LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I don't even know who Freddy is. Is he the Disneyland CM who was tweeting about Splash Mountain last year?
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News Splash Mountain retheme to Princess and the Frog - Tiana's Bayou Adventure
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Kate F
Well-Known Member
Yes.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I have been pretty active in the Splash Mountain threads and don't recall anyone championing him as an individual. One can broadly agree with his view that a retheme is in order without liking him. I certainly wouldn't imply (as he seems to be doing in the tweet you shared) that those who enjoy the current version are racist.
Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
Almost everyone who calls Splash Mountain a racist ride today was in love with the attraction over the last 30 years. This is why I struggle with this discussion so much. It's all or nothing for many who themselves rode it hundreds of times over the last 3 decades.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
It should be noted that a lack of SotS release is also a symptom of how badly Disney has treated its pre-1990 live-action back catalog for years. This is the same company that released Westward Ho! the Wagons, a movie shot in CinemaScope, to DVD pan-and-scan.
The early 2000s gave us many collector's editions DVDs, including the Walt Disney Treasures set of all the WW2 stuff. But by the time Disney really started pushing blu-ray releases around 2008-2010, the older "Vault Disney" style stuff was essentially dead save for some Disney Movie Club exclusive releases (all of which were bare bones and often of poor quality). The arrival of Disney+ has only made this worse. There's no Disney equivalent to Warner Archive, sadly. It's just not important to the company like their key 5-6 brands, of which Princess and the Frog is a part of.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
First i've heard of this Freddy person. That post was immature and moronic. And unfortunately he has a lot of other twits who agree and engage in the same behavior.
I'm about as polar opposite from a right winger as you can get (and generously to the left of the major "liberal" politicians in the US too). A large chunk of my grandmother's side of the family however are literal white supremacists and I am very much aware there are a lot of people like them in society. Individuals who are engaging in clearly racist behavior should be called out for it. But a good keyword to follow here is "individuals".
Being a fan of Splash Mountain and wanting it to stay is in no way an indication of racism. I also love and want it to remain. As another example, I don't think Harry Potter fans hate LGBTQ+ people either (despite the garbage the author has engaged in). It's extremely stupid to cast broad political assumptions based purely on someone's tastes in entertainment. People who do that are an embarrassment.
I'm about as polar opposite from a right winger as you can get (and generously to the left of the major "liberal" politicians in the US too). A large chunk of my grandmother's side of the family however are literal white supremacists and I am very much aware there are a lot of people like them in society. Individuals who are engaging in clearly racist behavior should be called out for it. But a good keyword to follow here is "individuals".
Being a fan of Splash Mountain and wanting it to stay is in no way an indication of racism. I also love and want it to remain. As another example, I don't think Harry Potter fans hate LGBTQ+ people either (despite the garbage the author has engaged in). It's extremely stupid to cast broad political assumptions based purely on someone's tastes in entertainment. People who do that are an embarrassment.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Remember that time Chapek claimed Splash is 60 years old and showcases ”happy slaves”? Good times.
The Aracuan Bird
Well-Known Member
They were selling 30th merch two years ago. It’s not hard
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
While I generally agree, in all honesty, it’s a bit of a blessing in disguise.. cause I ‘DO NOT’ have any faith in Chapek greenlighting a proposal that restores Journey Into Imagination back to it’s former glory anytime soon.. and that’s a ‘Major’ issue. Particularly when what screwed it up/ed people off to to begin with was transforming a once timeless, classic, distinctly Disney attraction into a forgettable, poorly thought out, dated film IP themed experience and then shoehorning Figment into it all once complaints about it hit (rightfully so, I should add). The Inside Out proposal they had planned with Figment as a simple cameo was quite literally ‘99’s ‘Journey Into YOUR Imagination’ (inspired by the Honey I Shrunk franchise & Medfield College universe of films) all over again. Absolutely ridiculous & tone-deaf.. To me that’s like if they transformed Haunted Mansion into a mainly screen based High School Musical themed experience within a high class mansion (as opposed to first trying to improve the marketing on the OG attraction & adding some newly enhanced spfx, props, scenery to it.) Then due to complaints, shoehorned the ghosts in to interfere with some of the cast/scenes and said “Hey look, we brought the Ghosts/Haunted Mansion back!”… yeeeah, right..
But still, I agree, the Splash Mountain revamp is just as ill-conceived (and probably just as poorly implemented) as the last time a classic Baxter-involved attraction got a film IP retheme. ‘If’ it Infact doesn’t get canceled anytime soon… I hope once it opens, people rightfully complain about it and they eventually change it back with the improvements/upgrades it should’ve gotten in atleast the past decade or so… but yeah, We shall see.. only time & circumstances will tell.
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Bocabear
Well-Known Member
"Happy Slaves"? There are no slaves in the attraction or the film for that matter... it is set during the reconstruction after the slaves had been freed...
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
The film certainly perpetuates the “happy slave” narrative, despite its Reconstruction Era setting. It was criticised for this back when it first opened.
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
Lack of proper context at the beginning of the film explaining that it indeed took place in the reconstruction era. That’s really what’s caused the majority of the problem I think. People not looking at it through the proper/intended context (see “viewing/taking things out of context”) Walt & the rest of the filmmakers behind it originally envisioned/intended.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
I think what some think (I can’t speak for others just my interpretation) is not that those who like Splash as it is are racist, but those who are dismissing the reasoning behind the changes due to their own nostalgia and dismissing the views of the Black community is a racist tactic, steeped in privilege.
You love splash, I love splash - but we both know the ride has to be changed.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I actually meant that the African Americans depicted in the film behave as happy slaves even though they are technically free. The whole plantation is portrayed as an idyllic setting in which black people exist only to serve white people and are very happy doing so.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
This I agree with, though I would add that most people aren’t aware that it’s a racist or privileged position, which is what makes it so pernicious.
BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
Chapek is an embarrassment.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Precisely why it is so important to shut up and listen (shut up not geared toward anyone, just in general).
You spoke brilliantly about how you listened to members of this forum from the BIPOC community, and their feelings on this, that’s what we need to do.
We have to get off our soap boxes, and give our attention to them, what they think, feel, and need.
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Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
It is entirely possible (not likely, but possible) that the entire controversy surrounding Song of the South would not exist if not for this single line. This is where the term 'happy slaves' (Chapek's words, not mine) derives from.
Inspired Figment
Well-Known Member
Wouldn’t this line of dialogue be him transitioning into telling the stories of Br’er Rabbit? “Where the humans and the critters co-mingled with eachother”? That isn’t in reference to the time of slavery, it’s in reference to a time before that.
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Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
It absolutely is up to interpretation. And many chose to interpret that line as him speaking about slavery. I agree with your interpretation.
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