Splash Mountain re-theme announced

[BlakeW39]

The idea that Splash Mountain -- arguably Disney's most beloved ride, alongside Haunted Mansion -- has to go down the toilet because it is based on Song of the South is absolutely absurd.

I'm a young black man. I am a progressive one at that and anyone who isn't actively dismissing and/or turning a blind eye to racism can clearly see that Song of the South very much is based upon it. However SPLASH MOUNTAIN is not. It's a ride at a theme park, and depicts no humans let alone racial relations between them! No references to the movie are made. Dumbo is based on animal cruelty, all the princesses and castles are based on (cruel) fuedalism, and the entirety of Frontierland is based on the (obviously cruel) genocide and extermination/removal of Native Americans. We gonna take these down too? Ridiculous.

Disney consistently makes their parks worse, or at least almost never makes them better. A decision like this represents all the problems of modern Disney and why I thinknI can spend my tourist dollars better at another destination.

 

[disneygeek90]

Oh, this is just the beginning of the fun. We know how this will go. It’s the way it always goes with these types. Thankfully, not all with good values and a real education are old. Some of us millennials that managed to make it out of our school years with a sound mind will still be around to clean up the mess.

As for the PatF retheme, you shouldn’t expect much from it based on recent Disney history. It’s a great movie and deserves more, but this is modern Disney.

Yeah, that ROTR attraction created by modern Disney was such a slouch.

 

[Bairstow]

Disingenuous. He doesn't talk because Trump wanted to say things based on his own script, which Disney balked out.

I thought the big Hall of Presidents conspiracy was that the "Trump" figure is actually a pre-sculpted "Clinton" mask, re-painted, with a different wig.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Looks like all the extra work that went into changing the ride's look and music to fit WDW's Frontierland will be thrown out.

 

[SirNim]

Oh, this is just the beginning of the fun. We know how this will go. It’s the way it always goes with these types. Thankfully, not all with good values and a real education are old. Some of us millennials that managed to make it out of our school years with a sound mind will still be around to clean up the mess.

As for the PatF retheme, you shouldn’t expect much from it based on recent Disney history. It’s a great movie and deserves more, but this is modern Disney.

I have a feeling that the Cultural Erasure being perpetrated now on a level nearly unprecedented in US history will foment a Counter-Erasure that will end up plunging society into ever deeper discord. Newton's Third Law. To erase, deny, or imply that aspects of American culture people can naturally self-associate with (including theme park log flumes with Academy Award-winning soundtracks) are defective or evil will lead some people to believe that they themselves are being considered defective or evil. People generally do not take too kindly to attacks on their identity.

 

[LittleBuford]

None of which is depicted in Splash Mountain.

The question was about the film. As for the ride, this is what I had to say about it in another thread:

As a huge Splash Mountain fan, I’m personally very sad that I won’t get to ride it again, but I’m trying to remain openminded and optimistic for the retheme. Plus it bears remembering that even the original concept was born of necessity when the Imagineers had to find a use for all the animatronic animals from America Sings.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Can we start charging $1 a "woke"? You can give it to the WDWMagic development fund.

Or BLM

A LinkedIn connection who is talking about racism in the workplace is donating to racial equality charities in the names of the people who sling racist slurs at her. One person even sent her a death threat...on LinkedIn...for discussing realities for a black woman in corporate America.

 

[Da Bird is Da Word]

I thought the big Hall of Presidents conspiracy was that the "Trump" figure is actually a pre-sculpted "Clinton" mask, re-painted, with a different wig.

Damn. They really thought Hillary was gonna win.

 

[Dapper Dan]

*In the ride* they got ride of Uncle Remus to avoid association with SotS's racism. So, *in the ride* there is no connection of the stories to their cultural roots. That is cultural appropriation.

It was a damned if they do and damned if they don't situation... other than not trying to whitewash a racist movie to begin with and just used anything else other than SotS.

I disagree that the ride needs a black human narrator in order for the stories to be African-American folklore. Robin Hood didn't stop being an English folktale when the cast were animals and most of the voices were American.

 

[Da Bird is Da Word]

So is Splash Mountain now closed for the re-theme? Or is it still possible to ride it for the timebeing?

