What's your favorite Disney ride?🏰🎢🎠 Also, you can download "Don't Save Splash Mountain" here: dreamsoundsvideo.bandcamp.com/ All proceeds from the song will be donated to the Black Visions Collective!
I like Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean, but I dislike the changes they made to it. I get rather annoyed when they try to include feminism in a ride about pirates. I'd rather get something more realistic (as much as possible with Disney), personally.
@@sampeacaml9307 I actually am glad about the changes made to Pirates. I think it was Lindsay Ellis who pointed out (in an old video of hers) that the changes to Pirates came after the movie franchise and Disney's marketing to inspire children to *be* pirates. Much harder to say that it's all in good fun and they're not supposed to be good people (which was the original intention of the ride) when you have a gift shop filled with pirate merch encouraging kids to be just like the pirates. It makes sense to me that they changed the message of the ride a bit after that, since it really changed the dynamic of the ride.
Haunted Mansion all the way. I wish Disney went darker and gothic more often. Every second of that ride is so rich in atmosphere and storytelling. I honestly think it’s one of the greatest works of art of the 20th century right there with Ulysses and Citizen Kane.
@@sampeacaml9307 the more realistic version is a sexy bombshell posing for a gaggle of pirates clawing to put her in a forced marriage? Like dude what do u even mean. HISTORICALLY it’s more realistic to make a redheaded pirate-there were multiple women with red hair doing piracy in the golden age like lmao sounds like reality is ‘too woke’ for you & you miss the theme park fantasy that women aren’t people but characters you can cartoonishly awoooga at lol
I don’t mind them changing the theme of the ride at all. The only thing I don’t like is that I prefer the name “Splash Mountain” over “Tiana's Bayou Adventure”. “Splash Mountain” rolls off the tongue better and is consistent with the other two mountain rides in Magic Kingdom: “Space Mountain” and “Big Thunder Mountain”.
Agree! Also, i guess you could argue Disney is going away from mountain and more towards adventure...... So we'll have Pirate Adventure, Jungle Adventure, Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Adventure, Haunted Adventure, Most Painful Song Stuck In Your Head Adventure, Frozen/Alpine Adventure, Submarine Adventure, Space Adventure, Auto Adventure, and of course: Disney's Train Adventure Around the Park..... yup, I can see it now, no complaints on those naming conventions, completely original, completely Disney! Joke's aside, I'm glad it's getting rethemed, but the name is a bit bland for sure!
personally i still call it tower of terror, because it is a tower that causes terror and Guardians Of The Galaxy: Mission Breakout or even just Mission Breakout is... yeah. I feel like the big mountain you drop down to make a splash will still be referred to as splash mountain by most people.
I’m a school bus driver and this summer I drove a summer school route. I like to play Disney park instrumental background music on my bus and one day a little black girl, in perhaps 4th grade or so, asked me “Is this Mickey Mouse music?” I told her it was, specifically from Splash Mountain. Then I asked her if she had seen The Princess and the Frog and after she said yes, I told her Disney is planning to retheme it to that movie. She literally gasped and brought her hands to her face in excitement. That was all I needed to know Disney is making the right choice here. I hope that girl gets to gasp with delight when she sees Princess Tiana on the new Splash Mountain!
That is such an awesome story. There are (and have been) so many other attractions... But one where Black people, especially black women/girls can see *themselves* as the protagonist? Nothing truly stands out in my mind. Now one that's a *centerpiece* in the park? I hope that girl you met is given ribbon cutting passes/tickets. By proxy I hope the re-theme will get the film the audience recognition it deserved but more importantly - non POC individuals perspective when seeing the real experiences of those who *finally* feel represented.
Not to mention too how beautiful PatF really is and was, one of the last true 2D films by Disney and it shows through so well. Tiana was a character I adored as a kid, she was right up there with Mulan when it came to princesses because she was different; She was dedicated and independent and incredibly witty with strong relationships with her family and her best friend. She reminded me of my mom as a little boy, I feel like that’s really important. she made me think completely differently about princesses and what they could actually be. I really really hope they turn the ride into a PatF themed ride, I genuinely might actually pay to go to the park to experience it myself in person due to excitement lol
@@meat3958 The decision has already been made (which is why I don't understand the people who are being rude and kicking up a fuss at Marlene and other commenters about "Save Splash Mountain" - her making a video about it is not going to affect Disney's decision *at all* so that behavior is not only rude but completely misdirected). I really appreciate hearing your personal experience and relationship with the film as well as how they connect. (It makes me feel like I'm hearing the story of that little girl on the bus 10 years down the line), it's sweet and it touches me. You also pointed out something that no one else has addressed which is this was the ending of Disney animated major motion pictures. The last time that I watched the film I didn't realize how much I missed that artistry. And honestly why can't we have both? Yes I know that CG is cheaper however studio Ghibli is going very strong. So that also negates the argument that audiences prefer this "more modern" approach. Just thinking of that makes me nostalgic and how fantastic we could make a film with so many aspiring artists devoted to the craft.
James Baskett was a legend. This guy was the first black male actor to won an accademy award, even though it was an honorary one. He won it TEN years before Poitier ! I found it quite amazing ❤ this guy, and, of course Hatty Mcdaniel, paved the way for black actors in the cinema industry ! When you come to think about it, uncle remus, a free man, told stories which were inspired by Fables tellers like Aesope or Jean de la Fontaine. He was a philosophical old man, and the little boy trusted him more than his own parent ! Talking about education lol We must protect SOTS and show it with a disclaimer about the context and why our view on the subject have changed. But it's not by hidding the legacy of Mcdaniel and Baskett that we will learn the REAL history of the Africans American
As someone who comes from a Disney family and has to listen to many members of my family complain about Disney being too political and PC nowadays in changing the ride (which they maintain isn’t racist at all), I really liked this video. Here’s hoping Tiana’s Bayou Adventure isn’t just 11 minutes of screens which loosely retell the plot of Princess and the Frog and actually has a lot of heart put into it. It sucks that Disney’s cultural progress comes at a time of artistic decline.
Honestly it could just have swirling light effects and the ode to "Evangeline" and I would find it more impressive than what I saw when I experienced Splash.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain i'm fine with corporate virtue signaling. they don't have to mean it in order for it to have the objectively positive effects of making people more comfortable and welcome in the park, and to stop teaching kids harmful notions and stereotypes. it's also a good and welcome sign of the times if it's profitable to be more kind, that indicates that people are becoming kinder and less tolerant of weird racist bullshit.
@@greygoose8803 what's hilarious is this person combing through all the comments to @ me in a (failed) attempt to troll both myself and this video without realizing that they're pumping up the engagement. 😃
That's wild, I had no idea that "Oh Susanna" and "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" were minstrel songs. In hindsight, "Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me" definitely has... literal statements of slavery, but I always thought it was about like... having a significant other? I learned those two in elementary school in Canada in the early 2000s.
I didn’t know that about Oh Susanna, I always assumed it was about a guy who was a cowboy (like the song “Oh My Darling Clementine”), but this is pretty eye-opening
I literally only knew that shoo fly line. My parents saying it to me when I was in like preschool to help me get over my fear of flies delete character like literal flies. And it actually worked, too. Kind of sad to find out it has such awful origins.
My mostly white school had us sing the song “Pick a Bale of Cotton” and even at the time, I felt pretty uncomfortable about it. The way most American schools will shamelessly insert songs and other media with racist origins or links to slavery is repulsive to put it lightly
I’m in total shock that so many songs that I grew up listening to as just “country songs” were in fact minstrel songs written with hateful intentions. I had a Disney VHS called “Campout at Walt Disney World” and I’m just realizing that several songs featured in it were minstrel songs. Despite having nostalgia for these songs from listening to them out of context for so long, I think it’s best if I don’t feature instrumental versions of any of them in any future creative projects of mine. Outstanding video by the way.
Ugh, my family also had a copy of the "Campout at Walt Disney World" VHS (in fact, I think we still have it!) that we played all the time without knowing that the "traditional songs" being sung were in fact minstrel songs. I'm just saddened that my my siblings and I plus so many people were fed oppression and racism as "childhood".
I think that getting rid of/hiding all evidence of Disney’s and America’s racist past is wrong, because to me I think that makes it look like it didn’t happen. Minstrel songs are a huge part of American musical history, and it’s important to acknowledge that those bands and music were based on racism and exploitation of black culture. I definitely don’t think everyone who sings Dixie or Camptown Races is racist, but there should absolutely be context around those songs; it’s a much more valuable learning opportunity to know the history around them than pretend the songs don’t exist. But that history should make people uncomfortable, and “ruining” a song or movie or ride with the historical context is ‘worth it’ (not that that should even be a consideration when acknowledging America’s racist past) because we need to talk about and educate people on this stuff.
This. All of this. Burying anything related to a company's past mistakes only makes it easier for that company to get away with more in the future. Disney should always be held accountable for what they've done and still do as a company, and no problematic company should ever be given the privilege of being viewed with rose-tinted glasses. It also makes it easier for people to forget why we moved on in the first place. If you're going to sing a 'safe' version of those songs, do it when nobody needs to know the social context behind the original ( _See: nowhere close to the present day, pg 46_ ). Make no mistake - I'm Southern, and I approve of the design change - but telling a person from a different culture to burn every part of their history solely because it's problematic is _really screwed up_ and only encourages hostility and bigotry on both sides. That's something that we can't risk happening to good people. It's much better to 'ruin' a song than to make it flare up in the minds of the people.
But the overwhelming majority do not go to Disney to learn; they go to escape. Case in point, the total refocus of EPCOT. What you are describing is a museum exhibit.
But that's what's so galling, they aren't doing that very effectively. One of the most racist series that Disney ever produced, Davy Crockett, is still there and isn't being hidden at all. Song of the South was a massive step in the right direction when it came to race relations as the black characters were pretty much uniformly smarter and more likable than the white characters. That doesn't mean that they should get a pass to make it again now, but the folks complaining about the movie mostly haven't seen it since it hasn't been screened in the US in decades and I don't think it's even been available for purchase since the '80s.
To all the people who keep saying Africans did slavery, everyone did slavery. The Turks, Egyptians, Romans, any culture that had rich people who wanted to work, but was either too lazy to do it, or just didn’t want to have to pay no one. They just picked a group of people no one cared about like criminals, or soldiers from other lands.
The interesting thing though is that most examples of slavery in history did not enslave based on race. Thats what makes the atlantic slave trade so horrific, apart from how recent it is .
@@josjos-x5swasn’t personal, it’s because they were the cheapest and most easy to access. Plenty of civilizations have enslaved based on ethnicity, we will not apologize for our ancestors or be made to feel guilty. No más!
@@Hispania_45 You are cringey af shut the fuck up. No most countries didnt enslave based on ethnicity, it was based on what ever war they won. Further african enslavement is one of the biggest and most recent slave trades in history and is very connected to the western civilization (it is a part of our history if you like it or not). And the effects still last today because of racism, the thing that made the enslavement of africans "personal". A shoddy justification made to sweep under the rug any morality that'd come to question. And thats why its still so relevant today. Doesnt take a high IQ to understand that.
honestly, changing the theme of splash mountain isn't going to kill anyone, but disney shouldn't be acting like they're doing every one a huge favor by doing something that should of been changed naturally over time. Now as for song of the south it should be on disney+ with a disclaimer explaining the why it's problematic, mainly because these kinds of things need to be talked about and made available for others to see, cause no one is going to believe how racist it is when they just get little clips of singing cartoon animals and not the whole film
It should have been re-themed 14 years ago when Princess and the Frog came out, They waited too long and they have no right to toot their own horns. In fact, if they did re theme the ride in 2008 there wouldn't have been nearly as much of an uproar because It would have been done before everyone became radicalised by algorithms and the only people who would have cared would have been the actual racists and not just the otherwise decent rational people who have been fed a far right narrative by social media over the years.
@@kevinlee7678 The movie is super weird in that the animated parts are pretty solid (I've seen black critics argue both that the accents are offensive or that they're accurate for the time, so I don't really have a solid opinion on that. I'm at least relieved that the animated characters are voiced by Black actors) and I would actually be interested in seeing more Br'er Rabbit stuff (preferably from Black American creators), but Song of the South as a whole is a movie that would totally deserve to be forgotten if not for Disney trying to ignore it's racist past because besides being offensive, it's just really boring.
@@josjos-x5s Nah, more available to other people this way. More people can review and discuss it if anyone with a disney+ account or can use someone's account can watch it than some tiny few in a class room
All of y’all are just insanely sensitive, I’m completely against racism and everything like the sort but there really isn’t much wrong with splash mountain AT ALL they changed the “problematic” stuff so splash mountain wouldn’t be offensive, it’s really just a bunch of animals having a good time (I’m mainly talking about the Disneyland version) and the movie itself was made in a COMPLETELY different era honestly I’d say that dumbo is even more racist than song of the south me and my whole family have seen it “the save splash mountain is sinister and is trying to bring the world back to a bad time in America” now that’s just a stretch and a HUGE one at that, the save splash mountain movement is about nostalgia, saving such a huge part in history. Song of south had one of the first black men to get an Oscar and first black person to get an award for voice acting, and the only one at that. Splash mountain embraces change and so does song of the south, you guys are a next level sensitive and before you call me a tiana hater or a racist I’m neither, but wouldn’t it make more sense for her to have her own restaurant? At the end of the day I will never stop loving splash mountain and song of the south and will continue to fight for the characters to get more recognition themselves, I sometime hope to work for Disney and my dream is to be the CEO and I would like you all to know this is coming from a bisexual women not a straight white man! But again I and many others will not stop trying to get this movie, ride, and characters the support and love they deserve. Have a zip-a-de-doo-dah day!
My main concern with the retheming is that they seem to be setting Tiana up for failure again. If Tiana's ride isnt 100% perfect right of the bat, its going to be highly scrutinized.
Disney removes a "Racist" ride, and now Tianas is based on Salt Mines that is connected with Slavery 😬 also this retheme is just not comparable to the OG. The "new" splash mountain is boring, is connected with actual slavery, the ride is having issues (some say its a curse lol), the animatronics are already showing issues, and going back to story, it doesn't make sense. Also, no Voodoo allowed cause apparently it was going to offend people, even though Voodoo is part of New Orleans culture. Disney made a big L.
I was recently at Disneyworld, a little over a month ago now. Splash Mountain was notable, but not in the ways that people might be thinking. This whole retheme was going to happen either way, for one simple reason: The ride is breaking down, people. We were stuck on it for 2 minutes, watching Brer Frog go through his entire routine a few times over. And this was a "good" run-through, compared to other 10-minute stops that happen on an almost daily basis, and it's been like this for a while. Even Space Mountain in various parks tends to get rethemed due to how old the rides are. Does the race issue play a factor? I would say likely, but it's definitely not the main driving force. I'm actually a little shocked that they're going for a 2024 release. They're honestly probably better off rebuilding the whole mountain ground-up, which would give a later release date, but probably lengthens the lifespan of the ride. We'll see. But, it's clear that Splash Mountain was on its way out no matter how you roll the dice.
I had absolutely no idea it was that bad. Before I read your comment I was most impressed with the fact that the same animatronics are still there even though they're nearly 50 years old (America Sings opened in 1974).
Well a retheme doesn’t fix issues with the ride system or track lol. That’s why frozen breaks down all the time at Epcot. So don’t get your hopes up that they’ll fix anything causing breakdowns
This is a very good point. We got stuck on it as well. Multiple times. And with each time you get stuck, you notice things. I noticed multiple light bulbs that were out. Animatronics that were moving very stiffly or not moving at all. Moss was growing on the ceiling. Another part of the ceiling, there was a definite leak with sediment piling up so that means the leak had been there a while. The tracks definitely had rust on a majority of the ride. Paint chipping off everywhere. Better they just start from scratch.
Thanks for bringing that up! I stated that so many times. As someone that goes to Disney almost too often, I do like the ride but Splash Mountain leaving isn’t the end of the world.
