Now "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" removed from the parade at Disneyland!

[WEDcryoHEAD]

Just like an earlier poster pointed out. If you rode SM and never knew of SOTS, you would not get off that ride and think Man that was racist.

Same with the song. It is just an upbeat positive song. That kids love to sing. Nobody cares that it was in SOTS.

 

[bsmcneil]

It's just an innocent theme park ride that is tied to a movie with some problematic themes which is derived from a racist book written by a racist author at the end of day.

I think so, anyway. Do you feel that anyone who has ridden that ride without knowing what Song of the South or who Uncle Remus is has walked off going "man, that was racist"?

The ride was incredibly minstrel-show-y. The over the top voices are a problem for a lot of folks who know America's history with racism (particularly in media - things like Mammy cookie jars, etc). I noticed the first time I rode it (as a teen). Some people don't care - but let's not pretend the whole thing is made up just because you don't experience it or acknowledge it.

 

[bsmcneil]

Just like an earlier poster pointed out. If you rode SM and never knew of SOTS, you would not get off that ride and think Man that was racist.

Same with the song. It is just an upbeat positive song. That kids love to sing. Nobody cares that it was in SOTS.

That's a nice opinion but all it is. I didn't know SOTS and it (the ride) immediately screamed racist to me. The song in particular - no - but given it's inextricably linked to the ride/SOTS, it's time to

 

[Kaleidodad]

Just like an earlier poster pointed out. If you rode SM and never knew of SOTS, you would not get off that ride and think Man that was racist.

Same with the song. It is just an upbeat positive song. That kids love to sing. Nobody cares that it was in SOTS.

But clearly, many people do know where the song and ride theming came from, and some people also care that it was in that movie, even if you don't.

 

[jeters_boy]

No politics on the disboard site, unless you are a writer/contributor.

.

DeSantis Appointee for Disney Suggests Tap Water Could Turn People Gay​

By Zoë Wood - March 4, 2023 | Walt Disney World News

Wouldn't you have the power to enact a uniform standard?

Unless I'm totally misunderstanding (quite possible...)

 

[New Mouse]

Right, and while the "outrage" is a little overblown, changing it is also not worth getting worked up over anyway. Things fall out of relevance for various reasons - it's okay. It's just a song/ride at the end of the day. All I really want is for the replacement to be just as good or better than the original.

Good luck.

 

[EdmondD]

What about the free tap water they give you at counter service restaurants inside WDW?

Well that turns people bi, obviously. The straight part of them reproduces and thus is good for Disney business. The same-sex attraction part of them just finds all the merchandise so adorable and they spend more. Win-win for Disney.

 

[Pooh's World]

It's just an innocent theme park ride that is tied to a movie with some problematic themes which is derived from a racist book written by a racist author at the end of day.

I think so, anyway. Do you feel that anyone who has ridden that ride without knowing what Song of the South or who Uncle Remus is has walked off going "man, that was racist"?

Joel Chandler Harris wasn’t racist. He was the Eminem or Elvis of his era.

He was an undesirable minority of the era (Irish) of illegitimate birth (also very discriminated against at that time) who preferred to hang out with slaves in the slave quarters than white people.

As a journalist he preserved the oral folklore of West Africa for generations to come.

 

[GoingSince1990]

The ride was incredibly minstrel-show-y. The over the top voices are a problem for a lot of folks who know America's history with racism (particularly in media - things like Mammy cookie jars, etc). I noticed the first time I rode it (as a teen). Some people don't care - but let's not pretend the whole thing is made up just because you don't experience it or acknowledge it.

I Googled “Mammy cookie jar” and yes, that definitely strikes me as racist. But I really don’t remember seeing any such thing on Splash Mountain; just animatronic animals and birds.
https://www.collectorcookiejars.com/product/vintage-mammy-collector-cookie-jar/

 

[Pooh's World]

Joel Chandler Harris was the Eminem of his time, a rebel and activist who stuck it to the Southern White Man:

“Some 21st-century scholars have argued that the Uncle Remus tales satirized the very "plantation school" that some readers believed his work supported. Critic Robert Cochran noted: "Harris went to the world as the trickster Brer Rabbit, and in the trickster Uncle Remus he projected both his sharpest critique of things as they were and the deepest image of his heart's desire."[44] Harris omitted the Southern plantation house, disparaged the white Southern gentleman, and presented miscegenation in positive terms. He violated social codes and presented an ethos that would have otherwise shocked his reading audience.[45] These recent acknowledgements echo early observations from Walter Hines Page, who wrote in 1884 that Harris "hardly conceals his scorn for the old aristocracy" and makes "a sly thrust at the pompous life of the Old South."[46]

 

[Pooh's World]

A lot of people on here won’t use the climate friendly Orlando Lynx public bus while 14 year old Joel Chandler Harris had no problem hanging out with black people in the slave quarters. They were his friends and mentors. In that time it was unheard of for a white person to do this and see blacks as equals and friends.

This all happened when he was a 14 to 18 year old child:
“While at Turnwold Plantation, Harris spent hundreds of hours in the slave quarters during time off. He was less self-conscious there and felt his humble background as an illegitimate, red-headed son of an Irish immigrant helped foster an intimate connection with the slaves. He absorbed the stories, language, and inflections of people like Uncle George Terrell, Old Harbert, and Aunt Crissy.[6] The African-American animal tales they shared later became the foundation and inspiration for Harris's Uncle Remus tales. George Terrell and Old Harbert in particular became models for Uncle Remus, as well as role models for Harris.”

 

[Genie+]

What about the free tap water they give you at counter service restaurants inside WDW?

Ooh where can i get some of that groomy tap water?

I’ve kinda been in a rut lately.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Right, and while the "outrage" is a little overblown, changing it is also not worth getting worked up over anyway. Things fall out of relevance for various reasons - it's okay. It's just a song/ride at the end of the day. All I really want is for the replacement to be just as good or better than the original.

At this rate Disney will be revamped and unrecognizable in a couple of decades or so. There's always something that will offend someone. Just my thoughts.

 

[ttintagel]

The ride was incredibly minstrel-show-y. The over the top voices are a problem for a lot of folks who know America's history with racism (particularly in media - things like Mammy cookie jars, etc). I noticed the first time I rode it (as a teen). Some people don't care - but let's not pretend the whole thing is made up just because you don't experience it or acknowledge it.

See also: "Zip Coon."

 

[bsmcneil]

See also: "Zip Coon."

Holy ....

 

[bsmcneil]

At this rate Disney will be revamped and unrecognizable in a couple of decades or so. There's always something that will offend someone. Just my thoughts.

 

[bsmcneil]

Well that turns people bi, obviously. The straight part of them reproduces and thus is good for Disney business. The same-sex attraction part of them just finds all the merchandise so adorable and they spend more. Win-win for Disney.

I always thought it was because I only got half of the pixie dust others got

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

At this rate Disney will be revamped and unrecognizable in a couple of decades or so. There's always something that will offend someone. Just my thoughts.

Areas of the parks are "unrecognizable" from a couple decades ago already. That's life.

 

[drenalin'junkie]

If there was any consistency or integrity shown in the outrage from either side I'd take it seriously.
Tom Sawyer would be missing as would many frontier connections not because of connections to slavery but the genocide and portrayal of native Americans.
Mexico pavilion for its connection to cannibalism and genocides.
China pavilion for it's genocides and history of abuses.
England pavilion for genocides and colonialism, same for France and Germany.
As bad as slavery in the US was the millions upon millions killed or enslaved after the Emancipation Proclamation was made in the US rarely get mentioned. The colonial powers had millions of de facto slaves and their history is celebrated.
If people had any integrity and are offended by slavery the would be buying Disney products made in areas with ongoing human rights abuses., nor iphones, nor Amazon junk.
The selective outrage doesn't move me a bit. The wry irony of people ginning up hate against any group or subject they disagree with while participating in the same or worse behaviour is only increasing.

 

[mdmost]

All the whataboutism isn't bringing the song back. Disney is going to control what they can control in their own legacy and history. That includes the song, the ride, and the movie it sprung out from. It doesn't include what countries do or have done or what colonizers do or have done in other countries. Change happens all the time at Disney. Songs change. They get shelved and put away. It's just a song. You are still free to enjoy it outside of the Disney parks.