OpEd: The problem with censoring classic Disney movies on Disney+ – Inside the Magic
As the launch of Disney+ drew near, there was both a fear and expectation that a PC filter would be put on classic Disney movies, censoring several scenes now deemed too controversial and outright racist. Now that Disney+ is live, it is now clear that Disney had no intention of censoring its content and instead opted for a disclaimer written in each films description. This news came at both the horror and relief of many Disniacs seeking their idea of purity.
But there is a major problem The Walt Disney Company is faced with: They CANT take those scenes out because we find them at what are objectively extremely crucial plot points. Here are three of the most controversial scenes to prove this point:
Please note: This piece does NOT deny the views of the majority today. Instead, this piece stands to prove unfortunately objective points of storytelling and to show a need for us to be able to view stories through a lens beyond our own.
Yes, the lead crow in Dumbois named Jim Crow. Yes, a murder is what you call a group of crows, and yes, together, they are portrayed in ways that would make the Twittersphere cry racist! But these wise-cracking birds appear in one of the most important scenes in the film.
Why are they so important? THEY TEACH DUMBO TO FLY. They give him the magic feather, and they sing the most iconic song to come out of that movie after Baby Mine: When I see a elephant fly(which includes an ingenious level of puns). In all the racist ebonics-shouting hokiness, these crows are intended to be seen as heroes in what was written at the time to be a scene that starts with heckling banter and turns into one thats fun, and literally uplifting.
Okay, outside of the obviously racist cartoony Asian voices, this is still just a creepy, annoying, and uncomfortable song that should make everybody cringe. But it is a crucial scene for this telling.
Why are they so important? Because the cats sing their song as they trash the house, and they represent an invasion on Ladys home on an animal front as well as Aunt Saras human front. It is after this that the cats frame Lady for the crimes, and it drives their owner, Aunt Sara, to put Lady in a muzzle. The muzzle was the last straw, and Lady ran away. That scene is supposed to be disturbing and uncomfortable and distasteful from every angle and be a driving force to get Lady out of the house and on her adventure with Tramp.
I was just going to mention the Powwow scene, but lets talk about their role in the movie in general. Disney has a horrid track record of portraying Amerindians in a way that that would be favored in todays society, and the straight-up red-faced, raspy-voiced portrayal of the Indians in Peter Panis no exception (especially when the beautiful women like Tiger Lily are shown to have the most caucasian features, but thats a-whole-nother can of worms). But they are still crucial to the story.
Why are they so important? Well, for those of you who know Peter Pan,you know J.M. Barrie made them a rather crucial part of the story, and the same is true for Disneys version. When John, Michael, and the Lost Boys get captured by the Indians, we learn that Tiger Lily was captured by Captain Hook, which sends Peter and Wendy on their quest. The Powwow scenewhich is meant to serve as comic relief after the intense encounter with Captain Hookis what finally disillusions Wendy to Neverland and makes her ready to go home.
In short, there is no clean way to sufficiently clean up these stories other than investing in remakes to re-write movies and Disney canon to fit our time. Adding disclaimers and keeping the movies pure is the best way to go. But this writer wants to challenge every Disniac out there to try to view these movies from the world for which they were released and understand that none of the above scenes were produced to be maliciously racist and degrading. Society has a way of making things once okay be not okay anymore.
We should teach the next generation of Disniacs to see that dissonance between the moviegoing world of the past and today so that they can still appreciate these films for what they are, and still see what is good and funny today while understanding what is not OK anymore. Believe it or not, it is possible. Getting hung up on every PR blemishwith Disney or otherwiseis just as bad as agreeing with or blatantly ignoring them.