I personally don’t think we should tell people what to be offended by. I showed several clips of Song of the South to my nephew who is black once and when I told him that it’s racist he was completely shocked and speechless. He couldn’t believe it and doesn’t see how it’s racist. Plus in the movie, Johnny looks up to Uncle Remus like a father figure. Having a white kid look up to a black person in a movie released when segregation was still a huge deal is rarely even discussed about. It always gets overshadowed by how “racist” the movie is.
I’m in no way defending the movie or ride whatsoever but I do want to comment on them staying on the plantation they were formerly enslaved on in the movie, when slavery ended white plantation owners would ‘hire’ black people to more or less continue being slaves. It was hard for them to get jobs and find homes back then as slavery had just ended and the south was still HEAVILY racist, so if they were offered food and a roof over their head or even just a little bit of money they’d take it cause they’d have no other choice at that point. There were two specific terms for these I learned, Sharecropping and Tenant Farming I believe? That would explain why they were still essentially slaves in the movie.
Sharecropping is when workers (former slaves ) rented tools and land from plantation owners to harvest their own crops. The issue was that wages were so low and rent was so high causing them to always be in debt to the plantation owners. The black people who challenged this system face threats, violence, and murder.
I admire your ability to research, compile, and create this. Not to mention present it in such a fabulous way. In the short time span that I spent finding an explanation for the existence of a U.S copy of the VHS (as you may have seen) I came across *so many* disturbing sites. I have always enjoyed your content, but I have a newfound respect for what you do on a *much* deeper level than I was capable of before. I've said similar things, but now with a broader understanding I say it again; thank you for everything you do for us Marlene. I sincerely hope you are able to be returned equally in kind. 💞🏳️🌈🎶
“Preserving history” by holding on to a romanticized fantasy version of it doesn’t really track. I think these changes are geared towards kids, and that’s who should be the main focus. I do hope they build animatronics and physical props for the Princess and the Frog characters and don’t just use screens though!
I disagree. Preserving history to me should be a two-way street. It means both keeping the original truth alive as well as acknowledging different interpretations of history. Also, not having the original movie be officially released actually does harm preserving history. 1) Even if the movie has problematic elements in it, the movie showcases a friendship between a white person and a black person during a time when segregation was the norm, which in and of itself is a great message to have, and 2) James Baskett was the first male black actor to win an Academy Award for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. Not releasing this movie officially does great harm to the original actor as his achievements may be forgotten, and I don't think that's fair at all.
@@octupusman1000 I dont really care. Song of The South is a pro-Southern Pro-Culture film and should be preserved because it was created at a time before the calcification of American culture.
On a marketing standpoint, there is no point in maintaining the Song of the South theme for Splash Mountain. The film has been pulled out of view, and more and more people are unaware of the movie’s presence. I don’t think there are any official products for the franchise besides being a picture of the ride. Meanwhile Princess and the Frog is pretty well known and marketable. There are dolls and toys of the characters from that film. There is really nothing major about giving Splash Mountain a Frog Princess facelift. It’s the same exact ridd, but with a new coat of paint and still fitting the Americana theme (since Princess in the Frog takes place in New Orleans which fits that overal region of Disneyworld particularly). Not to mention the creators will be able to use princess and the frog storyline to create a more diverse setting and narrative on the ride-since they couldn’t really do that for SotS. Can you imagine? I’d love then to use “Friends on the Other Side” before the big plunge.
That's why I was so confused when people got upset. I mean, I figured even conservatives would be cool with a better marketing strategy. Disney is trying to bring in NEW, YOUNG fans - children they can milk for years to come. They already got almost all they will out of the adults. Idk I was just surprised by the backlash because of that
@@thegloriousdipshit4274 because we're comparing Song of The South to a movie with a *black female protagonist* - unfortunately, when you boil it down THAT'S their problem (consciously or not). These are the "blue lives matter" folks.
The crazy thing about the ‘changing Disney history’ line is the Splash Mountain is based on a film that most have never seen, was only opened in the late 80s (basically 90s) and is named after the film Splash cos Eisner wanted a crash grab. It’s insane to me that people feel it’s an integral part of Disney history, let alone history in general.
I was pretty surprised when I watched it again last year. It wasn't that big of a deal. In some respects it was even subversive with the black characters regularly getting one over on the white characters and the black characters being the ones that are actually likable. It's unfortunate that since people have mostly been unable to watch the film in recent decades that's grown into this bogeyman that's not really fair. What was a big deal was Davy Crockett. If we're going to take Disney to task for films with a bunch of -isms and no redemptive value, that's probably the one to start with. A narcissistic liar, white savior, and generally insufferable POS. I remember loving it when I was a kid, but he's just so unlikable. He knows more than everybody else, and he uses language that even in the '80s was inappropriate. Sure, it was a depiction of a character from the earlyish 19th century, but he was pretty horrible.
disney isnt history, its just a massive cash grab and an ecological disaster, woke disney couldnt care less if a group of 20 year olds with rainbow hair dont like it, they care that it looses them money.
I think Tiana deserves her own attraction, but I know Disney, they're opportunists, plus they'd have to expand and Disney loves repackaging their rides, rather than making something new based off a movie that's over a decade old.
they just redid nearly all of california adventure. ratatouille got a brand new ride in WDW. but disney land has no space to expand, and PatF is just objectively a really good fit to retheme the ride to. it's normal and a good move to retheme outdated or off-theme rides to breathe new life into them.
@@greygoose8803 PATF is not a good retheme idea. 1: No mountains in Louisiana 2: Princesses and thrill rides don't mix 3: A PATF ride should appeal and be rideable for anyone of all ages and heights. Pirates of the Caribbean's building would be a better fit for a Tiana ride.
@Ray That ride is centered around te seven dwarfs, not snow white. The Original snow white dark ride that was at the park was for all ages regardless of height.
@@redzrobinz3135 How would a princess and the frog ride not appeal to all ages? If you wanna make the argument “princesses and thrill rides don’t mix” well do you think children folktales and thrill rides mix? That’s just dumb you can make a lot of cool shit based off of princesses such as Mulan, Moana, Raya…
@@greygoose8803 d00d you just made me realize how long ago the trip was; California adventure was still being *constructed* when I went to Disneyland. --- Also I was completely serious on my reply elsewhere. I really hope that you write - I don't care what genre or what type. Your talent with wordsmithing and imagery is something that should not go unutilized. It could be a story about someone making a sandwich and I would delve into it *enthusiastically.*
as someone from the deep south, "the heart of dixie" alabama, i need to tell y'all what dixie actually means. it refers to the south itself. more specificially, anything below the mason-dixon line, which was the informal barrier between north and south... and between free and slave states. even if you're not referring to the minstrel song, the word dixie has connotations of slavery as an inherent part of the south. those of us down here who don't try to gloss over our shitty history tend not to use it in a positive context, or at all.
Y'know, I have lived in the south for my entire life (greetings from Tennessee!) and I just now put together that "Dixie" is probably derivative of "Dixon."
@@moonbunny24 Dixie actually comes from money. The mint in New Orleans used French spelling at the time. Dix is ten in French and $10 bills were referred to as dixies. The name came to be used to refer to the south in general as it was only bills printed in New Orleans that used the French on it's bills.
But yeah, the people fervently defending this ride while using racist slurs and the like is… disturbing. It really does feel like racists slowly losing one of their “racist sanctuaries” and honestly? Good
Racist sancturaries? You people are dumb and full of shit. Seriously, one of the original voices came back to voice Brer Bear. And despite some of the problems of the movie he wouldn't have come back if it was really about racism.
The actor who played uncle Remus in song of the south was the first black man to win an academy award, so to cover it up like it never happend is like saying “go fuck yourself” to a dying animal
He was also not allowed to attend the movie's premiere because Disney chose to premiere it in segregated Atlanta. And they have continued to choose not to make him a Disney Legend. Having a ride based on a movie he appeared in isn;t the honor you;re making it out to be.
@@ttintagelhe also died about a year and half to two years after the movie was released (complications of diabetes). Life and the short attention span of the public moved on. But Uncle Remus was the hero of the story, it does take place after the war (Uncle Remus was free to just leave…), and his character demonstrates wisdom, humor, brotherly love, and compassion. The little Black boy who befriended little Johnny was a great role model, too. Two white boys were mean to Johnny and to their own sister. The lady of the house felt great respect for Uncle Remus. For its time, the movie was quietly radical. I’m sorry more people don’t get to see it.
More racist to eliminate the legacy of an actor who broke boundaries with black actors at the time with this cheap surface-level sense of outrage over a movie about a slave telling tales of a rabbit, a bear and a fox.
This seemed more of a subjective calculation than an analytical perception. There is no doubt that Song of the South had its struggles of up bringing from every party in every direction. However…what should be valued and treasured about this movie…is the beautiful barrier breaking of segregation laws that the casts, of both academy award winning actors (Hattie McDaniel and James Baskett) conducted during its time of filming. They were not casted as people of inferiority nor someone to display as humorous. Uncle Remus was the main hero of the story. A kind and wise old story teller that provided the proper knowledge and wisdom needed, not only for any young child, but adults as well. If you ask me…this is a revolting disgrace to the memories of James Baskett, Hattie McDaniel, Johnny Lee, and Nick Stewart. They deserve way better than this cowardice act revisioning to pretend they “never happened”. If you ain’t seen Valarie Stewart’s (daughter of Nick Stewart) interview with WDW Pro, I’d recommend.
I watched your whole video, but I can't help but believe you have ulterior motives for trying to frame Splash Mountain racist, when there's a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Just like the astroturfers who coincidentally campaigned to have Splash Mountain changed to a Princess and the Frog themed ride right before Disney announced they already had that in mind. Quite the coincidence, no? You have a lot of selective quotes in your video that don't tell the full story. You claim that the song "Let it Pour Down Rain" is promoting slavery because of the lines, "When you're achin...Then you'd better be thankful that He let you stay." The songwriter claims the "He" refers to God. You claim he's lying, and it's a wink at racists. Well, if you read the rest of that verse, it continues, "Let you see the children playing around your door. For the time is soon coming when you won't be here no more." See? In isolation, the small soundbite you chose makes your conspiracy seem plausible. But with the remaining lyrics in that verse, your conspiracy seems a lot less likely than the songwriter's explanation. Anyone who is interested can read the full lyrics here and make up their own mind: disney.fandom.com/wiki/Let_the_Rain_Pour_Down Also, it is clear to me in the movie that Uncle Remus is a Free Black Man, and thus this must be the Reconstruction Era. Early in the movie, Uncle Remus is about to up and leave for Atlanta with the young white boy. Did you forget that part? That would be near-guaranteed suicide for a slave. Do you think if he was a slave, he would have a cavalier attitude talking about that, especially to a white boy? Furthermore, the Black people in the movie have a high degree of autonomy. They are respected and ALMOST treated as family. I say "almost" because obviously there are some major inequalities, as there would be for that time period. The movie highlights the extreme economic disparity between the Blacks and the Rich White Plantation Family, mainly by the stark contrast in how they dress. But that disparity was a fact of the time period. In fact, that disparity still exists, to a lesser extent today. Do you think Disney would be doing more "social justice" by hiding this ugly fact of reality, or making it naked obvious for the whole world to see? Should Disney have reimagined a fantasy version of the Deep South that never existed, like Wakanda? In what way would that bring justice for African-Americans? People who call this movie racist also complain about Uncle Remus' complacency living on the plantation. Shouldn't Remus want to get as far away as possible from the place that used to enslave him or his ancestors (it's not confirmed in the movie that he was ever a slave)? Well, it's not that simple. First of all, those that think that Remus is completely happy with his situation completely missed one of the main messages in the movie. Br'er Rabbit hates his Briar Patch for good reason and wants to run away, but more trouble awaits him when he does. And that was the sad reality for Freed Blacks in the South. There were no good economic opportunities for them, and even if they went to go work in the factories in the Northern cities, they were likely to face harsher conditions than if they became sharecroppers. The factories of the 19th Century were horrible places without the labor laws protecting workers we have today. Add to that the heavy dose of racism Blacks faced in the North, mainly from poor Whites who saw the Blacks as cheap labor that could take their jobs away. Given that context, not only do I not think Song of the South is racist. I see it as a radical social justice movie for its time. I think most of the people who didn't like the movie in the 1940's were racists themselves, who probably didn't like the idea of a White boy being mentored by a wise Black man. I could go on and on about why this movie is not racist, but it's best for people to watch it themselves and form their own opinions: archive.org/details/SongoftheSouth1080pRestoration Finally, your argument that the ride itself is racist is incredibly flimsy. Your main objection seems to be the tunes played while people are waiting in line might trace their lineage to minstrel songs. I think most reasonable people will see this as obscure trivia rather than a reason to retheme the whole ride. I mean, you can use the same kind of twisted argument to say that we should ban German classical music like Wagner and Beethoven, since Hitler used it as propaganda for the Nazis. But let's assume I hypothetically accepted your argument. Fine, simple solution is to change the playlist of the queue music. Problem solved, no need to kill the ride itself. Unless of course you like erasing African-American culture! Because that's literally what Disney is doing. They are taking a beloved African-American fable and replacing it with a blackfaced remix of a German fable. That's called Cultural Imperialism. Princess and the Frog is White mythology being resold as "Black Pride" to gullible people who only look skin deep. It is the Token Minority that Disney inserted in their Disney Princess Lineup, just to say, "Hey, we're no longer racist." Never mind the fact that Disney's Princess marketing is not particularly healthy propaganda for young women. I believe the one true thing in your video is that you dislike Walt Disney and Disney fandom for being conservative. Yes, Walt Disney was conservative. So much so that he did not want to see alcohol in his parks (and he would be rolling over in his grave at the fact that Disney is not only selling alcohol but trying to lower the age limit for drinking in Disney World). But Walt also believed in uniting all the cultures of the world together through the power of story telling. He was trying to bring people together, and one thing that unites all of humanity, is we all like a good story. Not only that, but we all have interesting stories to share, unique to where we come from. Let me ask, if you're African American, what is going to give you more pride? To know that the corporate overlords at Disney saw fit to race-swap your race into a European fairytale, so that you feel you have a bigger role in the dominant Euro-centric culture? Or to know that stories your ancestors told for hundreds of years are currently influencing pop-culture? #SaveSplashMountain #BrerRabbitNotRacist
@@DreamsoundsVideo interesting. I think this persons comment was a million times more informative than your video, first time I’ve ever come to a reply section and left wanting to see a video made by a commenter. My mind is blown
It is funny, the Brer Rabbit story is a story that originates authentically in Black American culture, while the Frog Princess story originates from Germany.
The day is January 23rd, 2023. The ride's final day of operation was yesterday. While it's sad to see a prominent part of my childhood go, it is for the best.
My issue is not with the retheme itself, but that Tiana doesn't fit in WDW's location. Tiana fits DLR! She's at the crossroads of where Critter Country meets New Orleans Square. That's a perfect fit for her. Putting Tiana in WDW's Frontierland feels confusing for her lore. Also as someone from within the company, I know a lot more about this project than the general public, and I have a lot of criticisms that I am not permitted to speak upon due to the proprietary nature of the subject.
The ride is very sentimental to people who grew up on it. The desire to preserve the ride has nothing to do with race at all. Splash Mountain is one of the first rides I went on and the only ride I went on with my mom, dad and sister together before they got divorced. I’m glad I have the photo of our time on it. I had hoped to take my nephews on it to relieve and share that with them. On the bright side I have no doubt they will preserve the ride as much as possible and update it with incredible animatronics that blow us away. The re-opening of the ride will be highly anticipated because it has a lot to live up to. If it’s worse than they’re gonna hear about it. Song of the South was made with good intentions but was a misstep. I love the African folk tale of Brer Rabbit but it’s history of it’s presentation comes off as exploitation. It’s too bad these stories will be shelved because at the heart, they were African American stories that should be preserved somehow.
This video is undoubtedly well-intentioned. Unfortunately, it is dripping with virtue-signaling, and it has all the markings of a propaganda film, complete with a propaganda jingle at the end. Disneyland's Splash Mountain is already defunct, undergoing re-theming. Eventually, the re-themed attraction will also be harshly criticized--as racial tokenism, a testament to white guilt, or something along those lines.
