TIME - Top 10 Disney Controversies - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

JamesG · 12-15-2009, 07:11 PM

1. Disney's First African-American Princess - Princess Tiana

Even when the 86-year-old media conglomerate tries to right decades of stereotypes in its animated movies, Disney can still manage to miss the mark.

The Dec. 11 nationwide release of The Princess and the Frog marks the first time Disney portrays an African-American heroine on the big screen — about time. Still, the film has not escaped controversy.

While studio execs agreed to use a more ethnic-sounding name ("Tiana," instead of the originally scripted "Maddy") and make her the head chef for an affluent white family (rather than her original job as a maid), critics had a few doubts.

Why was Tiana's prince given an ambiguous name and suspiciously light skin? Why set the film in New Orleans, home to a largely black community still reeling from Hurricane Katrina?
What's with the voodoo theme?

In the end, however, the film has garnered some positive reviews:
"Going into this movie, I thought the princesses in pop culture, especially Disney princesses, could exist only in stories in which helpless young women are saved by handsome young men," Washington Post columnist Sara Sarasohn wrote about seeing the movie with her young daughter.

"But Tiana is the princess I didn't know I had been waiting for my whole life."

2. Aladdin's "Arabian Nights" Lyrics

The lyrics of Disney's cartoon musicals aren't generally known for their edginess, but the opening song of 1992's Aladdin left some viewers steaming.

As the movie begins, a character describes his Arabian home as a place "where they cut off your ear/ If they don't like your face," and concludes, "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home."

Arab-Americans said the line played on stereotypes and asked that it be removed.

"Can an Arab-American child feel good after seeing Aladdin? The answer is no," an official with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told Variety. (Critics also objected to a scene in which an Arab merchant attempts to slice off Princess Jasmine's hand.)

Disney defended the movie, calling it the first film in years to feature an Arab hero and heroine, but the company agreed to change the lyric in the home-video and CD versions (the new version: "Where it's flat and immense/ And the heat is intense").

To the dismay of critics, however, the "barbaric" line remained.

In a 1993 editorial titled "It's Racist, But Hey, It's Disney," the New York Times countered, "To characterize an entire region with this sort of tongue-in-cheek bigotry, especially in a movie aimed at children, borders on barbaric."

3. Unreleased On Home Video - Song of the South

You probably haven't seen Disney's 1946 film Song of the South, but you've definitely heard it. Its signature song, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," won a 1947 Academy Award, and the Br'er Rabbit animation sequences have been used in several TV spots and Disney specials over the years.

But there's no denying the fact that by today's standards, the film is rather racist.

Set in the post–Civil War South, the movie — in which a former slave named Uncle Remus regales children with amusing stories — depicts an offensively "idyllic" master-slave relationship, as the NAACP once described it.

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. considered the feature's depictions of happy slaves an "insult to American minorities."

Disney has declined to release the film on video in the U.S., fearing an outcry over the crude stereotypes.

4. Disney "Destroying" Alice in Wonderland

When Disney first released its film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale in 1951, moviegoers were not entirely pleased.

British critics attacked the studio for "Americanizing" the story of Alice's fall down the rabbit hole, while American viewers criticized Disney for distorting Carroll's prose.

"Mr. Disney has plunged into those works ... snatched favorite characters from them, whipped them up as colorful cartoons, thrown them together willy-nilly ... scattered a batch of songs throughout and brought it all forth in Technicolor," read a review from the New York Times. (In the studio's defense, Carroll was a pretty twisted writer whose work the Encyclopaedia Britannica calls "nonsense literature of the highest order.")

The film enjoyed a revival of sorts in the 1960s and '70s, thanks to Jefferson Airplane's 1967 acid-rock epic "White Rabbit" — and, no doubt, Alice's own inherently hallucinogenic imagery.

Suddenly the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the hookah-smoking, vowel-blowing caterpillar were icons for hippies across the country.

5. The "Penis" on the Home Video Cover of The Little Mermaid

Hollywood doesn't get much more G-rated than 1989's tale of perky Princess Ariel and her animated adventures under the sea. But the movie's home-video cover deserved an adults-only rating, at least in the eyes of many scandalized parents.

One of the tall, thin castle spires depicted in the cover's artwork (also used in posters and other promotional materials) bore an uncanny resemblance to the kind of protuberance that men generally cover up with bathing suits.

