Disney prefaces old films with racism warnings
Films like ‘ Dumbo’, ‘ Aladdin’ and ‘ Peter Pan’ will now come with awarning
T“Rather than remove content, wewant to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future.”
DISNEY DISCLAIMER
hey are classic animated films like Dumbo ( 1941) and Peter Pan ( 1953), but on Disney’s streaming service they will nowget a little help to stand the test of time.
Before viewers watch someof these films that entertained generations of children, theywill be warned about scenes that include “negative depictions” and “mistreatment of people or cultures.”
The 12- second disclaimer, which cannot be skipped, tells viewers, in part: “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn fromit and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”
In addition to Peter Pan and Dumbo, the warning plays on films including The Aristocats (1970) and Aladdin (1992), and directs viewers to awebsite that explains some of the problematic scenes.
In The Aristocats, a cat with slanted eyes and buck teeth is a “racist caricature of East Asian peoples with exaggerated stereotypical traits,” thewebsite says. The cat’s song about egg foo young and fortune cookies— Westernised foods—“mockthe Chinese language and culture,” it says.
Dumbo includes a group of crows that “pay homage to racist minstrel shows,” the site says. The leader of the group of birds is named Jim Crow, a reference to the laws that enforced racial segregation in the United States. Peter Pan portrays Indigenous people “in a stereotypical manner” and refers to them repeatedly with a slur, it says.
Disney was advised by organisations such as the African- American Film Critics Association and the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, according to the site, which says a third- party “advisory council” is providing Disney with “ongoing guidance and thought leadership on critical issues and shifting perceptions.”
The disclaimer follows a similar, yet less extensive, warning from Disney in 2019 that told viewers: “This programme is presented as originally created. Itmay contain outdated cultural depictions.”
Hemant Shah, a professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madisonwho studies portrayals of race and ethnicity in film and media, said that if white children consumed content with racist portrayals that went unchecked, it could “normalise the stereotype” forthem and make it “normal forthem not to call out stereotypes or racist behaviours they see in their lives.”
For children of colour, it could lead to self- esteem issues, Shah said. “They may have a sense of, ‘ That’s how I am?’” he said.
Though hewas sceptical that the disclaimer would have a large impact on children, Shah said that racist scenes offered learning opportunities when children watched them with theirparents at home or in the classroom as part of media literacy education. Disney “ought to also have some sort education programme” about the stereotypes in conjunction with the disclaimer, he said.
The revised language was installed over the past week, a Disney spokesperson said in an email Sunday, noting that the original advisory had appeared since Disney+ kicked offin November last year.
Disney said in June that itwould remake its Splash Mountain theme park ride, which includes characters and songs fromthe 1946 musical Song of the South. Disney has not made the musical available for over three decades because of the racist imagery it includes.