I rode Splash Mountain in 2004 on a family holiday coming to Disneyland from Australia, and I didn't have a lot of the cultural context of Song of the South at the time, so I saw nothing really wrong with the attraction. Australia is pretty racist on its own, and our entertainers are often caught in blackface scandals.
To be fair, neither do most of the Americans riding that ride. Song of the South hasn't been available legally in the US in decades. If you want a copy to see for yourself, you either have to get a foreign release that's a little more recent or track down a torrent of one of the scans of the existent films from what it was still being screened. In short, the vast majority of the people weighing in on this are doing so based on their recollections, and probably not even that much. I saw it during one of the last screenings of the movie back in the '80s and when I watched a pirate copy recently, I was surprised at how progressive (for the time) the film is. The black characters were generally smarter and more likable than the white ones. I do think that trying to bury the film does Walt's legacy a disservice, as it's not the same thing as that WB cartoon of Bugs Bunny fighting with that black guy that is clearly something out of one of the more racist minstrel shows. But, the activists would have you believe that SotS was similarly racist.
Thre are no negative racial contexts to the ride or to the movie for that matter. It is actually a positive movie about the newly freed slaves and the fight to normalize relations.
Lincoln actually had Dixie played when Robert E Lee surrendered. Which is good karma to clap back at the separatists. But the Union Dixie lyrics are based: *Away down South in the land of traitors, rattlesnakes, and alligators! Right away, come away, right away, come away! Where cotton’s king and men are chattels, Union boys will win the battles! Right away, come away, right away, come away!* They say “There are no mountains in the bayou” and I’m like “Yeah, and? Georgia isn’t the Western Frontier either so what’s your point?” If anything Louisiana is geographically closer to the frontier.
That's the reason imagineers made the WDW version of Splash so different from the DL counterpart. They were aware of the issues of it fitting in with Frontierland and they actually did a good job with what they did and it blends in well enough. And yes, there are no mountains in Louisiana and PATF in the area would fit in less than Splash Mountain ever could and makes zero thematic sense. Plus Frontierland is set around the 1890s and SOTS is also set around that timeas well while PATF is set in the 1920s so it fits pretty well. It may not fit perfectly but it's still makes more sense than a New Orleans Bayou setting. If you ask me, the Pirates of the Caribbean show building would be a better fit for a PATF ride.
Sooooooooo.... Splash mountain is racist because it features 3 songs from the movie, only one of which having lyrics, with sed lyrics not relating to racism whatsoever? Not to mention Song of the South was one of the biggest movies at the time to prominently feature a black actor as the protagonist. I personally think that REMOVING this ride is racist and a misconception of intentions.
I guess if you have it your way those old slave folklore stories will rightfully be banished. And, we’ll just pretend slaves and former slaves spoke in the Queen’s English! Yeah, let’s just say the writer had ulterior motives so let’s kibosh Remus as “racist”.
Zip-a-dee-do-dah was always a song I knew, even if I didn’t watch Song Of the South. I used to hum it during recess and sing it while riding my bike around the neighborhood. It’s just something I always knew the tune of.
I was actually very skeptical Tiana's Bayou Adventure would actually happen. Now I'm worried it's gonna be half-assed. Still looking forward to it though.
Same here. Bob Cheapek I mean Chapek had BETTER not stain both the ride and Princess and the Frog by cheaping out on the re-theme to Tiana's Bayou Adventure like he's cheaped out on pretty much everything else he's done so far.
I don't. Because I HATE the music in Princess and the Frog. But I always loved the Song from Splash mountain, it is such a great performance from such a great entertainer, and I feel it an injustice that it should be removed from memory. Half of the fun of the ride is not what you can see (frankly, I mostly don't gave a sh... about it), it is the song. And why shouldn't we honor a great performer while also acknowledging that no, Disney wasn't always squeaky clean.
@@gregr3720 especially with modern Disney it's one of the main reasons I don't want it to change it's a childhood classic and if we lose such a good ride I'd want it to be replaced with something better but I doubt it will be once changed
@P4rty V4mpyre I need this ride to have a Dr Facilier animatronic. Imagine him right before the big drop menacing over you with his shadow behind him. In the spot Brer Fox currently resides.
Whenever talking about racism, it's always crucial intent is taken into consideration. It's one thing to be unintentionally racist over ignorance & then there's racism over fear & mockery. 'Song of the South' does not hate the black man, nor does it celebrate slavery. It does not mock or dehumanize blackness. And neither does the ride. Of course, the Disney company can do whatever they want w/the ride. Walt Disney himself said his park would never be finished, b/c it'll always be changing. However, entertainment doesn't live inside a timeless vaccuum either. Society changes & often progresses. Therefore, most art cannot be judged fairly under a modern lense. Not everything that's modernly problematic was intended to be racist. We must take intent into consideration before automatically & honestly labeling something old "racist".
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain - Let's also remember Walt Disney personally lobbied the Academy to award James Baskett an Oscar for 'Song of the South'. If Walt was somehow racist, he had a damn funny way of showing it. Reason why Disney was a complicated person is b/c geniuses - good or evil - often are. In the case of Walt, he had one foot in the future & one in the past. He was fascinated & enamored by technology, while bathing in nostalgia. So of course there will be things you enjoyed during your childhood which will be considered problematic in modern times. This is why INTENT is such an important part of CONTEXT when conducting an assessment of such caliber. Anything else would be disingenuous.
Literally other movies like aladdin peter pan dumbo jungle book etc are blatantly more racist than song of the south but people wanna cherry pick whats racist and whats not🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️
Real, Pocahontas in my opinion is the most racist Disney movie because they completely white washed her story. Yet they are still making a butt load of cash off of her, and people won't call them out on it.
I think this brings up the debate of "If something can bring new meaning to something, so much so that it becomes something else, should it be held to the original meaning?".
Zip-a-dee-do-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay! I LOVE Splash Mountain. One of my favorite rides at Disney. But I 100% understand why they would change it. I mean hey, as long as the log flume still is a log flume that does the funny, I won't be mad.
@@ChuckE.CheesesIllinois they never said they were a true splash fan they just really loved the ride. They didn’t say they would make out with the animatronics or something they just liked the ride lol
When my mother went to Disney for the first time, she got stuck on Splash Mountain for like an hour due to technical difficulties, at the part where there were a bunch of opossums singing "Let's go to the laughing place, laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh!" She has harbored a deep loathing for the ride, and those possums in particular, ever since.
My problem is Disney’s hypocrisy, they did it during the Floyd riots and if u really look into it, minorities are the smallest demographic who visits the parks so Disney is changing not cause of the backlash but because they need minorities to go. Otherwise, they would’ve at least recognize all the African Americans who played in SoTS, Baskett was the second AA in history to win an Oscar and the first AA to win best song yet Disney wants it under the rug. It just feels wrong, Baskett even said after the movie was done that it was the most faithful depiction of AA because during that time period, there was no movie that honored or told stories of AA, majority of movies at that time were bashing AA as a villain or ridiculing them as clowns. It feels slimy that Disney is doing all this not for the fans, not for AA and what they are fighting for, but for themselves and that’s why there’s a divide in the Disney Community over this particular ride. I also want to point out if a ride teaser get bad ratings and opinions, Disney tends to cuts budgets and I’ve heard that they already cut some for Tiana so don’t expect this ride to be that great compared to other Princess rides, it might be cheap, rushed or unfinished.
Yeah, Disney only censored it because people thought it was racist because people thought it was about slaves when it takes place after slavery was abolished, that was the main reason
@@austinreed7343 I’m actually a huge fan of Owl House and I’m mad at them also for cancelling shows just based on early ratings and poor advertisements, that show is one of the best animated shows they’ve ever made
Damn, she really started this video off like: "Splash Mountain is one of the greatest and most popular Disney rides ever... Now listen to me rant for half an hour about why I'm a cynical fucker who doesn't like people having fun at a theme park and think every ride should be a ham-fisted lesson in social justice." 💀
I highly disagree with this video. The part of the Uncle Tom's books makes no sense. Your basically saying his books were problematic because it reflects the social structure of their time. Like what do you honestly expect? Do you expect books from the 1800s to talk about women's rights? Ofc not it's because their society was different from today's. So criticizing an old book from centuries ago for not having the same modernized values we have today is just absurd. Also the idea of "someone has to be persevering black culture in order to talk/write about it" is also absurd. He was sharing stories from black people in times of slavery. He's not saying slavery is good or that he supports slavery he's simply just sharing the stories of people who didn't have the opportunity to. I feel like the color of the guys skin doesn't matter at all because his opinions on the stories are just opinions and having a "white man's view" shouldn't matter to you because if you were a normal person you'd focus on the stories and the messages behind them rather than the writer's opinion on them. I don't get why people think that the stories are ruined all because someone of a different skin color documented them. If race is really just about skin color then why do you care so much about this guy's skin. Why can't a person be interested in someone else's culture or even document it. Would you rather have these stories be lost to time all because the person who documented them weren't the same color of skin as you? I don't get it at all
Secondly. The fact that this video completely ignored the messaging and story of the movie and choses to instead hyperfocus on the setting of the movie and what it implies (keep in mind, not prove or concretely say but what IT CAN BE) shows that this was heavily biased based. The messaging of the movie is how an old wise man changed the lives of two children to help them better cope with their lives. Keep in mind the little boy's father sperated from his mother and the boy was a city boy and now he's suddenly in a farm in a state he's never been in and now has to live with his grandma which in the beginning of the movie shows that he doesn't like. Uncle Remus helps the child cope with his situation and turn him from a depressed little kid to a cheerful joyful one. But instead of clearly talking about this side of the movie this video would rather talk about how the setting of a plantation could possibly symbolize slavery and slavery = bad and racist when the planation isn't even the main focus of the movie at all. I understand slavery was a bad time for black people but the thing is, hyper focusing on the past especially considering that such a thing ended literally centuries ago makes no real sense. I acknowledge that there may be a possibility that Uncle Remus was a slave but regardless of that, the movie isnt about him being a slave but rather how a good man can impact someone's life so heavily. I don't get why the movie has to clarify who's a slave and who's not when that's not even the focus of the movie. It's like making a WW2 Movie and having a single jew in there and people being mad because they didn't specify if that Jewish person was a Holocaust survivor or not. The movie isn't about the Holocaust it's about WW2, sure the Holocaust played a role in it but it's not the main focus of the movie. I don't see how this movie even glorifies slavery either. Is it because all the black people are happy with their lives? Do you assume that all ex-slaves all have to be suddenly all depressed because they were recently freed? Of course not, if you were freed you'd be happy because it means you have the opportunity to do whatever you want in life. I don't get why people can't just be happy. Is it expected for them all to be outraged because of things they had to go through in the past? No, it clearly shows that they all moved on and they are enjoying their life from their recently granted freedom (assuming they were slaves they could easily just be workers who so happened to be black)
I don't personally mind them retheming splash mountain as long as the track stays the same. It will be a bit sad not hearing zippty doo da but The Princess and The Frog has some better songs and hopefully the ending song will be the song "I'm almost there." I have heard some ppl talk abt not knowing if the new theme for the ride would fit the theme in the general area and that there could be a better location in the park for a Princess and The Frog theme ride. I do fully understand why Disney would want to distant themselves more from the movie the ride is based on bc of how racist it is. Edit: I didn't realize that the song Zipity doo da was based off of racist performances until this video. That is quite problematic there
My think has always been that what makes Splash Mountain Splash Mountain isn’t the animatronics inside or the tie to a movie most riders have never seen, but the drops and the water. When most people think of the ride, they think of the big drop with the photo at the end. The essence of the ride and what makes it famous is going to remain, but with a more positive (and profitable) IP.
THIS, I literally remember nothing about this ride aside from big drop and funny picture, at least princess and the frog is a movie from this century that people actually remember, I'm glad they are changing it
exactly! i think most of the people getting upset over the retheme are actually upset at what they perceive to be an attack from the "woke mob". the actual fun parts of the ride aren't going anywhere.
'Song of The South' isn't really racially insensitive. It takes place after the American Civil War, so the African("black") people in it are not slaves, and the movie is about the friendship between a young "white" boy and an old "black" man. It's a positive movie with positive messages. The only reasons that anybody thinks that this movie is racially insensitive are that they haven't done their research and assume that the film takes place before or during the Civil War, and the fact that Disney, thanks to Michael Eisner and Bob Iger, has not given the movie any kind of official release since 1986(other than some VHS and Laserdisc releases in certain countries), which only helps to perpetuate the notion that the movie is racially insensitive. If Disney had released the movie on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray worldwide, there would be very few, if any, people who think that 'Song of The South' is racially insensitive. Is it a great movie? No, but it is a good movie with a positive message of friendship, and it deserves to be defended and seen. For a movie of it's era, 'Song of The South' was actually pretty progressive in portraying multi-racial friendships when you consider that it was released during the segregation era of the American South. Disney needs to release the film on Blu-ray and make it available on Disney Plus, with bonus features included, including a feature-length documentary on the film's creation, release, and legacy. Also, to anyone who thinks that Walt Disney was racist, he wasn't. The "black" actors who were in the film were not allowed to attend the film's world premiere at the Fox Theater in Atlanta,GA, but that wasn't Walt's fault. It was 1946 and segregation in the American South was a thing by that point, as I've already mentioned. Walt hated the fact that the "black" actors weren't allowed to attend the premiere, but, obviously, there was nothing that he could do about it. Walt made it possible for James Baskett(the actor who played Uncle Remus and Brer Fox) to get an Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. #ReleaseSongofTheSouth and #DonotchangeSplashMountain.
Quiero aportar que Floyd Norman (el animador negro que lleva más tiempo trabajando en Disney desde los 50s) ha exigido más de una vez a Disney que dejen de ocultarla. También dijo que en los últimos años ha ido entendiendo mejor a los negros que protestan hacia la película. Según él, no sufrió racismo mientras crecía que su mujer le ha recalcado que le gusta vivir en su burbuja. Da para pensar.
Does anyone know if there is a collection of African American folklore that was written by a African American person rather than being interpreted by a white man? I grew up with Briar Rabbit stories told on equal footing with European fairytales, African and Indigenous trickster stories, Aesop’s fables, Jinn tales, and Norse, Greek, and Egyptian mythology. It seems wrong to let minstrel shows rob an entire culture of their folklore. I’d love to be able to introduce children to these stories in a cultural sensitive way.
@@92JazzQueen I’d still prefer a collection compiled by a member of the culture it comes from. Just like I’d prefer a book of Irish folklore to come from someone who is Irish. It’s just going to be more accurate and authentic when it’s not interpreted though another cultures perspective.
@@mikaylaeager7942 And there has been times where black people have collected it. Both black and white people have had these stories. I do think people have a total disregard for them just because a white person recorded them.
@@mikaylaeager7942 Also at this point in Southern America a lot of white people there share culture with black people more than a lot of people realize.
As a dumb kid that went to the Disney Parks several times back in the 2000s. If you would have told me back then, Splash Mountain would close I would laugh you off. But as an adult that still loves WDW. I think it is for the best we let this attraction go... It's just time, You can have your positive memories of this ride but it is time just to let it go... I trust Disney Imagineering to do the best thing for the parks. Great video, Take care and stay well. :D
It was always going to happen eventually. Effects start to get dated and Disney only has so much space to build. The absolute bare minimum would have been the effects on the whole ride being redone in a significant way while retaining the same basic theme.
thinking about it, would zootopia be a "remade" version of berr rabit and berr fox. In a sense, that the modern day film touches the metaphor of racism and stereotypes.
If I recall correctly, in the scene where Nick and Judy reconcile they’re each dressed similarly to the fox and rabbit SotS characters. Nick has a green shirt throughout the movie, but in that specific scene Judy is in a pink collared shirt and jeans. It’s likely supposed to be a symbolic apology for that movie for those that notice the reference.
That Twitter account concerns me for many reasons, mainly how blatantly bigoted it is. Pronouns in this context have nothing to do with race or the racism in the ride. Whenever the world wants change for the better, people will lump the “liberals” together and claim they’re the ones causing all the issues. If you think splash mountain should stay, not for how enjoyed it was but for what it represented, you’re racist. You might not know it or realize it, you are racist. This is not a debate.