Disney was flooded with complaints once word of the similarity spread and strenuously denied rumors that the suggestive edifice was a work of sabotage by a disgruntled artist.

"This is the Walt Disney Company," a beleaguered spokesman was quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as saying. "Why would we do something like this?"

Intentional or not, Disney had no interest in being perceived as smut peddlers — a phallus-free version of Ariel's castle graced the cover of the movie's LaserDisc version.

6. The Singing Crows in Dumbo

For a movie that's still respected as one of Disney's classics, elements of Dumbo have sure aged poorly.

Case in point: the movie's band of crows — a jive-talking ("Been done seen about everything when you see an elephant fly") group of friendly deadbeats.

And in case the stereotype isn't blatant enough, the lead crow's name? Jim. As in Jim Crow, the series of laws that mandated segregation for blacks prior to the civil rights movement.

7. The Death of Bambi's Mother and Simba's Father

Death is a fact of life; the question is when it's appropriate to clue kids in on this information.

Disney has occasionally come under fire for plot points that are perhaps too grim for children. Tears beyond number have been spilled by impressionable tots when Bambi's mother is gunned down by a hunter and when Simba is orphaned during a stampede in The Lion King.

These gruesome scenes have caused some outrage: a bill proposed by a British industry-watchdog group in 2004 could have banned Bambi for causing children "psychological harm," and when The Lion King was released, the New York Times' Janet Maslin pondered whether Mufasa's "disturbing on-screen death" precluded it from receiving a G rating.

It's true that in both films, the death of a parent forces the protagonist to master the requisite life skill of overcoming adversity — but some question whether many typical Disney viewers are too young to be exposed to the theme.

8. The Siamese Twin Cats in Lady and the Tramp

The crafty cats in Lady and the Tramp are, as they say, Siamese whether you do or don't please.

Critics, however, remain largely displeased by the various Asian stereotypes embodied by the cats in the 1955 movie.

The havoc-wreaking twins first appear as floating, slanty eyes peeking out from inside a basket; they prance around to a distinctly Asian soundtrack, tormenting the Lady with their sinister and manipulative behavior — not to mention their pidgin English.

The movie was released shortly after the end of the Korean War, when Asian stereotypes were rampant in the U.S. — a connection that analysts have used to explain the deeper significance of the Siamese antagonists.

9. Disney Not Being "Loyal" to Pocahontas

Disney thought it deserved a pat on the back when it released Pocahontas in 1995. Not only was it the studio's first historically based animated film, but it also helped diversify a rather homogeneous group of past protagonists with its Native American lead — the second nonwhite Disney leading lady, after Aladdin's Princess Jasmine.

But Native American groups complained that the studio strayed too far from history in the name of entertainment.

For starters, there was no love story à la Romeo and Juliet between the real Captain John Smith and Pocahontas — a major theme in Disney's version.

In reality, Pocahontas was only about 10 years old when Smith arrived with the Virginia Company in 1607; she later considered him somewhat of a father figure but never a romantic interest. She did go on to save his life once, when Powhatan Indians wanted his head, which was how she earned the respect of the settlers.

But there was no teary-eyed goodbye when Smith returned to England, as the Disney film depicts.

Around 1613, Pocahontas was abducted by English colonists and taken to another part of Virginia; she was baptized as a Christian, married tobacco magnate John Rolfe and changed her name to Rebecca.

10. The Disney Princesses Not Being Good Role Models For Young Women

The Disney princess has become one of the most iconic symbols of Walt's ever growing empire — and one of its all-time greatest brands. From dress-up dolls to bedding to silverware, the heroines are everywhere, and kids love them.

But do the princesses really make good role models? A lot of parents — and feminists — would say no.

The most prevalent characteristic of Disney's three original princesses (Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty) is that they spend much of their movies as damsels in distress, waiting to be saved by men.

It wasn't until 1989 that Disney debuted The Little Mermaid's Ariel, a princess less passive and more defiant. But Ariel also gave up her beautiful voice for a pair of legs just so she could be with a man — who, of course, is a prince who rescues her in the end.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...946724,00.html

PlayOn · 12-15-2009, 07:52 PM

People get up in arms over anything and everything. Nothing can ever be for our enjoyment anymore. It always have to 'glorify' something.

