Disney+ Pulls "Peter Pan", "Dumbo", & Others From Children's' Profiles After Warning Of Stereotypes And Negative Depictions

[TTL News 313]

 

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In October, Disney Plus added an expanded content warning to some movies.

Those titles, flagged for “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures,” included “Lady and the Tramp,” “Peter Pan,” “The Jungle Book” and “Dumbo.”

Now the streamer has removed some of those films and others from the profiles of young children.

The Walt Disney Company pulled “Dumbo,” “Peter Pan,” “The Aristocats” and “Swiss Family Robinson” from its offerings for children under 7.

Adult Disney Plus profiles still have access to the films with the content warning.

Here’s some of what Disney has said about each of these movies at the “Stories Matter” section of its website:

• “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.”

 

See the rest of the list and the article here.

What do you think, is this an appropriate move on Disney's part or are they overreacting? 

[Chris 2,195]

I can't get too worked up over this since it's just the kids' accounts. 

I get the reasoning, I do. But I also think we have to view these things intelligently and understand that, while what was acceptable 60 years ago isn't today, we also can't just erase entire works based on that. It makes me wonder what it okay in this era that in 50 years will be considered in appropriate.

I think it's appropriate to make them available for viewing, including "Song of the South". Maybe put a little 2-5 minute spiel at the beginning explaining that while these things are considered offensive now, they haven't always been; people weren't as enlightened or whatever. Make it a teaching moment between parents and kids. 

Or hell, make sure that all groups are equally ridiculed and let the people decide what to watch or not. 🤷‍♂️

[Hal 341]

Well said Chris ! Now here’s my thoughts . 
I have , in my short 68 years , seen all these shows , my favorite being I Dumbo ! We all know the moral of this movie for all ages , right ? Okay , i’ll just remind those that may have forgotten ! 
Dumbo , a baby elephant that was born with a deformity  ( oversized ears ) which made him different and made him the victim of bullying and ridicule , hurting his feelings , making him feel useless , different , until his wise mother gave him a magic feather . With this magic feather she told her baby he would be transformed and could , despite his being different , do anything , even soar above those that ridiculed him ! Now I ask you , are we anymore “enlightened “ now then back when those movies were made ? 
 Yes we are more enlightened, we have traveled to space , man has stepped on the moon ! But we still have not found it in our hearts to actually get the message from an animated movie with a moral in the story ! And this is just one such movie ! 
I am coming into the latter part of my life ( not rushing things any ) and as I see all the changes being made to our /my past I find it difficult to accept that we have come so far technologically but have gotten so close to falling into what I see as a very dark abyss and thinking we are enlightened .