That scene is itself a "PC" change that people complained about to no end when it happened years ago. The joke used to be that the pirates where chasing the women to rape them, except for the overweight woman -- the pirate was running away from her because she was too fat to rape. Walt loved that joke!
I do not know the details of this and Walt Disney himself. It may very well be true. Although I doubt Walt Disney perceived it as endorsing rape in anyway. Heck, he had two daughters.
There are just so many things one can take shots at Disney about if we are going down this route. To wit, in case none of you have noticed, Disney is overrun with princesses. And not just run-of-the-mill princesses, but physically attractive princesses portrayed by physically attractive young women. I think we all know that most young women do not look like these princesses, and most young girls will not grow up to look like these princesses. There are some who take Disney to task over this, and how it can hurt young women's and young girl's self esteem when they realize that they do not look like these princesses.
Even so, people clamor for princesses. To meet them at meet & greets, to meet them at character dining events, to explore their castles, to see them in parades, to go on rides about princesses. People clamor to the point that Disney transformed part of DL into Princess Fantasy Faire to provide better, more non-stop access to princesses. WDW did the same at New FantasyLand at MK with many new, non-stop access venues to princesses. Disney created the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique to transform young girls into princesses. Should the Disney PC police put a stop to all of this because it is (maybe) bad to set up young girls for real or imagined future disappointment? Even though it was what people have said over and over is what they want?
For heaven's sake, people know the difference between make believe and real life. We are talking about fairytales here!
The POTC ride has so many elements when taken out of a romanticized, fairytale type setting (if you will) that one can criticize if one attempts to take them as literal statements. As others have said, there is drunkenness, people dunking (torturing) the mayor in a well for information, people shooting at each other, people stealing, people burning down cities, people greedy for "treasure", and on and on. All with a wink and a nod. Heck, the Peter Pan ride shows Wendy being walked down the plank! To her certain death, no doubt.
In the end I find it strange that, if someone finds something offensive, they just don't avoid it. Do not go on the ride if it offends you. Do not go to Disney at all if one believes that attractive young princesses are offensive and harmful to the self esteem of young women and girls.
We all know there are ills in society in non-optional activities that impact people and women. Within abusive families. Within the workplace. In geographic regions torn by violence and instability. These should be confronted and changed. Optional activities like Disney rides? I agree with others that there are far better things on which to spend one's time.
The new motto for Disney: "If you can dream it, others can sanitize it."
..... I'm sill befuddled by this whole thing.