I think the Disney princesses are a good role model for young girls/women. They're kind and gracious, etc. Not every girl wants a man simply because Snow White does.

browneyes106 · 12-16-2009, 11:09 PM

I have read other articles about the Disney controversies before. I agree people take things too far.

catlover79 · 12-17-2009, 12:23 AM

I heard that Disney was going to release Song of the South on DVD a couple of years ago. (I THINK it was once released on laser disc.) I guess they changed their minds, fearing the backlash.

JamesG · 12-17-2009, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

I heard that Disney was going to release Song of the South on DVD a couple of years ago. (I THINK it was once released on laser disc.) I guess they changed their minds, fearing the backlash.

No, Song of the South has never been released in the US on any home media format.

There were talks about an official DVD release in 2007 but Disney backed out.

catlover79 · 12-17-2009, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesG

No, Song of the South has never been released in the US on any home media format.

There were talks about an official DVD release in 2007 but Disney backed out.

OK, thanks for clarifying. I do recall the talk in 2007 of releasing it.

Schmoopie · 12-17-2009, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

I heard that Disney was going to release Song of the South on DVD a couple of years ago. (I THINK it was once released on laser disc.) I guess they changed their minds, fearing the backlash.

I have a friend on another board that I have posted on for about five years now and he has Song of the South on Laserdisc. He very graciously made me a DVD copy of it, and even went to the trouble to print up a DVD cover with color pictures. I watched it and really enjoyed it.

I think someone has WAY too much time on their hands, finding these "controversies" in Disney movies. The thing with "Little Mermaid"... well, I don't even want to THINK about that.

And what is the big deal about having a black princess? It's about time they did that. Jasmine is supposed to be what? Arab or whatever, and I never heard anyone complaining about that.

I wish people would just see things the way they are meant to be seen and not ruin it for others. "People" meaning whomever came up with this stupid list!

catlover79 · 12-17-2009, 01:07 AM

^ Bingo!!

JamesG · 12-17-2009, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmoopie

I have a friend on another board that I have posted on for about five years now and he has Song of the South on Laserdisc. He very graciously made me a DVD copy of it, and even went to the trouble to print up a DVD cover with color pictures. I watched it and really enjoyed it.

Yeah, I believe it must have originated from a foreign bootleg. It's been released overseas but never got an official release here.

JamesG · 12-17-2009, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmoopie

The thing with "Little Mermaid"... well, I don't even want to THINK about that.

It was really nothing.. not to mention stupid.

On the original VHS release of The Little Mermaid some folks thought that one of the towers on the sea-castle looked too much like a penis.

They complained to Disney and since they didn't want any trouble Disney removed "the penis" in later releases.

catlover79 · 12-17-2009, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesG

It was really nothing.. not to mention stupid.

On the original VHS release of The Little Mermaid some folks thought that one of the towers on the sea-castle looked too much like a penis.

They complained to Disney and since they didn't want any trouble Disney removed "the penis" in later releases.

Some people have WAY too much free time...and no lives.

JamesG · 12-17-2009, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

Some people have WAY too much free time...and no lives.

heh... true.

You ever hear the story about the nude woman in The Rescuers?

Schmoopie · 12-17-2009, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesG

It was really nothing.. not to mention stupid.

My best friend at work told me about this and even then I was rolling my eyes. I never even paid that much attention to the cover anyway.

catlover79 · 12-17-2009, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmoopie

My best friend at work told me about this and even then I was rolling my eyes. I never even paid that much attention to the cover anyway.

I know. I bet 99% of the population wouldn't even have noticed in the first place. I know I didn't.

PlayOn · 12-17-2009, 04:14 PM

I'm surprised Snow White isn't called 'Snow Caucasian and the Seven Little People'.

