Disney plus pulls Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Aristocats - stereotypes/negative depictions

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In October, Disney Plus added an expanded content warning to some movies. Those titles, flagged for “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures,” included “Lady and the Tramp,” “Peter Pan,” “The Jungle Book” and “Dumbo.” Now the streamer has removed some of those films and others from the profiles of young children. The Walt Disney Company pulled “Dumbo,” “Peter Pan,” “The Aristocats” and “Swiss Family Robinson” from its offerings for children under 7.

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Here’s some of what Disney has said about each of these movies at the “Stories Matter” section of its website:

“Dumbo” (1941): “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.”

“Peter Pan” (1953): “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.”

“Swiss Family Robinson” (1960): “The pirates who antagonize the Robinson family are portrayed as a stereotypical foreign menace. Many appear in ‘yellow face’ or ‘brown face’ and are costumed in an exaggerated and inaccurate manner with top knot hairstyles, queues, robes and overdone facial make-up and jewelry, reinforcing their barbarism and ‘otherness.’”

“The Aristocats” (1970): “The (Siamese) cat (Shun Gon) 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.”

Here’s the content warning displayed on these films:

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together. Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.”

The warning directs viewers to the Stories Matter portion of the Disney website.

One Disney film that is not available on Disney Plus is “Song of the South.” The 1946 movie, known for its racist depictions, also supplied the theme of the Splash Mountain rides at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, which are being redesigned to fit a “The Princess and the Frog” theme. The 2009 film stars Tiana, the first Black Disney princess.

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