 

[Bairstow]

I have a feeling that the Cultural Erasure being perpetrated now on a level nearly unprecedented in US history will foment a Counter-Erasure that will end up plunging society into ever deeper discord. Newton's Third Law. To erase, deny, or imply that aspects of American culture people can naturally self-associate with (including theme park log flumes with Academy Award-winning soundtracks) are defective or evil will lead some people to believe that they themselves are being considered defective or evil. People generally do not take too kindly to attacks on their identity.

So if Disney takes out the racially-insensitive log flume ride what are the racists going to do?

 

[UNCgolf]

He’s still featured everywhere I believe...they even just gave him a ride...

This comparison doesn't really make any sense (not trying to single you out, you're just the easiest person to quote).

Mickey Mouse has been in numerous things and has not been associated with anything racist in decades. The characters from Splash Mountain only exist in Song of the South (for Disney purposes, that is). If there had been other animated films, shows, whatever featuring Brer Rabbit etc. (I believe they've had small cameos but nothing that actually centered around them) that were completely divorced from anything beyond the folk stories themselves, this may not be an issue.

 

[Brer Oswald]

None of which is depicted in Splash Mountain.

“But that doesn’t matter when the source material is RACIST. Unless the source material is a popular IP like Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan, of Dumbo. THEN it’s okay.”

 

[_caleb]

As someone from New Orleans, I find it hilarious that New Orleans is getting a mountain, considering that the entire city sits below sea level.

LOL I looked it up and found this article about the "highest point in New Orleans:" https://untappedcities.com/2011/09/09/the-highest-point-in-new-orleans-not-monkey-hill-2/

 

[Bairstow]

“But that doesn’t matter when the source material is RACIST. Unless the source material is a popular IP like Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan, of Dumbo. THEN it’s okay.”

No, if it's irredeemably racist.
Nuance, man.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

No, if it's irredeemably racist.
Nuance, man.

Nuance would also include understanding adaptation and censorship, both of which were used in the making of Splash Mountain.

 

[NonsensicalThings]

So is Splash Mountain now closed for the re-theme? Or is it still possible to ride it for the timebeing?

I don’t think that’s been stated. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

[RoysCabin]

Where does it end? Same with the anarchists tearing down statues. Some of them may be problematic, but sooner rather than later we'll be talking about blowing up Stone Mountain and Mt Rushmore. No Disney ride is safe from the PC mob.

Honestly? I'd be fine with Mt. Rushmore going.

I don't see much of a slippery slope here: people are most loudly and adamantly against statues and commemorations that glorify what they see as negative or even evil historical events. Mt. Rushmore fits that bill pretty well, given that it was built upon violently stolen land and serves as what amounts to a middle finger to the massacred and robbed Sioux people. More here: https://apnews.com/50f6bdb9e2fd2349bb39b99c1250b093

Meanwhile, I don't see anyone asking for, let's say, historically preserved southern plantations to be torn down. Most would rather see them preserved, slave quarters and all, as a reminder of where this country came from, and the real forces that shaped it, including those that aren't always comfortable to confront. There's a pretty big distinction between that and a statue created years after an event with the purpose of "let's antagonize this particular group of traditionally marginalized people" in mind.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

This comparison doesn't really make any sense (not trying to single you out, you're just the easiest person to quote).

Mickey Mouse has been in numerous things and has not been associated with anything racist in decades. The characters from Splash Mountain only exist in Song of the South (for Disney purposes, that is). If there had been other animated films, shows, whatever featuring Brer Rabbit etc. (I believe they've had small cameos but nothing that actually centered around them) that were completely divorced from anything beyond the folk stories themselves, this may not be an issue.

That doesn’t really matter though. Ask Fallon and Kimmel if things done early on in your career can come back and haunt you. Regardless of the path you’ve been on recently.

If some group decides to take old Mickey cartoons and make an issue with them - you better believe they will. Luckily that hasn’t happened. But it doesn’t mean it won’t.

 

[celluloid]

So if Disney takes out the racially-insensitive log flume ride what are the racists going to do?

Peter Pan's Flight always has long lines. I imagine that Jungle Cruise and the Walt Disney World Railroad will eventually reopen. They can always grab a meal at Tony's Town Square resturant.