This ride means a lot to so many people. They think that making it Princess and the Frog will fix it, but it won’t. Valerie Stewart, daughter of the voice of Brer Bear has been trying to save her fathers legacy. But videos like these keep trying to bring the movie and the ride down with it. It’s just a shame to see this all happen.
Yep, its not even political for me I grew up loving splash mountain since I was little and im a gay minority who loved it, I really hate how people are thinking this is going to solve racism in disney or that they are doing everybody a favor. I loved splash especially the music, the brer characters especially the laughing place. I hate how she is speaking about this video as if she is doing all of us a favor when in fact she isnt even giving it a fair analysis and is just looking wayy too into it with a heavy bias view
Pls don't censor the minstrel images, it kinda stifles the gravity of it all. The depictions are nothing we haven't seen before & honestly, non-black ppl need to see them. Best to just put a warning beforehand for the few who will get tangible negative reactions. Anyways, great video. The last time I've been to an amusement park was around a decade ago, so my opinion of just rebranding it may be a nonchalant one. But it'd make the most sense business-wise & for those who loved the experience of Splash Mountain way more than its theme. No matter if you think Tiana's film was good representation or not, you gotta agree that a main attraction about her is infinitely better.
This type of thing is always complicated. Many of the songs mentioned are songs I associate with my late grandfather, and while I understand the racist back stories that much of these songs have, my relationship to these songs as a child is still what sticks out most in my mind. The real crime here is the removal of their historical context. To acknowledge the darker parts of our past is important in making sure we don't make similar mistakes in our future.
I agree with this but I don’t think Splash Mountain in its current form is an ‘acknowledgement of the darker parts’ of history; instead it’s exactly as the video described, subtly eradicating the racism anyway. I remember going to Florida when I was seven and riding Splash Mountain 3 times in a row and going back everyday for the rest of my trip. Its the only time I’ve ever made it to a US park (I live in Europe) and it’s my fondest memory of the trip. But I can keep that memory and recognise that it needs to change.
@@MF99K fair- your comment wasn’t clear in that regard and often racists use ‘we need to preserve even the bad parts of history’ as an argument- sorry tho we’re on the same page
@@AlfieBoheme I honestly think the idea of making the ride Princess and The Frog themed is a fantastic idea considering even without the racist side of things, the ride that the animatronics were originally from crushed someone to death and that's kind of creepy to think of those lifeless animatronic eyes watching someone die.
Ima be straight up honest this is bullshit. You can say whatever you want but idc. This ride is one of the best and has a WHOLE theme to the wild critter area or whatever it’s called. This new ride is honestly stupid. I get how the ride is very old. Honestly it’s so sad that they are changing this amazing ride. They covered the window in the train ride, which broke my heart. They are making a big mistake. Maybe it will be a good ride but I doubt.
As a kid, the theming of Splash Mountain never made sense to me anyway, it was just a great ride to me and I just unconsciously ignored the theming. I think it could really benefit from a retheming, but I'm still not sure about reskinning it to The Princess and The Frog? I honestly think TPaTF deserves its own ride that tells its own story, instead of stretching it on top of the structure and story of an old ride! Splash Mountain needs a retheming, but I'm just not sure what would be perfect!
I had a few ideas bouncing about in my head. * Pooh (would Pooh really work on a thrill ride?) * Stitch (could be cool to justify how he managed to visit a coniferous woods) * The Muppets (You can literally make an adaptation of the first movie! How did they not consider this as early as the acquisition?) * Zootopia (do a prequel about a younger Judy solving crimes in her hometown)
Okay but Dixie as a song slaps even as a black person. If black people could have been involved in the tune then what's the problem with listening to it, especially without words? I think if you need to write a three page paper about why a "boring" movie is offensive then the movie is probably not offending anyone at all. Though Disney can change whatever they want because it's their property. It's a bougie theme park anyway, and they'll be happy to bankroll your dollars for their new modern ride too.
I was just watching a few videos earlier about Disney racism and one of the most common phrases from people were "well I wasn’t offended" but I think that kinda comes with the caveat that people who are younger ( 30-13 ) don’t have the same experiences as someone who is older ( 40+ ). You most likely aren’t offended because by the time you were born racism was considerably less common and you were possibly a bit sheltered from the idea of people wanting to mock and kill you for being a person but older people didn’t really have that luxury off just brushing it off because they were still fighting for basic rights and while we’re still doing that now it was a lot more severe in the past. I’ve also seen people saying that "racism is a normal part of life and children should be exposed to it" but that’s also a pretty boneheaded statement because racism shouldn’t be normalized and we definitely shouldn’t feed that idea to children so they grow up to be assholes.
The past generations didn't struggle and fight for their people's right in this county(US) for the next generation to be a bunch of babies about racism that doesn't threaten their lives. We should however be aware of and respect the struggle those people went through. We should be thankful we don't have to go through anything like that anymore. We should learn from the past as a whole and be able to be better.
@@xx_cloud_xx5055 I don't know what "be a bunch of babies about racism that doesn't threaten their lives" means here, but it's... a bit of a sus statement.
The only issue I’d have with the ride is it fitting within frontier land. A Princess and The Frog ride would fit a lot better in New Orleans square or wherever the haunted mansion is located in Magic Kingdom. Splash Mountain should’ve instead been themed to something akin to The Lone Ranger or a completely original Western themed idea. Maybe theme it after the country bear jamboree or just keep it as Splash Mountain while revitalizing the the characters in a new film or series, that way the characters wouldn’t be associated with their racist background and instead become their own characters such as the case with characters such as Speedy Gonzales or Daffy Duck (One Daffy short supposedly portrayed stereotyped black culture through Daffy and the other ducks associated with him). I think this all stems from Disney’s obvious attempts of hiding “Song of the South” which has led to the film getting even more exposure, sadly becoming one of Disney’s most known live action films aside from Mary Poppins and Treasure Island.
The problem with the characters was explained in the video-Joel Chandler Harris was a slavery apologist who DEFINITELY stole and rearranged the stories to fit his pro-slavery apologia. Disney continuing to use the characters like they were the ones who created them would be continuing to rub salt into the wound for the Black people who ACTUALLY originated them. That being said, I would LOVE a Country Bear Jamboree-themed flume ride!
Plus, in addition to the reply already here, the ride's just dying of old age from a mechanical standpoint as well. As in, from what I hear, it rarely has even one ride cycle which doesn't suffer from at least one notable stopdown. A repair at such a deep level is obviously the best time to do a retool, both logistically (it's gonna be closed for a long time anyway, so why not) and for marketing (let's announce something that's worth the wait).
@@spencerpetunia8268 Right?! Or a classic cowboy Western themed ride with Disney animal characters! But anyways I’ve always hoped that some version of Brer Rabbits tale would be retold by famous black influencers and celebrities. The characters have always been retooled by white people, when these characters could be the opportunity for Black People to create an entire animated production. I mean can you imagine assembling a team of black writers, animators, and voice actors to remake the story of Splash Mountain?! I mean that could be a great movie and much better than The Lion King Remake. Instead of revitalizing Song Of The South, they need to separate Splash Mountain and make it it’s own thing, being it to modern audiences in a new way.
I'm okay with the Princess and the Frog retheme, since Song of the South wasn't exactly a frontier theme. But how about basing the ride off of the Pixar short "Boundin'"?
@@kevinbailey8827 Maybe or they could even base the ride off of Woody’s round up. Having Woody, Jesse, and Bullseye give you a tour of the mountain before things go wrong, maybe Stinky Pete could be the villain?
I had so much fun recording backup for this one so thank you again for the chance to participate. :) The video is fantastic as always, I'm constantly asking myself how to make sure that nostalgia is partnered with social education and you put it into words better than I ever have.
I've never been to Disney so idc if they rebrand it ik a lot of people will tho but tiana is my favorite princess and she has been since 2009 so I'd love to see a ride themed after her.
Disney trying to erase racism by changing a ride that the easily offended claim is racist and make themselves out to not be racist is like that old saying "Im not racist I know plenty of black people"
This is just a lot of garbage in a sweet voice. This film and the story are misrepresented and the destroying or shaming of this story takes away powerful performances and lessons to be cherished. Oh, and the theme song was awarded an Acadamy Award for James Basket the first black man to be awarded such an award. Going back and re-writing history has been popular, but this film provides an important perspective. NOT slavery or bigotry, but the mercy, wisdom, and love that the black characters show in the film, true loving values. But of course if the loud have their way their judgment will replace your judgment as you can't see the film and judge for yourself. These people are practicing censorship which takes away everyone's right to free speech or being able to judge for themselves. All this "NICE" talk to justify censorship is just sick!
Still hate this video. You made a video praising the LGBTQ community for reclaiming the Orange Bird, which you are a part of said community, and separate them from the source material. Then turn around and tell my community we can't reclaim our stories, and separate them from the source material. But yeah now because of the whole retheme Tiana ended up getting a crappy attraction that was overly lazy that keeps breaking down, so good for you guys. Now both Br'er Rabbit and Tiana ended up getting disrespected.
This is an incredible stretch that takes a half hour and mental gymnastics in order to assert that a log flume with great music and a rabbit beating a fox is somehow racist.
im glad princess and the frog is getting acknowledged at all despite its own problematic elements, but its problematic elements are not as deeply unsettling as song of the south. patf a good movie and a good time, at least it always has been to me. i have no emotional attachments to nearly any disney ride anyway since ive only been once to disney world, the only ride id go as far to say ive got an attachment to is the haunted mansion one, because i felt very alone and out of place when i was at disney since i wasnt with anyone i knew very well, i was with some classmates because it was a school program and i was lucky to go, but i wasnt with friends or family. the ride was a comforting and familiar sight because theres a gmod map of it and a channel i liked on youtube had a video playing around in it. i hope theres no problematic elements on that one lol
No matter what, that one is here to stay. The great thing about classic rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion with little to no ip attached to it means it can be added to or tweaked without losing the original or what makes it special in the first place. Haunted Mansion as far as I know doesn’t have any problematic elements, but effects have come and gone and been updated as technology gets more advanced. If there is anything problematic, a removal likely would not be noticeable. There was that MASSIVE controversy about the removal of the bride auction in Pirates, which I never truly understood because the ride is still there, the core elements of pirates causing mayhem was still there, and it even came with more advanced animatronics.
@@NeonTailzzz sorry to inform you but there’s been hot debate over whether Disney will or should remove the always my way out scene from HM due to it essentially being a suicide reference
I’m not sure why people think Song of the South is racist. The film is set during the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War (just like the original Uncle Remus tales). Disney for some reason didn’t make that clear. So Uncle Remus and the black characters are free and are not slaves. They are sharecroppers yes, but they can leave the Planation when they please. The animation is well done and the songs too. James Basket is Uncle Remus. It’s very unfortunate and maddening that he was banned from the film’s premiere due to Atlanta’s segregation laws at the time.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain Agree. If Disney released the movie, then the misunderstandings and rumors will be cleared up easily. James Basket was great as Bere Fox and even voiced Bere Rabbit in Everybody has a Laughing Place. And it was great to have Hattie McDaniel in the movie. Nick Stewart’s Bere Bear was hilarious too. Splash Mountain should have stayed as it was while Tiana's Bayou Adventure should have been built somewhere else in the park or the resort.
I just hope they do not erase splash mountain from the Disney history and own up to it unlike how they just erased song of the south like it never existed.
I have mixed feelings about the ride and context surrounding it as an animator, history buff, and ADOS (American Descendant of Slavery). On a surface level, I don't care about the ride either way, because I've never been there, and the ride is not a part of my personal nostalgia. On another level, the historical preservationist in me likes to preserve old things in some form or another, maybe even especially if those things are problematic. Even though I've never been on the ride, I am familiar with the film and the stories it's based on, and... I don't think necessarily things should be erased because they may be uncomfortable, but neither do they need to be glorified. Times change. Personally, I always liked the stories (my Mom used to read them to me and my siblings, and have us cracking up because she did the voices) and felt the film should be made available in the US with a disclaimer, but Disney has always been the sort of company to sanitize, because of the importance of the brand, and that's nothing new. No matter what the trolls say, Disney still isn't "woke" (a term that itself was appropriated from "Black Twitter" now ripped away from it's original meaning), Disney has always been limited by the requirement that it be "safe." The "black" part of me rolls her eyes at this latter in a long string of hollow symbolic gestures by white-run organizations. Rarely do substantive issues that black people actually care about get substantive action. I don't think black folks actually cared about Splash Mountain, and it's not as if The Princess and the Frog film doesn't have it's own set of problems! Still, I also roll my eyes at the people losing their minds over the re-theming. What many of them seem to be angry about has little to do with the ride itself, and more about how much they personally identify with the current White Conservative backlash against diversity in media and the country's real-life changing demographics. 🤷🏿♀️. That's when the US slavery apologists inevitably come out of the woodwork. SOTS takes place during Reconstruction, but fundamentally, nothing had changed during that time, and had in fact worsened. **OK, I'm sorry, but I'm going to go on a rant about Reconstruction. 😆** In my opinion, the "Reconstruction" era and the 100 years after the American Civil War were in *some* ways, worse than the Antebellum era, because the US government FAILED to COMPLETE the victory it had just won with all the bloodshed and expense of the war! 1. The plantation owner's property should have been immediately seized and divided among the formerly enslaved. 2. The Union military should have occupied the rebel territory for MUCH longer, and supervised all the subsequent southern elections. 3. Black Union soldiers should have received their promised "40 acres of land and a mule " in exchange for their service by the US government. 4. The leadership of the rebellion should have all been tried for treason and executed, if for no other reason than to make an example of them. In failing to recognize and neutralize the threat that the rebels still posed, the president was assassinated, and everything got a whole lot worse for black residents of the South. Entire black towns were destroyed by white mobs. The lives and property of the newly freed and their descendants were not protected. It is during that time that White Nationalist paramilitary organisations like the KKK were permitted to form and grow like a cancer, and the image of the Antebellum South was meanwhile being rehabilitated in the media and with the erection of statues and memorials valorizing Confederate generals. So, That's basically how we get January 6th. 😆 😆
Well said, but because you're not a white woman in middle America, you won't be taken seriously. The white woman is the loudest in the USA right now, and they love to speak for other races and religions. I'm with you 100% - Princess and the Frog is a whole new set of issues. Also, the erasure of Song of the South is also the erasure of James Baskett. I would love to ask him how he feels about it in the current day.
Let's not forget how many of the Jim Crow constitutions are still in force in the traitorous 11. Even though, very obviously, Article One Section Two of the current Texas constitution was written as a failsafe to ensure that even if they finally lost their stranglehold on state politics, white supremacists could point to a "legal" reason to overthrow a government in opposition to them, it can and should be used to call for an immediate constitutional convention for the state to replace this document that establishes a republic only in name, and instead operates solely on the whims of the men elected to the Governor and Lt. Governor's offices.
I'm sorry. But I do not think you're accurate in how you see things. You are, of course, entitled to your own feelings. But not your own facts. Among the things you do not seem to be aware is the Brer Rabbit is a tradition that was handed down from certain peoples of African and came to be changed over the years by Southern Black Americans on the plantations but was a genuine part of that particular subculture; that the actor and role of Uncle Remus in the Disney movie was a marked positive change from the belittling roles given to black Americans previously in American film; and that the confusion of the original writer Harris may well have gotten the ideas for these tales from a plantation that he stayed at for a time in Georgia but was also apparently derivative of tales written down by Robert Roosevelt (an uncle of Teddy Roosevelt) based on Georgian tales about Brer Rabbit which was a figure derivative of a trickster rabbit in Senegalese culture. You should spend more time researching these things instead of pretending that anything hateful spewed out must be true. What's next? Are you going to be hateful of the Illian and the Oddessy when you stumble across the fact that Homer is believed to have been a slave when these tales were initially turned into oral tradition? The actual history of these African-derived tales should be something that brings strength to the Black American tradition instead of being ridiculed and despised by people who have decided that a white person cannot be of any use in spreading these traditional tales? Thanks though. You have given me some inspiration to write a book about these tales and their misuse by the Woke to cause further division in America instead of for the purposes of unity and toss aside cultural context to spread hate instead of understanding. Further edited to help you understand yourself, and your hatred and provide you academic reference. Please see Arnold, Albert (1996). Monsters, Tricksters, and Sacred Cows: Animal Tales and American Identities. University of Virginia Press.
