in English, crow) would allude to a character, Jim Crow, who later named laws that advocated racial segregation but turned out to be a derogatory satire against African Americans.
– –«Peter Pan»: Indians are satirically portrayed as “Redskins,” a term that was viewed as offensive and even led to the renaming of the Washington Redskins football team.
– –“The Aristocats”:: The Siamese cat in the title, who sings with a strong accent and plays the piano with chopsticks, is considered the ridiculousness of the Asian stereotype.
Decades ago Disney decided to relegate some titles where the racial issue was particularly delicate the passage of time and the change in perception by the more general social sensitivity. Such is the case with “Song of the South,” a 1946 film that mixed animation and real image and which today would hardly pass a filter of respect for racial diversity. In fact, as early as the last third of the last century, Disney made an effort not to make it available to the public as new formats like DVD became an unbeatable rarity.
A few months ago there was a similar controversy when the streaming platform HBO Max decided in June 2020 to initially withdraw the film “Gone with the Wind” and later restore it with a first contextualizing label. It was about avoiding what some called the “glorification of slavery”, which others saw as simply not an excuse but a reflection of the sensitivity at the time the film (1939) or the novel (1936) was released. but when the events that are told unfold (1861, during the American Civil War).
As early as October 2020, Disney + added a warning at the start of some of its films, such as “The Jungle Book”, indicating the existence of content with racist connotations in its old films … if a 1967 film was considered “old” Before the film starts, a sign indicates that racist stereotypes were wrong then and now, but it emphasizes the importance of learning from those mistakes in order to foster a more inclusive future.
This measure now extends so far that access to certain titles from the children’s profiles on the platform is prevented. Having the various profiles in place, as well as facilitating suggestions for more content similar to that of the user, or managing movies and series to resume from where they left off, is essential as a tool Parental supervision of the content that the little ones consume in the house. By specifying the age, access to the above content is restricted to users under the age of seven.
