Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion

[Californian Elitist]

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah, I highly doubt that. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much of a coincidence that they had the exact same idea. Unless Disney used Frederick Chambers to turn people against Splash Mountain.

You and I have already had this discussion.

 

[Roger_the_pianist]

I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's yesterday at a restored movie palace in my hometown. Of course this film has the controversial Asian depiction by Mickey Rooney. Ushers were handing out slips of paper with a disclaimer that even used Disney+ as an example and quoted the disclaimer Disney uses.

Wouldn't it be wild if signage was up at theme parks saying "this attraction contains negative depictions of races"

 

[Brer Panther]

I still really don't think the Brers are intended to depict a race. They're just goofy cartoon animals.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

No, they’re not.

Oh yes they are.

 

[Sailor310]

br'er is southern slang for brother.​

br'er in American English​

(brɜːr, brɛər, Southern U.S. bɜːr)
NOUN
chiefly Southern U.S.
brother
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019 by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[1875–80, Amer.]This word is first recorded in the period 1875–80. Other words that entered English at around the same time include: Diaspora, authoritarian, fan-tan, neoclassic, weekend

br'er in British English​

(brɜː, brɛə)
NOUN
Southern US Black slang, dialect
brother: usually prefixed to a name
Br'er Jones
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

 

[Brer Panther]

Has it been mentioned yet that the Brers originated in African-American folklore?

 

[Sailor310]

Has it been mentioned yet that the Brers originated in African-American folklore?

Yes. Pages and pages and pages and...... but it originated in African folklore

 

[skypilot2922]

Has it been mentioned yet that the Brers originated in African-American folklore?

We cannot allow reality to interfere with virtue signalling.

 

[Tamandua]

Went to Disneyland twice six days apart. First visit a few scenes in splash mountain were dark. Second visit at least one additional scene was dark. Have they completely given up on maintaining this ride? In the old days Disney would rather have closed the ride for maintenance than have such poor presentation.

 

[celluloid]

Went to Disneyland twice six days apart. First visit a few scenes in splash mountain were dark. Second visit at least one additional scene was dark. Have they completely given up on maintaining this ride? In the old days Disney would rather have closed the ride for maintenance than have such poor presentation.

That is only going to get worse as the corporate leadership for the company has been this way and unfortunately increasing. I imagine Disneyland will have some drastic noticeable declines with Imagineering campus being Florida soon.

 

[SplashGhost]

There have been maintenance issues with Splash Mountain for years now, and from what I understand, a lot of that has to do with California OSHA regulations preventing them from easily doing maintenance for things like lights, that should easily be able to be fixed. I don't know how much those regulations really impact things, since it takes Disney months if not years to fix things that are broken on other rides also.

 

[Tamandua]

There were also animatronics on the ride that seemed broken.

I noticed a bunch of issues on other rides. Jack Sparrow's lips don't move anymore. The at-at canons failed to lower on rise of the resistance. The witch didn't turn around on snow white. Indiana Jones... Well you know. The stretching room audio in the Haunted mansion seemed out of sync. No fog/steam on Thunder mountain.

I thought the whole premise of Disney parks is detail, presentation, and quality that exceeds every other park. It's freaking pathetic that they can't even change a few light bulbs, much less all the other problems.

 

[Nirya]

Splash has been plagued by maintenance issues long before the retheme was even dreamed up. You could go back 10 years and find posts about the lighting being out in the opening scenes. Hell, I think I remember one long refurbishment where the last drop was rebuilt, the hope was they went in and fixed the issue that was preventing maintenance and nope, things stopped working like 2 weeks after reopening.

 

[VJ]

It’s like if you decided to update the recipe of say a beloved snack like Nacho Cheese Doritos or Crunchy original Cheetos. You keep the basic chip part of it, but change the rest of it. Completely change the flavor & texture of the chip while still retaining the Cheetos - Crunchy & Doritos -Nacho Cheese names. Though in actuality, it’s a completely different chip, despite it being advertised as “the same experience but with an update to the flavor” and that people shouldn’t complain cause “It’s still a bag of chips called Nacho Cheese Doritos/Crunchy Cheetos”

that basically happened with new coke

 

[Tamandua]

Here's an interesting quote from Valarie Stewart, the son of Nick Stewart, an African American voice actor who portrayed Brer Bear in Song of the South and Splash Mountain and was one of the crows in Dumbo:

"Most people who think the movie is racist have never seen it. I'm doing research to try to figure out why the movie is singled out, and maligned; and why the pioneering, award-winning, actors' importance has been hidden; I'll publish my findings online soon. There's a clear copy of the movie that I share with people who hate it based, not on truth, but on baseless rumors they heard about it. "

 

[SuddenStorm]

Here's an interesting quote from Valarie Stewart, the son of Nick Stewart, an African American voice actor who portrayed Brer Bear in Song of the South and Splash Mountain and was one of the crows in Dumbo:

"Most people who think the movie is racist have never seen it. I'm doing research to try to figure out why the movie is singled out, and maligned; and why the pioneering, award-winning, actors' importance has been hidden; I'll publish my findings online soon. There's a clear copy of the movie that I share with people who hate it based, not on truth, but on baseless rumors they heard about it. "

Yep- much of the controversy is present because of the way Disney has handled the film, not the film itself.

 

[el_super]

Yep- much of the controversy is present because of the way Disney has handled the film, not the film itself.

No. The film is racist, and Disney's treatment of the film has been justified. There's little point now, in trying to rewrite history, and invalidate the decades of criticism levied against it.

 

[Californian Elitist]

They’re right in the sense that there are most likely a lot of people who’ve never seen SotS, which is absolutely Disney’s fault. His research project sounds interesting.

A surface analyzation of the film will make it seem like it’s not racist. Admittedly, it’s not even close to the mess that is Birth of a Nation or even something like Mandingo, which I found to be racist. While SotS doesn’t suffer from blatant racist depictions of African Americans and African American culture, the implications in the film about African Americans were especially harmful during the era in which the film was released and can be interpreted as racist.

Someone who may only have a basic-level understanding of African American history will probably view SotS and not understand what’s wrong with it because it does seem harmless from that point. That’s not the case though.

Also, the controversy surrounding SotS is definitely due more to the content of the film and not how Disney has handled the film. It’s been getting protested since its release in the 1940s.

 

[Tamandua]

If I remember correctly, I believe Walt Disney was actually offended about complaints about the movie when it was released as he thought it was a positive representation in a time when segregation still existed, and he made the African American protagonist the most likeable character, much more likable than the parents of the children. There was certainly no ill intent behind the movie.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I don’t think anyone is arguing that Walt Disney purposefully made a racist movie. I have no doubts that he believed the portrayal of 19th century African Americans in SotS were positive and harmless. The way we talk about race and racism in this country as a society has greatly evolved and shifted since the 30s and 40s though, and I’m not sure if the breakdown/arguments of arguably racist messages in SotS according to today’s way of discussing race was present during the 30s and 40s.

Again, I don’t believe Walt Disney had ill intent. It’s like when folks think it’s harmless to say something like “I don’t see color” when actually that statement is problematic.