12-15-2009, 07:11 PM	#1
JamesG Freakshow Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 01, 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 57,136	TIME - Top 10 Disney Controversies 1. Disney's First African-American Princess - Princess Tiana Even when the 86-year-old media conglomerate tries to right decades of stereotypes in its animated movies, Disney can still manage to miss the mark. The Dec. 11 nationwide release of The Princess and the Frog marks the first time Disney portrays an African-American heroine on the big screen — about time. Still, the film has not escaped controversy. While studio execs agreed to use a more ethnic-sounding name ("Tiana," instead of the originally scripted "Maddy") and make her the head chef for an affluent white family (rather than her original job as a maid), critics had a few doubts. Why was Tiana's prince given an ambiguous name and suspiciously light skin? Why set the film in New Orleans, home to a largely black community still reeling from Hurricane Katrina? What's with the voodoo theme? In the end, however, the film has garnered some positive reviews: "Going into this movie, I thought the princesses in pop culture, especially Disney princesses, could exist only in stories in which helpless young women are saved by handsome young men," Washington Post columnist Sara Sarasohn wrote about seeing the movie with her young daughter. "But Tiana is the princess I didn't know I had been waiting for my whole life." 2. Aladdin's "Arabian Nights" Lyrics The lyrics of Disney's cartoon musicals aren't generally known for their edginess, but the opening song of 1992's Aladdin left some viewers steaming. As the movie begins, a character describes his Arabian home as a place "where they cut off your ear/ If they don't like your face," and concludes, "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." Arab-Americans said the line played on stereotypes and asked that it be removed. "Can an Arab-American child feel good after seeing Aladdin? The answer is no," an official with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told Variety. (Critics also objected to a scene in which an Arab merchant attempts to slice off Princess Jasmine's hand.) Disney defended the movie, calling it the first film in years to feature an Arab hero and heroine, but the company agreed to change the lyric in the home-video and CD versions (the new version: "Where it's flat and immense/ And the heat is intense"). To the dismay of critics, however, the "barbaric" line remained. In a 1993 editorial titled "It's Racist, But Hey, It's Disney," the New York Times countered, "To characterize an entire region with this sort of tongue-in-cheek bigotry, especially in a movie aimed at children, borders on barbaric." 3. Unreleased On Home Video - Song of the South You probably haven't seen Disney's 1946 film Song of the South, but you've definitely heard it. Its signature song, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," won a 1947 Academy Award, and the Br'er Rabbit animation sequences have been used in several TV spots and Disney specials over the years. But there's no denying the fact that by today's standards, the film is rather racist. Set in the post–Civil War South, the movie — in which a former slave named Uncle Remus regales children with amusing stories — depicts an offensively "idyllic" master-slave relationship, as the NAACP once described it. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. considered the feature's depictions of happy slaves an "insult to American minorities." Disney has declined to release the film on video in the U.S., fearing an outcry over the crude stereotypes. 4. Disney "Destroying" Alice in Wonderland When Disney first released its film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale in 1951, moviegoers were not entirely pleased. British critics attacked the studio for "Americanizing" the story of Alice's fall down the rabbit hole, while American viewers criticized Disney for distorting Carroll's prose. "Mr. Disney has plunged into those works ... snatched favorite characters from them, whipped them up as colorful cartoons, thrown them together willy-nilly ... scattered a batch of songs throughout and brought it all forth in Technicolor," read a review from the New York Times. (In the studio's defense, Carroll was a pretty twisted writer whose work the Encyclopaedia Britannica calls "nonsense literature of the highest order.") The film enjoyed a revival of sorts in the 1960s and '70s, thanks to Jefferson Airplane's 1967 acid-rock epic "White Rabbit" — and, no doubt, Alice's own inherently hallucinogenic imagery. Suddenly the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the hookah-smoking, vowel-blowing caterpillar were icons for hippies across the country. 5. The "Penis" on the Home Video Cover of The Little Mermaid Hollywood doesn't get much more G-rated than 1989's tale of perky Princess Ariel and her animated adventures under the sea. But the movie's home-video cover deserved an adults-only rating, at least in the eyes of many scandalized parents. One of the tall, thin castle spires depicted in the cover's artwork (also used in posters and other promotional materials) bore an uncanny resemblance to the kind of protuberance that men generally cover up with bathing suits. Disney was flooded with complaints once word of the similarity spread and strenuously denied rumors that the suggestive edifice was a work of sabotage by a disgruntled artist. "This is the Walt Disney Company," a beleaguered spokesman was quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as saying. "Why would we do something like this?" Intentional or not, Disney had no interest in being perceived as smut peddlers — a phallus-free version of Ariel's castle graced the cover of the movie's LaserDisc version. 6. The Singing Crows in Dumbo For a movie that's still respected as one of Disney's classics, elements of Dumbo have sure aged poorly. Case in point: the movie's band of crows — a jive-talking ("Been done seen about everything when you see an elephant fly") group of friendly deadbeats. And in case the stereotype isn't blatant enough, the lead crow's name? Jim. As in Jim Crow, the series of laws that mandated segregation for blacks prior to the civil rights movement. 7. The Death of Bambi's Mother and Simba's Father Death is a fact of life; the question is when it's appropriate to clue kids in on this information. Disney has occasionally come under fire for plot points that are perhaps too grim for children. Tears beyond number have been spilled by impressionable tots when Bambi's mother is gunned down by a hunter and when Simba is orphaned during a stampede in The Lion King. These gruesome scenes have caused some outrage: a bill proposed by a British industry-watchdog group in 2004 could have banned Bambi for causing children "psychological harm," and when The Lion King was released, the New York Times' Janet Maslin pondered whether Mufasa's "disturbing on-screen death" precluded it from receiving a G rating. It's true that in both films, the death of a parent forces the protagonist to master the requisite life skill of overcoming adversity — but some question whether many typical Disney viewers are too young to be exposed to the theme. 8. The Siamese Twin Cats in Lady and the Tramp The crafty cats in Lady and the Tramp are, as they say, Siamese whether you do or don't please. Critics, however, remain largely displeased by the various Asian stereotypes embodied by the cats in the 1955 movie. The havoc-wreaking twins first appear as floating, slanty eyes peeking out from inside a basket; they prance around to a distinctly Asian soundtrack, tormenting the Lady with their sinister and manipulative behavior — not to mention their pidgin English. The movie was released shortly after the end of the Korean War, when Asian stereotypes were rampant in the U.S. — a connection that analysts have used to explain the deeper significance of the Siamese antagonists. 9. Disney Not Being "Loyal" to Pocahontas Disney thought it deserved a pat on the back when it released Pocahontas in 1995. Not only was it the studio's first historically based animated film, but it also helped diversify a rather homogeneous group of past protagonists with its Native American lead — the second nonwhite Disney leading lady, after Aladdin's Princess Jasmine. But Native American groups complained that the studio strayed too far from history in the name of entertainment. For starters, there was no love story à la Romeo and Juliet between the real Captain John Smith and Pocahontas — a major theme in Disney's version. In reality, Pocahontas was only about 10 years old when Smith arrived with the Virginia Company in 1607; she later considered him somewhat of a father figure but never a romantic interest. She did go on to save his life once, when Powhatan Indians wanted his head, which was how she earned the respect of the settlers. But there was no teary-eyed goodbye when Smith returned to England, as the Disney film depicts. Around 1613, Pocahontas was abducted by English colonists and taken to another part of Virginia; she was baptized as a Christian, married tobacco magnate John Rolfe and changed her name to Rebecca. 10. The Disney Princesses Not Being Good Role Models For Young Women The Disney princess has become one of the most iconic symbols of Walt's ever growing empire — and one of its all-time greatest brands. From dress-up dolls to bedding to silverware, the heroines are everywhere, and kids love them. But do the princesses really make good role models? A lot of parents — and feminists — would say no. The most prevalent characteristic of Disney's three original princesses (Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty) is that they spend much of their movies as damsels in distress, waiting to be saved by men. It wasn't until 1989 that Disney debuted The Little Mermaid's Ariel, a princess less passive and more defiant. But Ariel also gave up her beautiful voice for a pair of legs just so she could be with a man — who, of course, is a prince who rescues her in the end. http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...946724,00.html