@@redzrobinz3135 I don't ike specious arguments based on opinion and the love of destroying traditional values just because it sounds intelligent to some. When I see something like this put up with an air of feigned superiority, I feel a need to educate, take down the pretense a few notches, and hope the lesson is well learned so that the posting person will have food to thought before posting again.
@@Scooopity seriously though this channel is so toxic, complaining about absolutely every aspect of Disney. Like if you hate it that much why are you a fan?
Something that always gets me about these arguments is that they're rooted in selfishness "MY favorite ride," "I will miss this," "This makes ME sad." Like, cool neat, but what about the massive communities that are actually hurt by these stereotypes? It's all just ignorance and selfishness. Your emotions and nostalgia aren't more important than others' lives and safety. Another wonderful video, thank you so much for diving deeper than what most others have been doing.
I am black and I'm not hurt by these stereotypes. Seriously, there are lot in the black community who thinks this doesn't do shit. So stop saying this hurts us when it really does nothing but look like brownie pointing.
Lmao imagine writing “others lives and safety” as if the name and theme of an amusement park ride is threatening those. Like how much of a massive twat can you be?
I only want to stick it around because of historical reasons, though with about a million videos on CZcams at this point I'm not to worry about history being erased.
Splash Mountain and Song of the South are not racist. The attraction and film are based on the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, which were popular in the late 19th century. These stories were a representation of African American folktales and oral tradition, and were not intended to be racist. The attraction and film are a tribute to these stories and the culture they come from. African American characters in the attraction and film are not intended to be racist, but rather a reflection of the time period in which the stories were set. The post-Civil War South was a complex and difficult time for African Americans, and the portrayal of characters such as Uncle Remus in the attraction and film should be understood in the context of that time period. Additionally, it could be argued that the attraction and film have been enjoyed by millions of people of all races and backgrounds, and that the intention of the creators of the attraction and film was not to perpetuate racist stereotypes. The characters and stories in the attraction and film have been celebrated for their warmth, humor, and positive messages.
Wonderful video as always! I can't even begin to describe how excited I am whenever you upload. It's relieving to see someone call out the way Disney community circles perpetuate racism, and your description of the full history behind it made me aware of stuff I didn't even know.
Oh my god the song at the end was the icing on the cake of an already incredible video. Really well thought out and researched! Think I might have to subscribe.
The timing of this video coming on my recommend is pretty funny. Recently my friend and I went to Disneyland and we went on Splash mountain as a “final farewell” to the ride. We talked about how many memories we had on the ride but how we were okay with Disney changing it up.
If Song of the South is so racist why was James Baskett (the black guy who played Uncle Remus in it if you didn’t know) the first ever black male performer to receive an Oscar for his performance in it?
So if you like Disney your racist. Most of Disney’s projects where racist so if you like him you support his ways of including racism in films.🤷🏽♀️ What’s more racist: removing a racist ride or replacing it with the ONLY black princes. Why haven’t they made a Tina ride before?
You getting death threats on such a well researched and thought out video is absolutely terrible. I have subscribed and wish you much success in your future content creation!
A. I see no death threats B. "Well researched"? This lady makes many, MANY errors in this video, and makes really stupid claims like the Zip Corn thing
So… depicting history is racist ? Was Remus a slave? Nope. You make a remark that “he was willingly subservient”. this is also known as being a loyal friend . You really go out of your way to label this movie and attraction as racist. Instead of making a long confusing case for why it’s racist, you should have first looked up the factual definition of racism. I can agree that there’s some historical continent that people could be sensitive to, but that’s it.
Well, truth be told, yes, Remus was a slave at one point. As a freed man he was working on the plantation as an employee. (I doubt there was a “friend loyalty” aspect in play.) Could a postbellum freed man find joy and happiness? SURE! It’s very possible a freed man could have a good relationship with land owners. And NO… The movie wasn’t meant to be a documentary of post Civil War South.
Most of the ride are recycled animatronic characters from the America show. And the story does not even follow the movie at all. I heard that the new ride will feature hardly any electronics and that will suck. They will have just mostly screens. The songs were fine and fun to listen to.
What's your favorite Disney ride?🏰🎢🎠
Also, you can download "Don't Save Splash Mountain" here: dreamsoundsvideo.bandcamp.com/
All proceeds from the song will be donated to the Black Visions Collective!
I like Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean, but I dislike the changes they made to it. I get rather annoyed when they try to include feminism in a ride about pirates. I'd rather get something more realistic (as much as possible with Disney), personally.
@@sampeacaml9307 I actually am glad about the changes made to Pirates. I think it was Lindsay Ellis who pointed out (in an old video of hers) that the changes to Pirates came after the movie franchise and Disney's marketing to inspire children to *be* pirates. Much harder to say that it's all in good fun and they're not supposed to be good people (which was the original intention of the ride) when you have a gift shop filled with pirate merch encouraging kids to be just like the pirates. It makes sense to me that they changed the message of the ride a bit after that, since it really changed the dynamic of the ride.
@@DreamsoundsVideo I kinda see. Still, I am kinda sick of having changes on rides all the time.
Haunted Mansion all the way. I wish Disney went darker and gothic more often. Every second of that ride is so rich in atmosphere and storytelling. I honestly think it’s one of the greatest works of art of the 20th century right there with Ulysses and Citizen Kane.
@@sampeacaml9307 the more realistic version is a sexy bombshell posing for a gaggle of pirates clawing to put her in a forced marriage? Like dude what do u even mean. HISTORICALLY it’s more realistic to make a redheaded pirate-there were multiple women with red hair doing piracy in the golden age like lmao sounds like reality is ‘too woke’ for you & you miss the theme park fantasy that women aren’t people but characters you can cartoonishly awoooga at lol
I don’t mind them changing the theme of the ride at all. The only thing I don’t like is that I prefer the name “Splash Mountain” over “Tiana's Bayou Adventure”. “Splash Mountain” rolls off the tongue better and is consistent with the other two mountain rides in Magic Kingdom: “Space Mountain” and “Big Thunder Mountain”.
Tiana's Splash Mountain? Maybe that will become its informal name
Bayou Mountain?
Agree! Also, i guess you could argue Disney is going away from mountain and more towards adventure...... So we'll have Pirate Adventure, Jungle Adventure, Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Adventure, Haunted Adventure, Most Painful Song Stuck In Your Head Adventure, Frozen/Alpine Adventure, Submarine Adventure, Space Adventure, Auto Adventure, and of course: Disney's Train Adventure Around the Park..... yup, I can see it now, no complaints on those naming conventions, completely original, completely Disney!
Joke's aside, I'm glad it's getting rethemed, but the name is a bit bland for sure!
personally i still call it tower of terror, because it is a tower that causes terror and Guardians Of The Galaxy: Mission Breakout or even just Mission Breakout is... yeah. I feel like the big mountain you drop down to make a splash will still be referred to as splash mountain by most people.
Tiana’s Bayou Boat-ride???
I’m a school bus driver and this summer I drove a summer school route. I like to play Disney park instrumental background music on my bus and one day a little black girl, in perhaps 4th grade or so, asked me “Is this Mickey Mouse music?” I told her it was, specifically from Splash Mountain.
Then I asked her if she had seen The Princess and the Frog and after she said yes, I told her Disney is planning to retheme it to that movie. She literally gasped and brought her hands to her face in excitement. That was all I needed to know Disney is making the right choice here. I hope that girl gets to gasp with delight when she sees Princess Tiana on the new Splash Mountain!
One fucking opinion you dolt.
That is such an awesome story. There are (and have been) so many other attractions... But one where Black people, especially black women/girls can see *themselves* as the protagonist? Nothing truly stands out in my mind. Now one that's a *centerpiece* in the park? I hope that girl you met is given ribbon cutting passes/tickets.
By proxy I hope the re-theme will get the film the audience recognition it deserved but more importantly - non POC individuals perspective when seeing the real experiences of those who *finally* feel represented.
Not to mention too how beautiful PatF really is and was, one of the last true 2D films by Disney and it shows through so well. Tiana was a character I adored as a kid, she was right up there with Mulan when it came to princesses because she was different; She was dedicated and independent and incredibly witty with strong relationships with her family and her best friend.
She reminded me of my mom as a little boy, I feel like that’s really important. she made me think completely differently about princesses and what they could actually be.
I really really hope they turn the ride into a PatF themed ride, I genuinely might actually pay to go to the park to experience it myself in person due to excitement lol
@@meat3958 The decision has already been made (which is why I don't understand the people who are being rude and kicking up a fuss at Marlene and other commenters about "Save Splash Mountain" - her making a video about it is not going to affect Disney's decision *at all* so that behavior is not only rude but completely misdirected).
I really appreciate hearing your personal experience and relationship with the film as well as how they connect. (It makes me feel like I'm hearing the story of that little girl on the bus 10 years down the line), it's sweet and it touches me.
You also pointed out something that no one else has addressed which is this was the ending of Disney animated major motion pictures. The last time that I watched the film I didn't realize how much I missed that artistry.
And honestly why can't we have both? Yes I know that CG is cheaper however studio Ghibli is going very strong. So that also negates the argument that audiences prefer this "more modern" approach.
Just thinking of that makes me nostalgic and how fantastic we could make a film with so many aspiring artists devoted to the craft.
I'm only sad it took 14 years for Princess and the Frog to get a ride in the first place.
James Baskett was a legend. This guy was the first black male actor to won an accademy award, even though it was an honorary one. He won it TEN years before Poitier ! I found it quite amazing ❤ this guy, and, of course Hatty Mcdaniel, paved the way for black actors in the cinema industry !
When you come to think about it, uncle remus, a free man, told stories which were inspired by Fables tellers like Aesope or Jean de la Fontaine. He was a philosophical old man, and the little boy trusted him more than his own parent ! Talking about education lol
We must protect SOTS and show it with a disclaimer about the context and why our view on the subject have changed. But it's not by hidding the legacy of Mcdaniel and Baskett that we will learn the REAL history of the Africans American
As someone who comes from a Disney family and has to listen to many members of my family complain about Disney being too political and PC nowadays in changing the ride (which they maintain isn’t racist at all), I really liked this video.
Here’s hoping Tiana’s Bayou Adventure isn’t just 11 minutes of screens which loosely retell the plot of Princess and the Frog and actually has a lot of heart put into it. It sucks that Disney’s cultural progress comes at a time of artistic decline.
Because they are overcompensating.
Honestly it could just have swirling light effects and the ode to "Evangeline" and I would find it more impressive than what I saw when I experienced Splash.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain i'm fine with corporate virtue signaling. they don't have to mean it in order for it to have the objectively positive effects of making people more comfortable and welcome in the park, and to stop teaching kids harmful notions and stereotypes. it's also a good and welcome sign of the times if it's profitable to be more kind, that indicates that people are becoming kinder and less tolerant of weird racist bullshit.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain 60 animatronics and half of them are static and slackjawed lmao. splash is so busted.
@@greygoose8803 what's hilarious is this person combing through all the comments to @ me in a (failed) attempt to troll both myself and this video without realizing that they're pumping up the engagement. 😃
That's wild, I had no idea that "Oh Susanna" and "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" were minstrel songs. In hindsight, "Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me" definitely has... literal statements of slavery, but I always thought it was about like... having a significant other? I learned those two in elementary school in Canada in the early 2000s.
I didn’t know that about Oh Susanna, I always assumed it was about a guy who was a cowboy (like the song “Oh My Darling Clementine”), but this is pretty eye-opening
I literally only knew that shoo fly line. My parents saying it to me when I was in like preschool to help me get over my fear of flies delete character like literal flies. And it actually worked, too. Kind of sad to find out it has such awful origins.
As a kid I just felt something odd in “shoo fly don’t bother me” some how (and there’s a version in the backyardigans as well with the song)
We also sang "Oh! Susanna" in school, but I doubt that my teachers knew anything about its origins
My mostly white school had us sing the song “Pick a Bale of Cotton” and even at the time, I felt pretty uncomfortable about it. The way most American schools will shamelessly insert songs and other media with racist origins or links to slavery is repulsive to put it lightly
I’m in total shock that so many songs that I grew up listening to as just “country songs” were in fact minstrel songs written with hateful intentions. I had a Disney VHS called “Campout at Walt Disney World” and I’m just realizing that several songs featured in it were minstrel songs. Despite having nostalgia for these songs from listening to them out of context for so long, I think it’s best if I don’t feature instrumental versions of any of them in any future creative projects of mine. Outstanding video by the way.
All of those songs seemed pretty innocent back then. Boy was I wrong!
Ugh, my family also had a copy of the "Campout at Walt Disney World" VHS (in fact, I think we still have it!) that we played all the time without knowing that the "traditional songs" being sung were in fact minstrel songs. I'm just saddened that my my siblings and I plus so many people were fed oppression and racism as "childhood".
I recognized a lot of those songs too. The origins are what they are. It's still just a song.
I wonder if they debuted as minstrel songs, or did they just become very much associated with minstrels.
@@caucasoidape8838 It seems to vary. Turkey In The Straw looks like it wasn’t written as one, but O Susanna and Camptown Races definitely were.
I think that getting rid of/hiding all evidence of Disney’s and America’s racist past is wrong, because to me I think that makes it look like it didn’t happen. Minstrel songs are a huge part of American musical history, and it’s important to acknowledge that those bands and music were based on racism and exploitation of black culture. I definitely don’t think everyone who sings Dixie or Camptown Races is racist, but there should absolutely be context around those songs; it’s a much more valuable learning opportunity to know the history around them than pretend the songs don’t exist. But that history should make people uncomfortable, and “ruining” a song or movie or ride with the historical context is ‘worth it’ (not that that should even be a consideration when acknowledging America’s racist past) because we need to talk about and educate people on this stuff.
This. All of this.
Burying anything related to a company's past mistakes only makes it easier for that company to get away with more in the future. Disney should always be held accountable for what they've done and still do as a company, and no problematic company should ever be given the privilege of being viewed with rose-tinted glasses.
It also makes it easier for people to forget why we moved on in the first place. If you're going to sing a 'safe' version of those songs, do it when nobody needs to know the social context behind the original ( _See: nowhere close to the present day, pg 46_ ).
Make no mistake - I'm Southern, and I approve of the design change - but telling a person from a different culture to burn every part of their history solely because it's problematic is _really screwed up_ and only encourages hostility and bigotry on both sides. That's something that we can't risk happening to good people. It's much better to 'ruin' a song than to make it flare up in the minds of the people.
But the overwhelming majority do not go to Disney to learn; they go to escape. Case in point, the total refocus of EPCOT. What you are describing is a museum exhibit.
Coming to think of it, that's pretty much exactly what I want all this to be.
Also screw Disney, in case that wasn't clear the first time
💜💜
But that's what's so galling, they aren't doing that very effectively. One of the most racist series that Disney ever produced, Davy Crockett, is still there and isn't being hidden at all. Song of the South was a massive step in the right direction when it came to race relations as the black characters were pretty much uniformly smarter and more likable than the white characters. That doesn't mean that they should get a pass to make it again now, but the folks complaining about the movie mostly haven't seen it since it hasn't been screened in the US in decades and I don't think it's even been available for purchase since the '80s.
Zero racism in the ride. Ridiculous
To all the people who keep saying Africans did slavery, everyone did slavery. The Turks, Egyptians, Romans, any culture that had rich people who wanted to work, but was either too lazy to do it, or just didn’t want to have to pay no one. They just picked a group of people no one cared about like criminals, or soldiers from other lands.
True ,true
The interesting thing though is that most examples of slavery in history did not enslave based on race. Thats what makes the atlantic slave trade so horrific, apart from how recent it is .
@@josjos-x5swasn’t personal, it’s because they were the cheapest and most easy to access. Plenty of civilizations have enslaved based on ethnicity, we will not apologize for our ancestors or be made to feel guilty. No más!
