Splash Mountain re-theme announced

[comics101]

Disney certainly seems to disagree with you

Do they? Or does Disney management believe that they know better than the average guest? My guess is the latter is true.

Again, just a bunch of elite white men telling the dumb masses that spend thousands of dollars on vacation what is and isn’t offensive/racist.

Edit: removal of the term “over-educated”

 

[CAlvares]

Except no one is being offended, so...

If Splash Mountain were really so offensive and racist, why is it that up until this very moment, nobody on these forums ever thought to bring up the issue? Why aren’t there threads and posts about how offended people were after having ridden Splash Mountain?

This really isn’t all that hard, people.

Correction: There’s plenty of previous posts on these forums regarding the origins of the ride and how problematic it is.
If you look up this subject on google and even on this very thread, you will see why the ride is offensive to some people.

Just because YOU are not personally offended by it, doesn’t mean no one else is.

 

[BlakeW39]

Another Black fan of Disney and Splash Mountain here but I have to respectfully disagree. There is benefit in this by becoming more positively inclusive. Splash Mountain is based on a movie that has been controversial and problematic since its premiere. James Baskett wasn't even allowed to attend the premiere in Atlanta due to segregation. This is bigger than just the PaTF fanbase.

There's no question that Song of the South was highly problematic. Actually I have the DVD and recognize the racism that it represents. But this isn't Song of the South. It's Splash Mountain, i.e. a Disney Parks ride that has no racial implications at all and purposely distances itself from the 1940s film.

 

[BigDlover]

Congratulations on not following the analogy. Song of the South is the offensive grandmother. Splash Mountain is the innocent grandchild.

I probably didn't follow it lol either way, Splash Mountain is getting re-themed lol. Call it your mom, your aunt, your long lost identical twin but it's getting re-themed whether you like it or not.

 

[MuteSuperstar]

No, because I understand the difference between jokes and earnest efforts.

So flippant comments about sexual assault are ok as long as they're jokes? Are bland MCU movies so important to us culturally that James Gunn couldn't be easily replaced with someone who doesn't make light of such a serious issue? It is 2020 after all.

 

[champdisney]

How about Disney deciding to re-theme it?

To pander to the ones that claim it is problematic. Once again, Disney will learn that this will not solve anything. These same people will later on find something else to complain about. 100% guaranteed!

 

[orlandogal22]

No it doesn't...your argument is weak at best. A theme park attraction retheme does not invalidate nor erase his accomplishments.

It wasn't an argument so much as it was a statement.

That being said, will anyone know or talk about SotS in the future or will this cancel culture succeed in erasing achievements of the original participants (whether or not they stem from what could be perceived as controversial in 2020 or beyond).

 

[MisterPenguin]

wasn't Uncle Remus the first African American to win an Oscar? and arent the storires that inspired Splash Mountain folktales from the black community?

Seems like a made up controversy by some keyboard warriors just to start trouble

Hattie McDaniel.

And Hattie was in a problematic movie that was just pulled from HBO Max until they could attach a warning to the movie about basically its racism. That movie: Gone With the Wind.

And James Baskett (Uncle Remus) couldn't attend the premier of SotS because of segregation laws. He was the first *male* African American to win an Academy Award... an honorary one.

Lot of old movies were racist. So, not a surprise when a Black actor gets a reward, its for a a role in a racist movie.

 

[BigDlover]

To pander to the ones that claim it is problematic. Once again, Disney will learn that this will not solve anything. These same people will later on find something else to complain about. 100% guaranteed!

 

[Brer Oswald]

It hasn't taken on any new meaning. People found it offensive when it was released and they do today.
Here try this, go to a store tomorrow and just say in a clear loud voice(try your'e bedt with mask) the words " Uncle Remus". Try it in different crowds and see how it goes. I can tell you saying "Uncle Leo" will be much easier to do.

Thanks for not reading what I wrote! I didn’t mention anything about the film. Just about the term “racism” and how it’s evolved to mean something else than what it’s supposed to mean. But do carry on.

 

[BigDlover]

Because in the woke culture, once something is determined to be offensive, the woke cultists rush to assure you that they hate that thing, even if they didn't five minutes ago, for fear that they won't be woke anymore. Wokeism (i.e. tribalism and postmodern marxism) is a zero sum game, so if you don't adhere completely to the cult, they cancel you just like the normies they already detest.

I don't think you know what "woke" means. Woke: "alert to injustice in society, especially racism."

