Disney fans say to Splash Mountain, inspired by the song "South", should be rehemiran

Splash Mountain, a mainstay in both the Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California, the stars are animated characters from “Song of the South” in 1946 film long criticized for stereotyping “spiritual” black men and seemingly nostalgic view of the antebellum South.

Fans want to keep driving. But they are asking Disney to abolish all mentions of the film.

A number of suggestions have been cropped called Disney Retheme popular ride. The most widespread of these proposes re-editing for “The Princess and the Frog,” the first Disney film to feature a black princess. Some of them have turned into Changes.org petitions.

Petitions come at a time when the company – and the country – faced with their own biases and sometimes racist history.

Problems with “Songs South”

The stars of mountain stars Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, along with all the ducks and chickens and frogs that share their Southern home, culminating in a tall cap that sends riders straight through a thorny myth. But the animated characters appearing in their entirety arose from the 1946 film “Song of the South,” best known for the song “Zip-a-dee-doo-breath.”

The film was long criticized for romanticized views of the South after the Civil War. The Guardian’s Scott Tobias wrote in 2019 that “the world and the themes and [the live-action portion and animated segments starring Brer Rabbit] reinforce nostalgia for the plantation in the era of renewal. ”

Princess Diana (back row, R) rode Mount Splash in the 1993 Magic Kingdom of Disney.

BOB PEARSON / AFP via Getty Images

The history of Brer Zec is also controversial.

Harris witnesses told the old man, a black man named Uncle Remus, the son of the owner of the plantation test himself with tales of Brer Rabbit and his companions. Those stories as the basis for “Songs in the South.”

Today, scholars and readers say Harris ’stories use unquestionably racist stereotypes.

Disney, which has uncovered dozens of forgotten movies to be streamed to Disney +, has decided to keep “Song of the South” in the vault. He never received a wide release in the United States was due to criticism of racism.

But Disneyland opened Splash Mountain 1989, Decades after the film debuted and the video release was rejected. Uncle Remus does not appear anywhere in the run, but rural animals still speak the same dialect that Harris used in his stories, but Disney used in the film.

CNN reached out to Disneyland and Walt Disney World for comment and is waiting to hear.

Discussion of racism in older films

National protests against racism and white supremacy are reviving years of talk about how art created over the past decade should be viewed – as racist and insensitive or a relic of a separate time.

HBO Max said it would soon contain similar warnings with “Gone with the Wind,” which was temporarily pulled from the streaming service following criticism of the film’s depiction of racism, slavery and blacks in the southern antebelum.

More recent films such as “blind side” and “Help” looking through different lenses. Both have received criticism of the “white Savior” troop they employ since their debut in 2009 and 2011 respectively, although both have been nominated for – and won – numerous Oscars.

And last week, as they protested across the country against police killings of blacks, “Help” became the most-watched film on Netflix, Reported by the weekly Entertainment, This is the story of black domestic workers and white women they work for the mid-20th century, and even the stars of its criticized the attitudes displayed.

Disney cast members want changes, too

Frederick Chambers, who said he works at Disneyland in California, told CNN that his colleague shared the “re-theme of the Splash Mountain Challenge.”

Chambers, who for years has developed the idea to change the subject drive in “The Princess and the Frog” and on it is often talked to his colleagues’ members acting “, the same idea was discussed in Disney fan circles.

“Turns out a lot of people see the same problems with attractions I do,” he said.

Chambers said he believes the theme is “very compelling,” noting how Disney did it before: In a few months, Disney California Adventure Park changed the theme of its “Tower of Terror” ride based on the “Twilight Zone,” Marvel’s. Guardians of the Galaxy “.

“The bones of attraction are good, but I think it’s time to take a serious look at where our stories come from and how people in color are represented on screen and in parks,” he said.

Now, the updated scene shows a pirate – women animatronics that were auctioned in the old scene among them – auction items from the village in which they plundered.

Myrtle Gildon

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