@@Hispania_45 You are cringey af shut the fuck up. No most countries didnt enslave based on ethnicity, it was based on what ever war they won.
Further african enslavement is one of the biggest and most recent slave trades in history and is very connected to the western civilization (it is a part of our history if you like it or not). And the effects still last today because of racism, the thing that made the enslavement of africans "personal". A shoddy justification made to sweep under the rug any morality that'd come to question.
And thats why its still so relevant today.
Doesnt take a high IQ to understand that.
Guess what places still have slavery today.
Im sure it will shock you 😅
honestly, changing the theme of splash mountain isn't going to kill anyone, but disney shouldn't be acting like they're doing every one a huge favor by doing something that should of been changed naturally over time. Now as for song of the south it should be on disney+ with a disclaimer explaining the why it's problematic, mainly because these kinds of things need to be talked about and made available for others to see, cause no one is going to believe how racist it is when they just get little clips of singing cartoon animals and not the whole film
And also so that Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear don't end up in Wasteland.
It should have been re-themed 14 years ago when Princess and the Frog came out, They waited too long and they have no right to toot their own horns.
In fact, if they did re theme the ride in 2008 there wouldn't have been nearly as much of an uproar because It would have been done before everyone became radicalised by algorithms and the only people who would have cared would have been the actual racists and not just the otherwise decent rational people who have been fed a far right narrative by social media over the years.
I think its just better to show these things in an educative setting rather than just openly out there with only a disclaimer on a streaming service.
@@kevinlee7678 The movie is super weird in that the animated parts are pretty solid (I've seen black critics argue both that the accents are offensive or that they're accurate for the time, so I don't really have a solid opinion on that. I'm at least relieved that the animated characters are voiced by Black actors) and I would actually be interested in seeing more Br'er Rabbit stuff (preferably from Black American creators), but Song of the South as a whole is a movie that would totally deserve to be forgotten if not for Disney trying to ignore it's racist past because besides being offensive, it's just really boring.
@@josjos-x5s Nah, more available to other people this way. More people can review and discuss it if anyone with a disney+ account or can use someone's account can watch it than some tiny few in a class room
"Pronoun Mountain" sounds like a great band name.
Or a drag name!
Or a sequel/spin-off to the classic Ledger Gyllenhaal film (do not reboot this Hollywood 😑)
@@JennWanderer GNC drag artist who switches performing as king and queen between shows? 😁
I'll play bass. Who want's to join? /j
@@AriOrSomething so what you're saying is you'll be the Ace of Bass?
(⊙﹏⊙)>⌐■-■ (⌐■-■)
All of y’all are just insanely sensitive, I’m completely against racism and everything like the sort but there really isn’t much wrong with splash mountain AT ALL they changed the “problematic” stuff so splash mountain wouldn’t be offensive, it’s really just a bunch of animals having a good time (I’m mainly talking about the Disneyland version) and the movie itself was made in a COMPLETELY different era honestly I’d say that dumbo is even more racist than song of the south me and my whole family have seen it “the save splash mountain is sinister and is trying to bring the world back to a bad time in America” now that’s just a stretch and a HUGE one at that, the save splash mountain movement is about nostalgia, saving such a huge part in history. Song of south had one of the first black men to get an Oscar and first black person to get an award for voice acting, and the only one at that. Splash mountain embraces change and so does song of the south, you guys are a next level sensitive and before you call me a tiana hater or a racist I’m neither, but wouldn’t it make more sense for her to have her own restaurant? At the end of the day I will never stop loving splash mountain and song of the south and will continue to fight for the characters to get more recognition themselves, I sometime hope to work for Disney and my dream is to be the CEO and I would like you all to know this is coming from a bisexual women not a straight white man! But again I and many others will not stop trying to get this movie, ride, and characters the support and love they deserve. Have a zip-a-de-doo-dah day!
You sound like asshole prick
My main concern with the retheming is that they seem to be setting Tiana up for failure again. If Tiana's ride isnt 100% perfect right of the bat, its going to be highly scrutinized.
Disney removes a "Racist" ride, and now Tianas is based on Salt Mines that is connected with Slavery 😬 also this retheme is just not comparable to the OG. The "new" splash mountain is boring, is connected with actual slavery, the ride is having issues (some say its a curse lol), the animatronics are already showing issues, and going back to story, it doesn't make sense. Also, no Voodoo allowed cause apparently it was going to offend people, even though Voodoo is part of New Orleans culture. Disney made a big L.
I was recently at Disneyworld, a little over a month ago now. Splash Mountain was notable, but not in the ways that people might be thinking. This whole retheme was going to happen either way, for one simple reason: The ride is breaking down, people.
We were stuck on it for 2 minutes, watching Brer Frog go through his entire routine a few times over. And this was a "good" run-through, compared to other 10-minute stops that happen on an almost daily basis, and it's been like this for a while. Even Space Mountain in various parks tends to get rethemed due to how old the rides are. Does the race issue play a factor? I would say likely, but it's definitely not the main driving force. I'm actually a little shocked that they're going for a 2024 release. They're honestly probably better off rebuilding the whole mountain ground-up, which would give a later release date, but probably lengthens the lifespan of the ride. We'll see. But, it's clear that Splash Mountain was on its way out no matter how you roll the dice.
I had absolutely no idea it was that bad. Before I read your comment I was most impressed with the fact that the same animatronics are still there even though they're nearly 50 years old (America Sings opened in 1974).
They're retheming it. They're not building an entirely new ride.
Well a retheme doesn’t fix issues with the ride system or track lol. That’s why frozen breaks down all the time at Epcot. So don’t get your hopes up that they’ll fix anything causing breakdowns
This is a very good point. We got stuck on it as well. Multiple times. And with each time you get stuck, you notice things. I noticed multiple light bulbs that were out. Animatronics that were moving very stiffly or not moving at all. Moss was growing on the ceiling. Another part of the ceiling, there was a definite leak with sediment piling up so that means the leak had been there a while. The tracks definitely had rust on a majority of the ride. Paint chipping off everywhere. Better they just start from scratch.
Thanks for bringing that up! I stated that so many times. As someone that goes to Disney almost too often, I do like the ride but Splash Mountain leaving isn’t the end of the world.
I personally don’t think we should tell people what to be offended by.
I showed several clips of Song of the South to my nephew who is black once and when I told him that it’s racist he was completely shocked and speechless. He couldn’t believe it and doesn’t see how it’s racist.
Plus in the movie, Johnny looks up to Uncle Remus like a father figure. Having a white kid look up to a black person in a movie released when segregation was still a huge deal is rarely even discussed about. It always gets overshadowed by how “racist” the movie is.
I’m in no way defending the movie or ride whatsoever but I do want to comment on them staying on the plantation they were formerly enslaved on in the movie, when slavery ended white plantation owners would ‘hire’ black people to more or less continue being slaves. It was hard for them to get jobs and find homes back then as slavery had just ended and the south was still HEAVILY racist, so if they were offered food and a roof over their head or even just a little bit of money they’d take it cause they’d have no other choice at that point. There were two specific terms for these I learned, Sharecropping and Tenant Farming I believe? That would explain why they were still essentially slaves in the movie.
Sharecropping is when workers (former slaves ) rented tools and land from plantation owners to harvest their own crops. The issue was that wages were so low and rent was so high causing them to always be in debt to the plantation owners. The black people who challenged this system face threats, violence, and murder.
NOPE DOI RESEARCH
Another classic case of making a problem where none exists.
Amen!
I admire your ability to research, compile, and create this. Not to mention present it in such a fabulous way. In the short time span that I spent finding an explanation for the existence of a U.S copy of the VHS (as you may have seen) I came across *so many* disturbing sites.
I have always enjoyed your content, but I have a newfound respect for what you do on a *much* deeper level than I was capable of before.
I've said similar things, but now with a broader understanding I say it again; thank you for everything you do for us Marlene.
I sincerely hope you are able to be returned equally in kind. 💞🏳️🌈🎶
You guys are idiots
“Preserving history” by holding on to a romanticized fantasy version of it doesn’t really track. I think these changes are geared towards kids, and that’s who should be the main focus. I do hope they build animatronics and physical props for the Princess and the Frog characters and don’t just use screens though!
We already changed the tar baby scene for the ride so saying it's still problematic is just now reaching for straws.
Why doesnt preserving a view of history qualify as preserving history?
I disagree. Preserving history to me should be a two-way street. It means both keeping the original truth alive as well as acknowledging different interpretations of history.
Also, not having the original movie be officially released actually does harm preserving history. 1) Even if the movie has problematic elements in it, the movie showcases a friendship between a white person and a black person during a time when segregation was the norm, which in and of itself is a great message to have, and 2) James Baskett was the first male black actor to win an Academy Award for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. Not releasing this movie officially does great harm to the original actor as his achievements may be forgotten, and I don't think that's fair at all.
@@octupusman1000 I dont really care. Song of The South is a pro-Southern Pro-Culture film and should be preserved because it was created at a time before the calcification of American culture.
It's all a fantasy.
On a marketing standpoint, there is no point in maintaining the Song of the South theme for Splash Mountain.
The film has been pulled out of view, and more and more people are unaware of the movie’s presence. I don’t think there are any official products for the franchise besides being a picture of the ride.
Meanwhile Princess and the Frog is pretty well known and marketable. There are dolls and toys of the characters from that film.
There is really nothing major about giving Splash Mountain a Frog Princess facelift. It’s the same exact ridd, but with a new coat of paint and still fitting the Americana theme (since Princess in the Frog takes place in New Orleans which fits that overal region of Disneyworld particularly).
Not to mention the creators will be able to use princess and the frog storyline to create a more diverse setting and narrative on the ride-since they couldn’t really do that for SotS.
Can you imagine? I’d love then to use “Friends on the Other Side” before the big plunge.
You people are shallow bootlegging shit
Honestly I kinda agree with you.
That's why I was so confused when people got upset. I mean, I figured even conservatives would be cool with a better marketing strategy. Disney is trying to bring in NEW, YOUNG fans - children they can milk for years to come. They already got almost all they will out of the adults.
Idk I was just surprised by the backlash because of that
@@thegloriousdipshit4274 because we're comparing Song of The South to a movie with a *black female protagonist* - unfortunately, when you boil it down THAT'S their problem (consciously or not). These are the "blue lives matter" folks.
That does make sense, but I am sad to lose a part of the Disneyland I grew up with. 😢
The crazy thing about the ‘changing Disney history’ line is the Splash Mountain is based on a film that most have never seen, was only opened in the late 80s (basically 90s) and is named after the film Splash cos Eisner wanted a crash grab. It’s insane to me that people feel it’s an integral part of Disney history, let alone history in general.
I was pretty surprised when I watched it again last year. It wasn't that big of a deal. In some respects it was even subversive with the black characters regularly getting one over on the white characters and the black characters being the ones that are actually likable. It's unfortunate that since people have mostly been unable to watch the film in recent decades that's grown into this bogeyman that's not really fair.
What was a big deal was Davy Crockett. If we're going to take Disney to task for films with a bunch of -isms and no redemptive value, that's probably the one to start with. A narcissistic liar, white savior, and generally insufferable POS. I remember loving it when I was a kid, but he's just so unlikable. He knows more than everybody else, and he uses language that even in the '80s was inappropriate. Sure, it was a depiction of a character from the earlyish 19th century, but he was pretty horrible.
I think people who grew up going to the parks are saying it’s changing the history as splash was one of the most poplar rides
disney isnt history, its just a massive cash grab and an ecological disaster, woke disney couldnt care less if a group of 20 year olds with rainbow hair dont like it, they care that it looses them money.
Because you're an idiot.
I think Tiana deserves her own attraction, but I know Disney, they're opportunists, plus they'd have to expand and Disney loves repackaging their rides, rather than making something new based off a movie that's over a decade old.
they just redid nearly all of california adventure. ratatouille got a brand new ride in WDW. but disney land has no space to expand, and PatF is just objectively a really good fit to retheme the ride to. it's normal and a good move to retheme outdated or off-theme rides to breathe new life into them.
@@greygoose8803 PATF is not a good retheme idea.
1: No mountains in Louisiana
2: Princesses and thrill rides don't mix
3: A PATF ride should appeal and be rideable for anyone of all ages and heights.
Pirates of the Caribbean's building would be a better fit for a Tiana ride.
@Ray That ride is centered around te seven dwarfs, not snow white. The Original snow white dark ride that was at the park was for all ages regardless of height.
@@redzrobinz3135 How would a princess and the frog ride not appeal to all ages? If you wanna make the argument “princesses and thrill rides don’t mix” well do you think children folktales and thrill rides mix? That’s just dumb you can make a lot of cool shit based off of princesses such as Mulan, Moana, Raya…
@@greygoose8803 d00d you just made me realize how long ago the trip was; California adventure was still being *constructed* when I went to Disneyland.
---
Also I was completely serious on my reply elsewhere. I really hope that you write - I don't care what genre or what type. Your talent with wordsmithing and imagery is something that should not go unutilized.
It could be a story about someone making a sandwich and I would delve into it *enthusiastically.*
as someone from the deep south, "the heart of dixie" alabama, i need to tell y'all what dixie actually means. it refers to the south itself. more specificially, anything below the mason-dixon line, which was the informal barrier between north and south... and between free and slave states. even if you're not referring to the minstrel song, the word dixie has connotations of slavery as an inherent part of the south. those of us down here who don't try to gloss over our shitty history tend not to use it in a positive context, or at all.
Y'know, I have lived in the south for my entire life (greetings from Tennessee!) and I just now put together that "Dixie" is probably derivative of "Dixon."
Man technically im under the maskn dixon line but it didn’t go ghat far in the civil war
@@moonbunny24 Me too
@@moonbunny24 Dixie actually comes from money. The mint in New Orleans used French spelling at the time. Dix is ten in French and $10 bills were referred to as dixies. The name came to be used to refer to the south in general as it was only bills printed in New Orleans that used the French on it's bills.
@Weyland Punani some of them did...
But yeah, the people fervently defending this ride while using racist slurs and the like is… disturbing.
It really does feel like racists slowly losing one of their “racist sanctuaries” and honestly? Good
Racist sancturaries? You people are dumb and full of shit. Seriously, one of the original voices came back to voice Brer Bear. And despite some of the problems of the movie he wouldn't have come back if it was really about racism.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain reread what they said.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain Did it take you all night to come up with that burn?
@@starbird3939 no? It's just that that sounded really PC and I'm black
I like when they are honest about what they are doing.
The actor who played uncle Remus in song of the south was the first black man to win an academy award, so to cover it up like it never happend is like saying “go fuck yourself” to a dying animal
He was also not allowed to attend the movie's premiere because Disney chose to premiere it in segregated Atlanta. And they have continued to choose not to make him a Disney Legend. Having a ride based on a movie he appeared in isn;t the honor you;re making it out to be.
@@ttintagelhe also died about a year and half to two years after the movie was released (complications of diabetes). Life and the short attention span of the public moved on. But Uncle Remus was the hero of the story, it does take place after the war (Uncle Remus was free to just leave…), and his character demonstrates wisdom, humor, brotherly love, and compassion. The little Black boy who befriended little Johnny was a great role model, too. Two white boys were mean to Johnny and to their own sister. The lady of the house felt great respect for Uncle Remus. For its time, the movie was quietly radical. I’m sorry more people don’t get to see it.
Who’s gives a shit ,it’s just a ride lmao. And you’re tianas new whatever attraction was a total fail 😂.
More racist to eliminate the legacy of an actor who broke boundaries with black actors at the time with this cheap surface-level sense of outrage over a movie about a slave telling tales of a rabbit, a bear and a fox.
This seemed more of a subjective calculation than an analytical perception. There is no doubt that Song of the South had its struggles of up bringing from every party in every direction. However…what should be valued and treasured about this movie…is the beautiful barrier breaking of segregation laws that the casts, of both academy award winning actors (Hattie McDaniel and James Baskett) conducted during its time of filming. They were not casted as people of inferiority nor someone to display as humorous. Uncle Remus was the main hero of the story. A kind and wise old story teller that provided the proper knowledge and wisdom needed, not only for any young child, but adults as well. If you ask me…this is a revolting disgrace to the memories of James Baskett, Hattie McDaniel, Johnny Lee, and Nick Stewart. They deserve way better than this cowardice act revisioning to pretend they “never happened”.
