Disney Plus has restricted the likes of Dumbo and Peter Pan to adult profiles, according to a report by 1011 news.
The decision means that films with content advisory notices won’t be searchable on children’s profiles.
Warnings are now shown at the beginning of some children’s classics, which contain inappropriate content. Disney’s online help centre states that “Titles with a content advisory notice related to negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures have been excluded” [via IGN].
The “Stories Matter” section of the Disney website explains what makes each children’s classic inappropriate. Here’s a sample of some of the examples used by the website, along with why they’re considered to be culturally insensitive:
“Aristocats- 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 such as ‘Shanghai, Hong Kong, Egg Foo Young. Fortune cookie always wrong.‘”
“Dumbo- 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. In ‘The Song of the Roustabouts,’ faceless Black workers toil away to offensive lyrics like ‘When we get our pay, we throw our money all away.‘”
“Peter Pan – The film portrays Native people in a stereotypical manner that reflects neither the diversity of Native peoples nor their authentic cultural traditions. It shows them speaking in an unintelligible language and repeatedly refers to them as ‘redskins,’ an offensive term. Peter and the Lost Boys engage in dancing, wearing headdresses and other exaggerated tropes, a form of mockery and appropriation of Native peoples’ culture and imagery.”
Of course, the films are still searchable through Disney Plus adult accounts, so they haven’t been removed altogether. However, removing their searchability allows parents to decide whether their children should view the content.
Disney Plus also has a “kid-proof” mode, which prevents children from simply switching to an adult profile.
Featured Image Credit: Disney