Continue reading here:
OpEd: The problem with censoring classic Disney movies on Disney+ - Inside the Magic
- Why India Has Spent Years Blocking the Release of Diljit Dosanjhs Satluj - The New York Times - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Faculty sue over Texas' restrictions on teaching race, gender - USA Today - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- NJ court doubles down on one of the worst censorship orders weve seen - Freedom of the Press Foundation - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- DAN GAINOR: We got Twitter/X as a platform 20 years ago and global censors still hate and fear it - Fox News - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Utah book banning spree part of a broader, preemptive campaign of censorship and oppression - World Socialist Web Site - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Letters to the Editor: Our federal museums are no place for censorship and revisionist history - Los Angeles Times - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- A Bombshell Lawsuit Points to an Extraordinary System of Censorship at Texas Tech - The Chronicle of Higher Education - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Cancelled by your future self? The fear isnt censorship. Its permanence - The Indian Express - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- The Myth and the Heretic: How Vit Nams Censorship and Recent Book Ban Suffocate Supporters - The Vietnamese Magazine - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Ken Newman Tackles Self-Censorship and Creative Freedom on Who Are the Bad Guys - V13 Media - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Texas Tech sued for erasing LGBTQ+ people and Black history from university classrooms - Advocate.com - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Media censorship/ How it works and the most common forms - cna.al - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- NCLA to Fifth Circuit: Revive Suit Against Govt-Led Censorship of Covid Vaccine-Injured Americans - The Manila Times - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- "Just too gay" - Robert Yang is battling censorship to launch a collection of his award-winning games on Steam and Itch, and it's completely... - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- The Odyssey Cleared With 0 Cuts By Censor Board, Receives 'A' Certificate - NDTV - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- Satluj row: Is banning the film only making more people watch it? - The Federal - July 11th, 2026 [July 11th, 2026]
- The battle to save Burton and Taylors dirty movie from the censors - The Telegraph - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Meta bosses grilled over decision to cut censorship that has potentially unleashed more antisemitic content - The Guardian - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- 127 Cuts To An 'Uncut' OTT Version: How Satluj Released On ZEE5 Without Censorship - NDTV - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- On the exact day marking the birth of Indian cinema, a raging battle over film censorship takes center stage. Diljit Dosanjhs latest historical drama... - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Arshad Warsi is self-censoring jokes after being trolled by Prabhas fans over joker comment: We need to lighten up | Bollywood - Hindustan Times - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Kansas City counselors win reversal in 8th Circuit Court censorship case - The Pathway - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Censorship, Secrecy, and Speculation Continue After Pilot in Beijing CITIC Tower Collision Identified - China Digital Times - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Bandit Queen to Black Friday: Films that faced bans and censorship in India before Satluj - WION - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Invisible censors - The Times of India - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Ahead of revised online content law, conspiracy theories run wild - Korea JoongAng Daily - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Sony Officially Responds to Censored 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' Scene Concerns Ahead of Theatrical Debut: 'The Film Has Not Yet Been Submitted to the... - July 7th, 2026 [July 7th, 2026]
- Defamation suit over Google review dismissed; Omaha man says case was a form of censorship - WOWT - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Silencing mothers and covering up baby deaths is censorship - Index on Censorship - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- U.S. Interior Department Censorship Intensifies As National Park Staff Banned From Reporting Deaths - TheTravel - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Post-War Internet in Iran: More Censorship and Greater Risks for Users - The Media Line - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Everything that is valuable in journalism, AI cant do - delano.lu - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Restored Rembrandt classic shows naked child, religious tolerance image painted over by censors - Washington Times - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Innu Nation moved to anger, to strength after accusing province of censoring history - Indiginews - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- This is my life: an Afghan womans plea to other 21yearolds - Index on Censorship - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Thousands of Venezuelans Seek Missing Loved Ones as Internet Censorship Complicates Earthquake Response - Latin Times - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Censorship of the female body (again)! When patriarchy edits Indian art and history - ThePrint - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Media Censorship and the Truth: How to Expose Systemic Crimes Against Children - The Good Men Project - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- How two men refused to bend to press censorship during the Emergency - Scroll.in - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Comedian Mark Normand admits he just made up a story about Netflix trying to censor him - A.V. Club - June 26th, 2026 [June 26th, 2026]
