Disney is censoring four of their classic films from the Disney+ accounts of children under age seven, citing what they described as the “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.”
“Dumbo,” “Peter Pan,” “Swiss Family Robinson,” and “The Aristocats” are no longer available for young users of the streaming account service, according to The Mail on Sunday.
The move is a follow-up to content warnings the entertainment company placed on some
of its older films in October to “provide context” for characters that would today be deemed “offensive”.
Adult users can still access the children’s movies, albeit after sitting through the 12-second content disclaimer that cannot be skipped. The disclaimer also directs viewers to a website called “Stories Matter,” which says, “Because happily ever after doesn’t just happen.”
Such statements of course discourage and deprive the targeted children exactly of that – of dreaming happy endings.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, we are in the process of reviewing our library and adding advisories to content that includes negative depictions or mistreatment of people or cultures,” the website says.
“We can’t change the past, but we can acknowledge it, learn from it and move forward together to create a tomorrow that today can only dream of.”
“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures,” the warning reads. “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”
“Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.”
Dumbo (1941)
“The crows and musical number pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations. The leader of the group in Dumbo is Jim Crow, which shares the name of laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.
In ‘The Song of the Roustabouts,’ faceless Black workers toil away to offensive lyrics like ‘When we get our pay, we throw our money all away.’”
Peter Pan (1953)
“The film portrays Native people in a stereotypical manner that reflects neither the diversity of Native peoples nor their authentic cultural traditions. It shows them speaking in an unintelligible language and repeatedly refers to them as ‘redskins,’ an offensive term. Peter and the Lost Boys engage in dancing, wearing headdresses and other exaggerated tropes, a form of mockery and appropriation of Native peoples’ culture and imagery.”
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
“The pirates who antagonize the Robinson family are portrayed as a stereotypical foreign menace. Many appear in ‘yellow face’ or ‘brown face’ and are costumed in an exaggerated and inaccurate manner with top knot hairstyles, queues, robes and overdone facial make-up and jewelry, reinforcing their barbarism and ‘otherness.’ They speak in an indecipherable language, presenting a singular and racist representation of Asian and Middle Eastern peoples.”
The Aristocats (1970)
“The cat is depicted as a racist caricature of East Asian peoples with exaggerated stereotypical traits such as slanted eyes and buck teeth. He sings in poorly accented English voiced by a white actor and plays the piano with chopsticks. This portrayal reinforces the ‘perpetual foreigner’ stereotype, while the film also features lyrics that mock the Chinese language and culture such as ‘Shanghai, Hong Kong, Egg Foo Young. Fortune cookie always wrong.’”
At this time it is unknown if Disney or other entertainment companies will add to their list of censored items for the sake of political correctness.
(Daily Wire).