If you ain’t seen Valarie Stewart’s (daughter of Nick Stewart) interview with WDW Pro, I’d recommend.
I watched your whole video, but I can't help but believe you have ulterior motives for trying to frame Splash Mountain racist, when there's a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Just like the astroturfers who coincidentally campaigned to have Splash Mountain changed to a Princess and the Frog themed ride right before Disney announced they already had that in mind. Quite the coincidence, no?
You have a lot of selective quotes in your video that don't tell the full story. You claim that the song "Let it Pour Down Rain" is promoting slavery because of the lines, "When you're achin...Then you'd better be thankful that He let you stay." The songwriter claims the "He" refers to God. You claim he's lying, and it's a wink at racists. Well, if you read the rest of that verse, it continues, "Let you see the children playing around your door. For the time is soon coming when you won't be here no more."
See? In isolation, the small soundbite you chose makes your conspiracy seem plausible. But with the remaining lyrics in that verse, your conspiracy seems a lot less likely than the songwriter's explanation. Anyone who is interested can read the full lyrics here and make up their own mind: disney.fandom.com/wiki/Let_the_Rain_Pour_Down
Also, it is clear to me in the movie that Uncle Remus is a Free Black Man, and thus this must be the Reconstruction Era. Early in the movie, Uncle Remus is about to up and leave for Atlanta with the young white boy. Did you forget that part? That would be near-guaranteed suicide for a slave. Do you think if he was a slave, he would have a cavalier attitude talking about that, especially to a white boy? Furthermore, the Black people in the movie have a high degree of autonomy. They are respected and ALMOST treated as family. I say "almost" because obviously there are some major inequalities, as there would be for that time period. The movie highlights the extreme economic disparity between the Blacks and the Rich White Plantation Family, mainly by the stark contrast in how they dress.
But that disparity was a fact of the time period. In fact, that disparity still exists, to a lesser extent today. Do you think Disney would be doing more "social justice" by hiding this ugly fact of reality, or making it naked obvious for the whole world to see? Should Disney have reimagined a fantasy version of the Deep South that never existed, like Wakanda? In what way would that bring justice for African-Americans?
People who call this movie racist also complain about Uncle Remus' complacency living on the plantation. Shouldn't Remus want to get as far away as possible from the place that used to enslave him or his ancestors (it's not confirmed in the movie that he was ever a slave)? Well, it's not that simple. First of all, those that think that Remus is completely happy with his situation completely missed one of the main messages in the movie. Br'er Rabbit hates his Briar Patch for good reason and wants to run away, but more trouble awaits him when he does. And that was the sad reality for Freed Blacks in the South. There were no good economic opportunities for them, and even if they went to go work in the factories in the Northern cities, they were likely to face harsher conditions than if they became sharecroppers. The factories of the 19th Century were horrible places without the labor laws protecting workers we have today. Add to that the heavy dose of racism Blacks faced in the North, mainly from poor Whites who saw the Blacks as cheap labor that could take their jobs away.
Given that context, not only do I not think Song of the South is racist. I see it as a radical social justice movie for its time. I think most of the people who didn't like the movie in the 1940's were racists themselves, who probably didn't like the idea of a White boy being mentored by a wise Black man.
I could go on and on about why this movie is not racist, but it's best for people to watch it themselves and form their own opinions: archive.org/details/SongoftheSouth1080pRestoration
Finally, your argument that the ride itself is racist is incredibly flimsy. Your main objection seems to be the tunes played while people are waiting in line might trace their lineage to minstrel songs. I think most reasonable people will see this as obscure trivia rather than a reason to retheme the whole ride. I mean, you can use the same kind of twisted argument to say that we should ban German classical music like Wagner and Beethoven, since Hitler used it as propaganda for the Nazis. But let's assume I hypothetically accepted your argument. Fine, simple solution is to change the playlist of the queue music. Problem solved, no need to kill the ride itself.
Unless of course you like erasing African-American culture! Because that's literally what Disney is doing. They are taking a beloved African-American fable and replacing it with a blackfaced remix of a German fable. That's called Cultural Imperialism. Princess and the Frog is White mythology being resold as "Black Pride" to gullible people who only look skin deep. It is the Token Minority that Disney inserted in their Disney Princess Lineup, just to say, "Hey, we're no longer racist." Never mind the fact that Disney's Princess marketing is not particularly healthy propaganda for young women.
I believe the one true thing in your video is that you dislike Walt Disney and Disney fandom for being conservative. Yes, Walt Disney was conservative. So much so that he did not want to see alcohol in his parks (and he would be rolling over in his grave at the fact that Disney is not only selling alcohol but trying to lower the age limit for drinking in Disney World). But Walt also believed in uniting all the cultures of the world together through the power of story telling. He was trying to bring people together, and one thing that unites all of humanity, is we all like a good story. Not only that, but we all have interesting stories to share, unique to where we come from.
Let me ask, if you're African American, what is going to give you more pride? To know that the corporate overlords at Disney saw fit to race-swap your race into a European fairytale, so that you feel you have a bigger role in the dominant Euro-centric culture? Or to know that stories your ancestors told for hundreds of years are currently influencing pop-culture?
#SaveSplashMountain #BrerRabbitNotRacist
Astroturfers. Yes. Of the imbeciles who influenced this decision, maybe 10% of them will ever ride the new one.
I didn't delete your comment, I didn't even see it. CZcams has an autofilter system that I have no control over, not sure what sets it off.
@@DreamsoundsVideo Curious answer. Very curious
@@DreamsoundsVideo interesting. I think this persons comment was a million times more informative than your video, first time I’ve ever come to a reply section and left wanting to see a video made by a commenter. My mind is blown
It is funny, the Brer Rabbit story is a story that originates authentically in Black American culture, while the Frog Princess story originates from Germany.
There's nothing racist about a ride with singing animals. Sorry. Save Splash Mountain
Tell me if wrong but song of the south take place after the civil war so they were never slaves in the movie
They're sharecroppers in the movie, it's set during Reconstruction. Most sharecroppers were debt peons (a type of slave).
The day is January 23rd, 2023. The ride's final day of operation was yesterday. While it's sad to see a prominent part of my childhood go, it is for the best.
My issue is not with the retheme itself, but that Tiana doesn't fit in WDW's location. Tiana fits DLR! She's at the crossroads of where Critter Country meets New Orleans Square. That's a perfect fit for her. Putting Tiana in WDW's Frontierland feels confusing for her lore. Also as someone from within the company, I know a lot more about this project than the general public, and I have a lot of criticisms that I am not permitted to speak upon due to the proprietary nature of the subject.
And splash made the physical mountain and music fit the area but when they are changing it to a bayou with jazz music it’s really gonna stick out
Na I think it fits perfectly like part of the ride is already based off of a bayou
@@ThePunkina1 the Mississippi River is not a bayou not even close
@@emashane7035 inside the ride the mountain it replicates the bayou look also the Mississippi River has bayou all down it stop acting coy
@@ThePunkina1 no it’s not the exterior and even the music of splash was made to fit in frontierland at DW
The ride is very sentimental to people who grew up on it. The desire to preserve the ride has nothing to do with race at all. Splash Mountain is one of the first rides I went on and the only ride I went on with my mom, dad and sister together before they got divorced. I’m glad I have the photo of our time on it. I had hoped to take my nephews on it to relieve and share that with them.
On the bright side I have no doubt they will preserve the ride as much as possible and update it with incredible animatronics that blow us away. The re-opening of the ride will be highly anticipated because it has a lot to live up to. If it’s worse than they’re gonna hear about it.
Song of the South was made with good intentions but was a misstep. I love the African folk tale of Brer Rabbit but it’s history of it’s presentation comes off as exploitation. It’s too bad these stories will be shelved because at the heart, they were African American stories that should be preserved somehow.
This video is undoubtedly well-intentioned. Unfortunately, it is dripping with virtue-signaling, and it has all the markings of a propaganda film, complete with a propaganda jingle at the end. Disneyland's Splash Mountain is already defunct, undergoing re-theming. Eventually, the re-themed attraction will also be harshly criticized--as racial tokenism, a testament to white guilt, or something along those lines.
I rode Splash Mountain in 2004 on a family holiday coming to Disneyland from Australia, and I didn't have a lot of the cultural context of Song of the South at the time, so I saw nothing really wrong with the attraction. Australia is pretty racist on its own, and our entertainers are often caught in blackface scandals.
To be fair, neither do most of the Americans riding that ride. Song of the South hasn't been available legally in the US in decades. If you want a copy to see for yourself, you either have to get a foreign release that's a little more recent or track down a torrent of one of the scans of the existent films from what it was still being screened. In short, the vast majority of the people weighing in on this are doing so based on their recollections, and probably not even that much. I saw it during one of the last screenings of the movie back in the '80s and when I watched a pirate copy recently, I was surprised at how progressive (for the time) the film is. The black characters were generally smarter and more likable than the white ones. I do think that trying to bury the film does Walt's legacy a disservice, as it's not the same thing as that WB cartoon of Bugs Bunny fighting with that black guy that is clearly something out of one of the more racist minstrel shows. But, the activists would have you believe that SotS was similarly racist.
No one cares about your one experience from 18 years ago bro. Literally millions of people have rode it since then
Because there isn't anything wrong with it.
@@roachmorphine8018 racist songs from a racist time in a racist disney movie
Thre are no negative racial contexts to the ride or to the movie for that matter. It is actually a positive movie about the newly freed slaves and the fight to normalize relations.
Lincoln actually had Dixie played when Robert E Lee surrendered. Which is good karma to clap back at the separatists.
But the Union Dixie lyrics are based: *Away down South in the land of traitors, rattlesnakes, and alligators! Right away, come away, right away, come away! Where cotton’s king and men are chattels, Union boys will win the battles! Right away, come away, right away, come away!*
They say “There are no mountains in the bayou” and I’m like “Yeah, and? Georgia isn’t the Western Frontier either so what’s your point?” If anything Louisiana is geographically closer to the frontier.
That's the reason imagineers made the WDW version of Splash so different from the DL counterpart. They were aware of the issues of it fitting in with Frontierland and they actually did a good job with what they did and it blends in well enough. And yes, there are no mountains in Louisiana and PATF in the area would fit in less than Splash Mountain ever could and makes zero thematic sense. Plus Frontierland is set around the 1890s and SOTS is also set around that timeas well while PATF is set in the 1920s so it fits pretty well. It may not fit perfectly but it's still makes more sense than a New Orleans Bayou setting. If you ask me, the Pirates of the Caribbean show building would be a better fit for a PATF ride.
Sooooooooo.... Splash mountain is racist because it features 3 songs from the movie, only one of which having lyrics, with sed lyrics not relating to racism whatsoever? Not to mention Song of the South was one of the biggest movies at the time to prominently feature a black actor as the protagonist. I personally think that REMOVING this ride is racist and a misconception of intentions.
I guess if you have it your way those old slave folklore stories will rightfully be banished. And, we’ll just pretend slaves and former slaves spoke in the Queen’s English! Yeah, let’s just say the writer had ulterior motives so let’s kibosh Remus as “racist”.
Zip-a-dee-do-dah was always a song I knew, even if I didn’t watch Song Of the South. I used to hum it during recess and sing it while riding my bike around the neighborhood. It’s just something I always knew the tune of.
I was actually very skeptical Tiana's Bayou Adventure would actually happen. Now I'm worried it's gonna be half-assed. Still looking forward to it though.
Same here. Bob Cheapek I mean Chapek had BETTER not stain both the ride and Princess and the Frog by cheaping out on the re-theme to Tiana's Bayou Adventure like he's cheaped out on pretty much everything else he's done so far.
It's gonna be half-assed.
I don't. Because I HATE the music in Princess and the Frog. But I always loved the Song from Splash mountain, it is such a great performance from such a great entertainer, and I feel it an injustice that it should be removed from memory. Half of the fun of the ride is not what you can see (frankly, I mostly don't gave a sh... about it), it is the song. And why shouldn't we honor a great performer while also acknowledging that no, Disney wasn't always squeaky clean.
@@gregr3720 especially with modern Disney it's one of the main reasons I don't want it to change it's a childhood classic and if we lose such a good ride I'd want it to be replaced with something better but I doubt it will be once changed
@P4rty V4mpyre I need this ride to have a Dr Facilier animatronic. Imagine him right before the big drop menacing over you with his shadow behind him. In the spot Brer Fox currently resides.
Whenever talking about racism, it's always crucial intent is taken into consideration. It's one thing to be unintentionally racist over ignorance & then there's racism over fear & mockery.
'Song of the South' does not hate the black man, nor does it celebrate slavery. It does not mock or dehumanize blackness. And neither does the ride.
Of course, the Disney company can do whatever they want w/the ride. Walt Disney himself said his park would never be finished, b/c it'll always be changing.
However, entertainment doesn't live inside a timeless vaccuum either. Society changes & often progresses. Therefore, most art cannot be judged fairly under a modern lense.
Not everything that's modernly problematic was intended to be racist. We must take intent into consideration before automatically & honestly labeling something old "racist".
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain - Let's also remember Walt Disney personally lobbied the Academy to award James Baskett an Oscar for 'Song of the South'. If Walt was somehow racist, he had a damn funny way of showing it.
Reason why Disney was a complicated person is b/c geniuses - good or evil - often are. In the case of Walt, he had one foot in the future & one in the past. He was fascinated & enamored by technology, while bathing in nostalgia. So of course there will be things you enjoyed during your childhood which will be considered problematic in modern times.
This is why INTENT is such an important part of CONTEXT when conducting an assessment of such caliber. Anything else would be disingenuous.
Literally other movies like aladdin peter pan dumbo jungle book etc are blatantly more racist than song of the south but people wanna cherry pick whats racist and whats not🤦🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️
Fr bro 😂 Peter Pan and Dumbo are far more racist
Real, Pocahontas in my opinion is the most racist Disney movie because they completely white washed her story. Yet they are still making a butt load of cash off of her, and people won't call them out on it.
You left out the fact that James Baskett was the first African American man to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus in Song of the South.
It’s legit insane how many of those minstrel songs I knew without even knowing they were minstrel songs.
I think this brings up the debate of "If something can bring new meaning to something, so much so that it becomes something else, should it be held to the original meaning?".
I was thinking the same thing, Splash Mountain has different meanings to people, there really isn’t an end-all-be-all interpretation of the ride.
Zip-a-dee-do-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay!
I LOVE Splash Mountain. One of my favorite rides at Disney. But I 100% understand why they would change it. I mean hey, as long as the log flume still is a log flume that does the funny, I won't be mad.
Agreed
Then you're not an actual Splash fan if you only like the Log Flume and drop
@@ChuckE.CheesesIllinois they never said they were a true splash fan they just really loved the ride. They didn’t say they would make out with the animatronics or something they just liked the ride lol
When my mother went to Disney for the first time, she got stuck on Splash Mountain for like an hour due to technical difficulties, at the part where there were a bunch of opossums singing "Let's go to the laughing place, laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh!" She has harbored a deep loathing for the ride, and those possums in particular, ever since.
She didn’t find her laughing place huh?
Ok, that's a reason to hate Splash Mountain that I can get behind.
TBA seems that it’ll keep at least three opossums.
My problem is Disney’s hypocrisy, they did it during the Floyd riots and if u really look into it, minorities are the smallest demographic who visits the parks so Disney is changing not cause of the backlash but because they need minorities to go. Otherwise, they would’ve at least recognize all the African Americans who played in SoTS, Baskett was the second AA in history to win an Oscar and the first AA to win best song yet Disney wants it under the rug.
It just feels wrong, Baskett even said after the movie was done that it was the most faithful depiction of AA because during that time period, there was no movie that honored or told stories of AA, majority of movies at that time were bashing AA as a villain or ridiculing them as clowns.
It feels slimy that Disney is doing all this not for the fans, not for AA and what they are fighting for, but for themselves and that’s why there’s a divide in the Disney Community over this particular ride.