12-15-2009, 07:52 PM	#2
PlayOn ADHD: what I have not who I am Senior Member Join Date: Jun 17, 2006 Location: I'll never tell. :p Posts: 2,745	People get up in arms over anything and everything. Nothing can ever be for our enjoyment anymore. It always have to 'glorify' something. I think the Disney princesses are a good role model for young girls/women. They're kind and gracious, etc. Not every girl wants a man simply because Snow White does.
	__________________ Have you heard the ? Jesus saves!!!

12-17-2009, 12:23 AM	#4
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,382	I heard that Disney was going to release Song of the South on DVD a couple of years ago. (I THINK it was once released on laser disc.) I guess they changed their minds, fearing the backlash.
	__________________ "Jesus loves you and He approves this message." "I'm alive. I'm feeling good. I'm trying to live every moment as much as I can." - Valerie Harper, March 2013

12-16-2009, 11:09 PM	#3
browneyes106 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Apr 01, 2008 Posts: 6,094	I have read other articles about the Disney controversies before. I agree people take things too far.

12-17-2009, 01:07 AM	#8
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,382	^ Bingo!!

12-17-2009, 04:14 PM	#15
PlayOn ADHD: what I have not who I am Senior Member Join Date: Jun 17, 2006 Location: I'll never tell. :p Posts: 2,745	I'm surprised Snow White isn't called 'Snow Caucasian and the Seven Little People'.