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Updated 4 months ago,December 19, 2024
As much as we all hate paying $14 for a Mickey-shaped pretzel at Walt Disney World, its incredibly hard to dislike any one of Disneys most iconic films.
Shaping our collective childhoods in more ways than one, Disneys movies remain some of the most imaginative films in all of pop culture, whether discussing a film as groundbreaking asSnow WhiteorFantasiaas relatively modern asFrozenorMoana.
Given its near century-long existence, however, its safe to assume that even a company as world-renowned as Disney has seen its fair share of controversies over the years, especially when it comes to some of the studios more … let us say dated films.
The Aristocats / Lady and the Tramp
From early animated epics to mostly forgotten live-action films from the 1960s, here are several Disney movies that have aged horrendously in the decades since their release.
Song of the South
A film Disney has long hoped might be forgotten by the public, theres a reasonSong of the Southisnt streaming on Disney+, nor has it ever been released on home media.
Offering up a stereotypical view of plantation life in the late 19th century American South, critics fervently called outSong of the Souths racist undertones almost immediately after its 1946 release.
Since then, the movie has only continued to earn the ire of fans across the globe, with Disney quietly distancing itself from the film over the past seven decades.
Peter Pan
A cherished classic in Disneys canon, its impossible to measure the popularity of 1953s animated film,Peter Pan.
As universally beloved today as it was over 70 years ago, diehard Disney fans continue to holdPeter Panin extraordinarily high esteem, often citing it as one of the studios very best films.
Walt Disney
However, its hard to ignore the movies cliched depiction of Indigenous Americans something made all the more offensive by the movies musical number, What Made the Red Man Red?
A thoroughly racist song through and through, every scene featuring Native Americans in Peter Pan is enough to make audiences wince and shake their heads in disgust.
Dumbo
A foundational film from Disneys early history, theres no denyingDumbos iconic place in the companys expansive filmography.
Walt Disney
Yet, like the aforementionedPeter Pan, many contemporary fans take issue with the movies more disquieting depictions of racial stereotypes.
Most obviously,Dumbointroduces a band of jovial crows that draws on numerous cliches around Black individuals including a character named Jim Crow, a ghoulish allusion to the U.S.s infamous segregation laws commonly found throughout the Southern U.S. Needless to say, when it came to Tim Burtons 2019 live-action remake, the crow characters were removed from the film altogether.
The Aristocats
In the years after Walt Disneys death in 1966, the company struggled to produce animated films of the same high caliber asSnow White, Pinocchio,orCinderellabefore it.
Walt Disney
Nestled among the studios 70s-era films, most people seldom mentionThe Aristocatsin the same breath as Disneys earliest films or their later Renaissance projects.
As with several Disney movies of its era,The Aristocatsalso remains steeped in controversy for its insensitive depiction of Asian characters, as personified by the character of Shun Gon.
Speaking in an exaggerated accent and using chopsticks to play the piano, literally everything about Shun Gon is offensive by todays standards.
Walt Disney
Lady and the Tramp
Another coveted Disney classic with underlying racist elements,Lady and the Tramps most troublesome characteristic can be found with the presence of Si and Am, the meddling twin cats who terrorize Lady halfway through the film.
As withThe Aristocats Shun Gon, Si and Am draw on numerous Asian stereotypes when it comes to their presence inLady and the Tramp, whether looking at their exaggerated facial features or their outrageously thick accents.
When it came time forLady and the Tramps live-action remake, Disney wisely chose to replace the characters and their related musical number (The Siamese Cat Song) with a swinging jazz number sung by two Devon Rex cats instead.
Walt Disney
Swiss Family Robinson
Nowadays, most people probably rememberSwiss Family Robinsonmore for providing the inspiration to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse in Magic Kingdom than they do for its achievements as a film.
Having mostly been forgotten by viewers in the six decades since its release,Swiss Family Robinsonremains an enjoyable enough adaptation of Johann David Wysss classic adventure novel.
However, its also difficult to look past the stereotypical portrayal of the films Asian pirates who appear near the very end of the film.
Walt Disney
Like many of Disneys more problematic movies, Disney+ has since outfittedSwiss Family Robinsonwith an advisory notice warning viewers about the movies negative depiction of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, which is as offensive now as it was in 1960.
