Your kids can giggle and have a fun time on the Tiana ride. There's a whole demographic of children who's race has been turned into a caricature for the ride, and this will solve that problem for them.
Absolutely we will. However, no child gets off the ride now thinking less of themselves. Unless they wet their pants because they were scared.
The only people who get offended are those who are looking to be offended. The point of the ride is to have fun and Disney was successful with Splash. I agree they can change it to something else and it will still be fun. My point is that the average guest doesn't give a hoot about the racial implications of the ride, because quite frankly they aren't looking for them. We are talking about a movie that the majority of guests haven't seen. So they have no preconceived context entering the ride. My kids didn't even know it was based on a movie. My kids have no clue about black voice stereotypes from the 1940's. Most people don't get off the ride thinking about race.
I encourage all of you to do some research on song of the south as well as the author who created the Uncle Remus stories, Joel Chandler Harris. I found it to be interesting and I can see both points of view. Below are two black viewpoints from the time period.
The NAACP Slammed the Movie
Through the NAACP commended the movie’s technical wizardry and its blend of animation and live action, the organization
said in a statement that it “regrets, however, that in an effort neither to offend audiences in the North or South, the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery … [the film] unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship, which is a distortion of the facts.”
The Film’s Cast Stood Behind the Movie
“Song of the South” counts Hattie McDaniel, the “Gone With the Wind” star and first black entertainer to win an Academy Award, among its ensemble cast. In a 1947 interview, she told the American publication The Criterion, “If I had for one moment considered any part of the picture degrading or harmful to my people, I would not have appeared therein.” Her co-star James Baskett echoed her support of the film, saying, “I believe that certain groups are doing my race more harm in seeking to create dissension than can ever possibly come out of the ‘Song of the South.’”