- Artists need to be able to advocate for their own work: new guide advises artists on navigating censorship - The Art Newspaper - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Common Ground on Censorship: Two Bills to Check Government Coercion of Speech - R Street Institute - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- ABC Asks Audience To Help Defend It From Brendan Carrs Dumb Censorship Attacks - Techdirt. - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Freedom School for Educators: Black History Classes in the Age of Censorship - PR Newswire - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Opposition Parties Denounce Revised Law as Unconstitutional Online Gag Rule - - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- The Librarians: A compelling clarion call against ideology-based censorship - The Post - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- UK book banning on the rise - The Boar - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Bruce Campbells 40-year feud with draconian and myopic British censors: Thanks for nothing - Far Out Magazine - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- Infringing the dignity of artists to guard the mood of the PresidentPeople who won against song censorship under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration - - June 24th, 2026 [June 24th, 2026]
- The Government has grown too comfortable with censorship - The Telegraph - June 22nd, 2026 [June 22nd, 2026]
- Killing the joke the assassination of a Russian cartoonist - Index on Censorship - June 22nd, 2026 [June 22nd, 2026]
- The key to understanding the success of Polish science-fiction and video games is that they emerged as a means of circumventing Soviet censorship,... - June 22nd, 2026 [June 22nd, 2026]
- 60 years ago: the Czechoslovak film revolution, between the Oscars and censorship - Il Sole 24 ORE - June 22nd, 2026 [June 22nd, 2026]
- Is Britains Social Media Ban a Trojan Horse for Censorship? - First Things - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- 'Unmasking, Naming, and Shaming': This Academic Freedom Group Is Pushing for Campus Censorship - Yahoo - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Dispatch tackles Nintendo's Switch censorship requirements with a brilliantly named HR Violations update and an oozing jam donut where the dong should... - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- 15 articles a day: The extent of the Israeli armys media interference - +972 Magazine - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Say goodbye to Dispatch's hard censorship on Switch and hello to jorts thanks to new update - Polygon.com - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- The Filthy 15 and the PMRC: Revisiting Censorship in the 80s - 94.7 WCSX - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Opinion | Behold, the separation of powers might actually be working - The Washington Post - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Paramount+ blocks FPF ad about Trump-Ellison censorship threat - Freedom of the Press Foundation - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- The Extravaganza Will Not Be Televised - National Review - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Dispatch just got a Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch update to reduce censorship - Nintendo Everything - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Dispatch Has Found The Funniest Possible Way To Fix Its Switch Censorship - GameSpot - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Get To Know The World of Femgore, a Feminist Horror Subgenre - Book Riot - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Ronan Farrow on What We Can Do to Keep Censorship and the Threats of AI at Bay - IndieWire - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- ALERT: AI Censorship Is Already Here. Anthropic AI Model Refuses Service to Climate Deniers. - heartland.org - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Not an isolated act: Artist examines censorship, discrimination through art advocacy - Village Report - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Dispatch Adds New Ways To Censor Things In The Game - IGN - June 19th, 2026 [June 19th, 2026]
- Jagan Reddy Alleges Censorship as YSRCP Facebook Page Restriction Sparks Political Row in Andhra Pradesh - Daily Pioneer - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- HC judge recuses from hearing plea that challenged censor certificate issued to The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond film - The Hindu - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- Historians call it censorship of the iconic bronze statue - Bhaskar English - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- For now, censorship stays at the U. of Alabama - Free Speech Center - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- Ronan Farrow on What We Can Do to Keep Censorship and the Threats of AI at Bay - Yahoo - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- Ronan Farrow on What We Can Do to Keep Censorship and the Threats of AI at Bay - IMDb - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- Turkey: IPI condemns increasing use of arbitrary court orders to censor independent journalism - ipi.media - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- Protecting the First Amendment - The Korea Times - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- NC School District Pays $95K After Censoring Charlie Kirk Tribute - Focus on the Family - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- How Levi's turned FIFA's stadium censorship into one of the biggest brand moments of the World Cup - Fast Company - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]
- 2026 World Cup: Between freedom of expression and the beautiful game - Index on Censorship - June 16th, 2026 [June 16th, 2026]