HOORAY!
By Lianne Kolirin, CNN Business
Disney+ subscribers who log on to watch classic films like "Lady and the Tramp" or "Peter Pan" now see stronger advisory messages warning of racist content.
"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," Disney said in a statement online.
"Rather than removing this content, we see an opportunity to spark conversation and open dialogue on history that affects us all," it added.
The 55 animated comedy "Lady and the Tramp" carries an advisory because of its depiction of Siamese cats in a way that perpetuates anti-Asian stereotypes.
Of the 70 film "The Aristocats," it says: "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.
"Dumbo," released in 42, includes a warning because of the crows, which " homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations."
It adds: "The leader of the 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 , we throw our all away.'"
"Peter Pan," which hit movie theaters in 53, "portrays Native people in a stereotypical manner that reflects neither the diversity of Native peoples nor their authentic cultural traditions."
Among the other films highlighted are "The Jungle Book," "Fantasia," live-action movie "The Swiss Family Robinson" and "Aladdin," which was made as recently as 92.
By Allen Kim, CNN
Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam no longer have guns in new 'Looney Tunes Cartoons'. While their outfits remain the same, both will no longer be carrying guns.
The cartoons will still have plenty of sticks of Acme dynamite and cartoon violence, but Fudd will no longer carry his oversized hunting rifle and Sam won't have his pistols.
"We're not doing guns," executive producer and showrunner Peter Browngardt said in an interview with The New York Times.
"But we can do cartoony violence -- TNT, the Acme stuff. All that was kind of grandfathered in."
In a short titled "Dynamite Dance," Fudd uses a scythe as he chases his nemesis Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny responds by using explosives to blow Fudd up multiple times.
No mention is made of whether or not that the guns being removed was a response to gun violence and school shootings in the US.
Warner Bros. Animation and CNN's parent company is WarnerMedia.
Okay, I don't remember a damn thing about Disney, but Looney Toons was a staple of Saturday mornings. That's just silly. Cartoon violence is cartoon violence. It's deliberately over the top. I never once thought of looking down the barrel of a gun to see if there was one buwwet weft.
Porky pig did the racist crow thing too.
Disgusting, crows are lovely intelligent birds that shouldn’t be used by humans to insult one another.
Beautiful raven, I road by a pair of them while biking yesterday
Ravens are the coolest birds, I saw a couple yesterday while biking
Song of the South was very racist
You're right.
Horrifically so!!! Even as a kid I questioned this....
Me, too. I was appalled by Song of the South.
@LiterateHiker that’s why you can’t buy it in the states. I bought it on eBay from England. I do appreciate the Gullah language (described and published as a separate langauge with books in it) and the authentic Africa folk takes the stories used.