 

[No Name]

I probably didn't follow it lol either way, Splash Mountain is getting re-themed lol. Call it your mom, your aunt, your long lost identical twin but it's getting re-themed whether you like it or not.

I’m making a point about why it isn’t problematic. You’re responding with absolutely no effort at reading, much less comprehending, what I said. That says enough.

 

[N2dru]

There's no question that Song of the South was highly problematic. Actually I have the DVD and recognize the racism that it represents. But this isn't Song of the South. It's Splash Mountain, i.e. a Disney Parks ride that has no racial implications at all and purposely distances itself from the 1940s film.

You are missing the point. Splash Mountain and its characters are based on the controversial film. Instances and scenes are lifted directly from the film. As I stated in one of my earlier posts some scenes were altered and human characters eliminated but the base material is the same. That's the connection.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Zero evidence or not, it was extremely distasteful and you literally just said that the Song of the South is more offensive than his tweets because you condemned it for being racist. Let me remind you once again that not everyone thinks like you do.

And if you can prove to me that Song of the South and Splash Mountain is a work of racism, please chime me in because no matter what. Nothing is worse than someone making jokes out of pedophilia. Get out of here with that nonsense.

No, don’t change the narrative.

You insinuated that what he said, he acted upon. I challenged you to provide any evidence that he acted upon that. I’m still waiting. Being distasteful and being real are two very different things, and you should be more specific in your wording.

 

[Brer Oswald]

There's no question that Song of the South was highly problematic. Actually I have the DVD and recognize the racism that it represents. But this isn't Song of the South. It's Splash Mountain, i.e. a Disney Parks ride that has no racial implications at all and purposely distances itself from the 1940s film.

They won’t get it until something they like is “cancelled” for the same reason.

 

[Tony Perkis]

And Hattie was in a problematic movie that was just pulled from HBO Max until they could attach a warning to the movie about basically its racism. That movie: Gone With the Wind.

And James Baskett (Uncle Remus) couldn't attend the premier of SotS because of segregation laws. He was the first *male* African American to win an Academy Award... an honorary one.

Lot of old movies were racist. So, not a surprise when a Black actor gets a reward, its for a a role in a racist movie.

Gone with the Wind, rightfully, is back on HBO Max. That was a major overreaction.

 

[BigDlover]

Do they? Or does Disney management believe that they know better than the average guest? My guess is the latter is true.

Again, just a bunch of over-educated white men telling the dumb masses that spend thousands of dollars on vacation what is and isn’t offensive/racist.

Keep tellin yourself that

 

[MisterPenguin]

The source material is absolutely racist? The source material is NOT Song of the South. The source material is African-American folktales, many of them stories brought over from Africa and adapted to the new world the slaves found themselves in, with other stories being ones that the slaves adapted from other cultures, including Europe and North America. Some people with Ph.D. at the end of their names think that the Brer Rabbit stories of winning with cleverness represent slaves outsmarting the slave owners and overseers.

Others have said it better: "Aesop and Uncle Remus had taught us that comedy is a disguised form of philosophical instruction; and especially when it allows us to glimpse the animal instincts lying beneath the surface of our civilized affectations."
Ralph Ellison

Song of the South was a vehicle for telling African-American folktales. Splash Mountain went directly to the source material. It was a preservation resource for African-American history, heritage and culture that was seen and experienced by millions of people each year. Now none of those people are going to see that heritage.

An important piece of African-American heritage, culture and history is now going to die. And what replaces it? A movie I like, but one that appropriates a European story.

The underlying folktales got collected into the book, Song of the South. The movie had Uncle Remus tell the stories, but, not as part of his African heritage. Disney used the animated telling of those stories in Splash Mountain, further stripping them of their connection to African traditions by trying to white wash the racist parts of the movie from the ride. No Remus. No Africans.

So, if you want to honor the original African folklore, then Splash Mountain ain't it. The stories have been culturally appropriated as Disneyesque.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Hattie was in Song of the South too. James was the first BLACK MALE to receive an Oscar.

Yes.

 

[BlakeW39]

You are missing the point. Splash Mountain and its characters are based on the controversial film. Instances and scenes are lifted directly from the film. As I stated in one of my earlier posts some scenes were altered and human characters eliminated but the base material is the same. That's the connection.

I'm not *missing* the point, I just think it's ridiculous.

So the source material is problematic. This is true of Cinderella's castle, the Dumbo ride, etc... I assume you want to take these down as well?