By Charlie Thompson, Challenge Wednesday Writer
In this day and age, almost everyone has seen or heard of a Disney film. They have been making family classics for nearly a century and have definitely made a name for themselves in the film world. However, it has not always been so family friendly and does include some very racist moments. In this article you will learn about these moments and what Disney has done to cover it up.
In this day and age, almost everyone has seen or heard of a Disney film. They have been making family classics for nearly a century and have definitely made a name for themselves in the film world. However, it has not always been so family friendly and does include some very racist moments. In this article you will learn about these moments and what Disney has done to cover it up.
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
This animated classic follows a pampered cocker spaniel called Lady, whose normal, relaxed life slips away when her owners have a baby. After some tense circumstances, Lady finds herself loose on the streets of Missouri where she befriends, and is protected by, a stray mutt named Tramp. A romance begins to blossom between the two dogs, but their many differences, along with more drama at Lady's household, threaten to keep them apart.
The ‘tense circumstances’ (as many of you may know) were in fact the Siamese Cats. To many Disney fans they were just the villainous cats that caused a ruckus, however, there are more to these cats than meets the eye.
They are a type of racial stereotypes, being drawn with bucked-teeth and slanted eyes, while being accompanied by a gong in their evil (yet catchy) song they are clearly meant to resemble Asian caricatures. At the time of release of this film this was not viewed as a problem, but now, in this day and age we have released this issue. However, there is nothing we can do to stop this as it is such a classic film, and the Siamese are a crucial part to the plot so Disney wouldn’t be able to remove them from the film completely.
The Jungle Book (1968)
In the animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic story, The Jungle Book, it is centred around a ‘Man-Cub’, named Mowgli, who was raised by a pack of wolves led by Akela. When his peaceful existence is threatened by the menacing tiger Shere Khan, he has to return back to the ‘Man Village’, accompanied by Bagheera and Balloo he braves the jungle to save his life.
While navigating the jungle, Mowgli gets captured by King Louie and his Musical Monkeys amuse us with the toe-tapper, blues themed song.
However, King Louie and his monkeys’ voice actors all speak in ‘black slang’ (the only characters in the film to do so), a link to when they would be humiliated and called monkeys when they would be forced into slavery. This is probably an accident on Disney’s part, however it is not something to joke about, even if it was not noticed during the making.
Fantasmic (1941)
Released in 1941, this is the boldest experiment Disney has done to this date. Blending together classical music and imagination to bring the Disney magic that we know and love to life. This film helped blossom Mickey’s career and remains unique in the history of animation.
During a segment of the film, it features a group of beautiful centaurettes, getting their hair made silky, their hooves getting clipped and makeup being put on, by another centaurette. This is the only black centaurette, Sunflower. It is not beautiful, is short and plump, and is in fact not even part horse, it is a donkey. With it’s defining black features and drawn looking after everyone else, it is clearly a link to black-slavery. Especially the way it is drawn compared to the other centaurettes, it could be offensive to anyone who sees it. This character has been removed from the recent releases of the film, but actions like that should not have to be done in the first place.
In conclusion, I believe that these moments should not have been included in the first place. All of these films are from a different age and it shows how Disney has progressed, I am pleased that Disney have removed some of these scenes from the films, and I am glad that they have realised these types of stereotypes are not acceptable to today's modern viewer.
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