The latest streaming service comes with just about every Disney movie or show ever made — and a heaping dose of social justice and apology, too.
While the new rollout has been plagued with problems (based on the number of people attempting to stream at once and overloaded systems), the company has also chosen this time to apologize for some of their past programming. Dumbo, Swiss Family Robinson and even Lady and The Tramp have been slapped with warning labels indicating that delicate viewers might be triggered by the animation they are about to see.
Each of these and other vintage films has been labeled with a prominent warning:
“This program is presented as originally created,” the warnings say. “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”
The trigger warnings appear on a variety of titles and are designed to safeguard those that are too delicate to cope with animated attitudes of the previous century. Each warning is affixed to a film that could be perceived as depicting groups in a stereotypical way. African Americans, Asians, Indigenous people, Native Americans and other groups are all listed as those that could be depicted in a stereotypical way.
Some of the problematic films are detailed below, and while these may seem very benign based on the level of nudity, violence and sexual content served up to kids today, they are “triggering” to some:
Dumbo (1941): The supporting cast features black crows, who display mannerisms and exaggerated stereotypical speech patterns. The widely panned 2019 release does not have these characters at all, and viewers are warned about them before the original film rolls.
Both Davy Crockett (1955):This film, along with the and Swiss Family Robinson have racist undertones and have been labeled with a trigger warning for those who are sensitive. Both Native Americans and Southeast Asians could be offended by the depiction of characters in these 1950’s films.
Lady and the Tramp (1955): This classic is also under fire for the pair of Siamese cats who sing a song entitled “We are Siamese if you please.” This apparently could be interpreted as racist towards Asians.
How to Fish (1942): This little known, little seen short film from 1942 features Goofy and has a trigger warning, though there is no reason stated and upon viewing the film, it does not have racist, sexist or other offensive undertones. It is simply a silly film about a clothed dog learning to fish.
Disney’s new streaming service also serves up plenty of new, social justice based, woke style content for those who need a politically correct viewing fix. The new episodes feature trans children, gay kids and adults, violence and more – but not culturally insensitive animated characters.
Subscribers are still aligning up and attempting to access the troubled platform, which has so far been plagued with streaming issues (so even if you want to risk being triggered, you can’t watch Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp and other classics just yet).