I also want to point out if a ride teaser get bad ratings and opinions, Disney tends to cuts budgets and I’ve heard that they already cut some for Tiana so don’t expect this ride to be that great compared to other Princess rides, it might be cheap, rushed or unfinished.
Yeah, Disney only censored it because people thought it was racist because people thought it was about slaves when it takes place after slavery was abolished, that was the main reason
See also The Owl House
@@austinreed7343 I’m actually a huge fan of Owl House and I’m mad at them also for cancelling shows just based on early ratings and poor advertisements, that show is one of the best animated shows they’ve ever made
It was planned before the BLM riot.
Damn, she really started this video off like: "Splash Mountain is one of the greatest and most popular Disney rides ever... Now listen to me rant for half an hour about why I'm a cynical fucker who doesn't like people having fun at a theme park and think every ride should be a ham-fisted lesson in social justice." 💀
I highly disagree with this video. The part of the Uncle Tom's books makes no sense. Your basically saying his books were problematic because it reflects the social structure of their time. Like what do you honestly expect? Do you expect books from the 1800s to talk about women's rights? Ofc not it's because their society was different from today's. So criticizing an old book from centuries ago for not having the same modernized values we have today is just absurd. Also the idea of "someone has to be persevering black culture in order to talk/write about it" is also absurd. He was sharing stories from black people in times of slavery. He's not saying slavery is good or that he supports slavery he's simply just sharing the stories of people who didn't have the opportunity to. I feel like the color of the guys skin doesn't matter at all because his opinions on the stories are just opinions and having a "white man's view" shouldn't matter to you because if you were a normal person you'd focus on the stories and the messages behind them rather than the writer's opinion on them. I don't get why people think that the stories are ruined all because someone of a different skin color documented them. If race is really just about skin color then why do you care so much about this guy's skin. Why can't a person be interested in someone else's culture or even document it. Would you rather have these stories be lost to time all because the person who documented them weren't the same color of skin as you? I don't get it at all
Secondly. The fact that this video completely ignored the messaging and story of the movie and choses to instead hyperfocus on the setting of the movie and what it implies (keep in mind, not prove or concretely say but what IT CAN BE) shows that this was heavily biased based. The messaging of the movie is how an old wise man changed the lives of two children to help them better cope with their lives. Keep in mind the little boy's father sperated from his mother and the boy was a city boy and now he's suddenly in a farm in a state he's never been in and now has to live with his grandma which in the beginning of the movie shows that he doesn't like. Uncle Remus helps the child cope with his situation and turn him from a depressed little kid to a cheerful joyful one. But instead of clearly talking about this side of the movie this video would rather talk about how the setting of a plantation could possibly symbolize slavery and slavery = bad and racist when the planation isn't even the main focus of the movie at all. I understand slavery was a bad time for black people but the thing is, hyper focusing on the past especially considering that such a thing ended literally centuries ago makes no real sense. I acknowledge that there may be a possibility that Uncle Remus was a slave but regardless of that, the movie isnt about him being a slave but rather how a good man can impact someone's life so heavily. I don't get why the movie has to clarify who's a slave and who's not when that's not even the focus of the movie. It's like making a WW2 Movie and having a single jew in there and people being mad because they didn't specify if that Jewish person was a Holocaust survivor or not. The movie isn't about the Holocaust it's about WW2, sure the Holocaust played a role in it but it's not the main focus of the movie. I don't see how this movie even glorifies slavery either. Is it because all the black people are happy with their lives? Do you assume that all ex-slaves all have to be suddenly all depressed because they were recently freed? Of course not, if you were freed you'd be happy because it means you have the opportunity to do whatever you want in life. I don't get why people can't just be happy. Is it expected for them all to be outraged because of things they had to go through in the past? No, it clearly shows that they all moved on and they are enjoying their life from their recently granted freedom (assuming they were slaves they could easily just be workers who so happened to be black)
bro cooked
I don't personally mind them retheming splash mountain as long as the track stays the same. It will be a bit sad not hearing zippty doo da but The Princess and The Frog has some better songs and hopefully the ending song will be the song "I'm almost there." I have heard some ppl talk abt not knowing if the new theme for the ride would fit the theme in the general area and that there could be a better location in the park for a Princess and The Frog theme ride. I do fully understand why Disney would want to distant themselves more from the movie the ride is based on bc of how racist it is. Edit: I didn't realize that the song Zipity doo da was based off of racist performances until this video. That is quite problematic there
Watch, the PATF ride will be called racist too. Cajun accents are just racist stereotypes, after all.
@@Jw87563 I'm willing to bet that will happen, especially if it's not up to their standards (aka 1000% perfect)
My think has always been that what makes Splash Mountain Splash Mountain isn’t the animatronics inside or the tie to a movie most riders have never seen, but the drops and the water. When most people think of the ride, they think of the big drop with the photo at the end. The essence of the ride and what makes it famous is going to remain, but with a more positive (and profitable) IP.
Shut up
THIS, I literally remember nothing about this ride aside from big drop and funny picture, at least princess and the frog is a movie from this century that people actually remember, I'm glad they are changing it
exactly! i think most of the people getting upset over the retheme are actually upset at what they perceive to be an attack from the "woke mob". the actual fun parts of the ride aren't going anywhere.
@@Frozen-Dragon-f6q Problem is they could have updated without removing the theme. Seriously, this is what it is despite what the pr is saying.
'Song of The South' isn't really racially insensitive. It takes place after the American Civil War, so the African("black") people in it are not slaves, and the movie is about the friendship between a young "white" boy and an old "black" man. It's a positive movie with positive messages. The only reasons that anybody thinks that this movie is racially insensitive are that they haven't done their research and assume that the film takes place before or during the Civil War, and the fact that Disney, thanks to Michael Eisner and Bob Iger, has not given the movie any kind of official release since 1986(other than some VHS and Laserdisc releases in certain countries), which only helps to perpetuate the notion that the movie is racially insensitive. If Disney had released the movie on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray worldwide, there would be very few, if any, people who think that 'Song of The South' is racially insensitive. Is it a great movie? No, but it is a good movie with a positive message of friendship, and it deserves to be defended and seen.
For a movie of it's era, 'Song of The South' was actually pretty progressive in portraying multi-racial friendships when you consider that it was released during the segregation era of the American South. Disney needs to release the film on Blu-ray and make it available on Disney Plus, with bonus features included, including a feature-length documentary on the film's creation, release, and legacy. Also, to anyone who thinks that Walt Disney was racist, he wasn't. The "black" actors who were in the film were not allowed to attend the film's world premiere at the Fox Theater in Atlanta,GA, but that wasn't Walt's fault. It was 1946 and segregation in the American South was a thing by that point, as I've already mentioned. Walt hated the fact that the "black" actors weren't allowed to attend the premiere, but, obviously, there was nothing that he could do about it. Walt made it possible for James Baskett(the actor who played Uncle Remus and Brer Fox) to get an Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. #ReleaseSongofTheSouth and #DonotchangeSplashMountain.
Quiero aportar que Floyd Norman (el animador negro que lleva más tiempo trabajando en Disney desde los 50s) ha exigido más de una vez a Disney que dejen de ocultarla. También dijo que en los últimos años ha ido entendiendo mejor a los negros que protestan hacia la película. Según él, no sufrió racismo mientras crecía que su mujer le ha recalcado que le gusta vivir en su burbuja.
Da para pensar.
@@cvcvcvcvcv English please.
Does anyone know if there is a collection of African American folklore that was written by a African American person rather than being interpreted by a white man?
I grew up with Briar Rabbit stories told on equal footing with European fairytales, African and Indigenous trickster stories, Aesop’s fables, Jinn tales, and Norse, Greek, and Egyptian mythology. It seems wrong to let minstrel shows rob an entire culture of their folklore. I’d love to be able to introduce children to these stories in a cultural sensitive way.
It was interpreted by a white man but black people have embraced stop it with the patronizing attempt to think you are helping.
@@92JazzQueen I’d still prefer a collection compiled by a member of the culture it comes from. Just like I’d prefer a book of Irish folklore to come from someone who is Irish. It’s just going to be more accurate and authentic when it’s not interpreted though another cultures perspective.
@@mikaylaeager7942 And there has been times where black people have collected it. Both black and white people have had these stories. I do think people have a total disregard for them just because a white person recorded them.
@@mikaylaeager7942 Also at this point in Southern America a lot of white people there share culture with black people more than a lot of people realize.
@@92JazzQueen of course they shared a similar culture, they were ENSLAVED.
As a dumb kid that went to the Disney Parks several times back in the 2000s. If you would have told me back then, Splash Mountain would close I would laugh you off.
But as an adult that still loves WDW. I think it is for the best we let this attraction go... It's just time, You can have your positive memories of this ride but it is time just to let it go...
I trust Disney Imagineering to do the best thing for the parks. Great video, Take care and stay well. :D
They haven't been trusted to the smart thing for years you naive idiot.
Splash Mountain isn't closing. They're just retheming the scenes with other characters and changing the music.
@@gregr3720 Yes... I know. Thanks for clearing that up thou :D
It was always going to happen eventually. Effects start to get dated and Disney only has so much space to build. The absolute bare minimum would have been the effects on the whole ride being redone in a significant way while retaining the same basic theme.
thinking about it, would zootopia be a "remade" version of berr rabit and berr fox. In a sense, that the modern day film touches the metaphor of racism and stereotypes.
If I recall correctly, in the scene where Nick and Judy reconcile they’re each dressed similarly to the fox and rabbit SotS characters. Nick has a green shirt throughout the movie, but in that specific scene Judy is in a pink collared shirt and jeans. It’s likely supposed to be a symbolic apology for that movie for those that notice the reference.
@@MarceCloud39 👀👀👀
Oooo, I really like this idea.
That Twitter account concerns me for many reasons, mainly how blatantly bigoted it is. Pronouns in this context have nothing to do with race or the racism in the ride.
Whenever the world wants change for the better, people will lump the “liberals” together and claim they’re the ones causing all the issues.
If you think splash mountain should stay, not for how enjoyed it was but for what it represented, you’re racist. You might not know it or realize it, you are racist. This is not a debate.
You really are delusional to think this makes things better in the world
Go outside
Agreed. It feels like racists just want to use Disney has their racist sanctuary and are mad that Disney is like “yah no. Byeeeeee.”
@@starbird3939 Again the ride is divorced from the racial politics. And trying to think it's a racial sanurary is gullibility on your part.
@@Funni-guy99 posted that comment from my yard :/
This ride means a lot to so many people. They think that making it Princess and the Frog will fix it, but it won’t. Valerie Stewart, daughter of the voice of Brer Bear has been trying to save her fathers legacy. But videos like these keep trying to bring the movie and the ride down with it. It’s just a shame to see this all happen.
Yep, its not even political for me I grew up loving splash mountain since I was little and im a gay minority who loved it, I really hate how people are thinking this is going to solve racism in disney or that they are doing everybody a favor. I loved splash especially the music, the brer characters especially the laughing place.
I hate how she is speaking about this video as if she is doing all of us a favor when in fact she isnt even giving it a fair analysis and is just looking wayy too into it with a heavy bias view
It wasnt even racist in the first place@@bewarebewear1507
Pls don't censor the minstrel images, it kinda stifles the gravity of it all. The depictions are nothing we haven't seen before & honestly, non-black ppl need to see them. Best to just put a warning beforehand for the few who will get tangible negative reactions.
Anyways, great video. The last time I've been to an amusement park was around a decade ago, so my opinion of just rebranding it may be a nonchalant one. But it'd make the most sense business-wise & for those who loved the experience of Splash Mountain way more than its theme. No matter if you think Tiana's film was good representation or not, you gotta agree that a main attraction about her is infinitely better.
This type of thing is always complicated. Many of the songs mentioned are songs I associate with my late grandfather, and while I understand the racist back stories that much of these songs have, my relationship to these songs as a child is still what sticks out most in my mind. The real crime here is the removal of their historical context. To acknowledge the darker parts of our past is important in making sure we don't make similar mistakes in our future.
I agree with this but I don’t think Splash Mountain in its current form is an ‘acknowledgement of the darker parts’ of history; instead it’s exactly as the video described, subtly eradicating the racism anyway.
I remember going to Florida when I was seven and riding Splash Mountain 3 times in a row and going back everyday for the rest of my trip. Its the only time I’ve ever made it to a US park (I live in Europe) and it’s my fondest memory of the trip. But I can keep that memory and recognise that it needs to change.
@@AlfieBoheme no and what you said is exactly what I'm saying. What it is in its current form is not acknowledging that history
@@MF99K fair- your comment wasn’t clear in that regard and often racists use ‘we need to preserve even the bad parts of history’ as an argument- sorry tho we’re on the same page
@@AlfieBoheme I honestly think the idea of making the ride Princess and The Frog themed is a fantastic idea considering even without the racist side of things, the ride that the animatronics were originally from crushed someone to death and that's kind of creepy to think of those lifeless animatronic eyes watching someone die.
@@MF99K they’re also incredibly incredibly dated at this point
Ima be straight up honest this is bullshit. You can say whatever you want but idc. This ride is one of the best and has a WHOLE theme to the wild critter area or whatever it’s called. This new ride is honestly stupid. I get how the ride is very old. Honestly it’s so sad that they are changing this amazing ride. They covered the window in the train ride, which broke my heart. They are making a big mistake. Maybe it will be a good ride but I doubt.
It is not racist at all. What a reach of a video. Looking to be offended.
As a kid, the theming of Splash Mountain never made sense to me anyway, it was just a great ride to me and I just unconsciously ignored the theming. I think it could really benefit from a retheming, but I'm still not sure about reskinning it to The Princess and The Frog? I honestly think TPaTF deserves its own ride that tells its own story, instead of stretching it on top of the structure and story of an old ride! Splash Mountain needs a retheming, but I'm just not sure what would be perfect!
I had a few ideas bouncing about in my head.
* Pooh (would Pooh really work on a thrill ride?)
* Stitch (could be cool to justify how he managed to visit a coniferous woods)
* The Muppets (You can literally make an adaptation of the first movie! How did they not consider this as early as the acquisition?)
* Zootopia (do a prequel about a younger Judy solving crimes in her hometown)
Okay but Dixie as a song slaps even as a black person. If black people could have been involved in the tune then what's the problem with listening to it, especially without words? I think if you need to write a three page paper about why a "boring" movie is offensive then the movie is probably not offending anyone at all. Though Disney can change whatever they want because it's their property. It's a bougie theme park anyway, and they'll be happy to bankroll your dollars for their new modern ride too.
I was just watching a few videos earlier about Disney racism and one of the most common phrases from people were "well I wasn’t offended" but I think that kinda comes with the caveat that people who are younger ( 30-13 ) don’t have the same
experiences as someone who is older ( 40+ ). You most likely aren’t offended because by the time you were born racism was considerably less common and you were possibly a bit sheltered from the idea of people wanting to mock and kill you for being a person but older people didn’t really have that luxury off just brushing it off because they were still fighting for basic rights and while we’re still doing that now it was a lot more severe in the past. I’ve also seen people saying that "racism is a normal part of life and children should be exposed to it" but that’s also a pretty boneheaded statement because racism shouldn’t be normalized and we definitely shouldn’t feed that idea to children so they grow up to be assholes.
The past generations didn't struggle and fight for their people's right in this county(US) for the next generation to be a bunch of babies about racism that doesn't threaten their lives. We should however be aware of and respect the struggle those people went through. We should be thankful we don't have to go through anything like that anymore. We should learn from the past as a whole and be able to be better.
@@xx_cloud_xx5055 I don't know what "be a bunch of babies about racism that doesn't threaten their lives" means here, but it's... a bit of a sus statement.
@xX_Cloud_Xx Not wanting to be called a racial slur doesn’t make you a baby. Quite the hot take there.
@@xx_cloud_xx5055 "racism that doesn’t threaten their lives" literally any amount of racism threatens people’s lives bffr
Naw, I'm trying to save it.
The only issue I’d have with the ride is it fitting within frontier land. A Princess and The Frog ride would fit a lot better in New Orleans square or wherever the haunted mansion is located in Magic Kingdom. Splash Mountain should’ve instead been themed to something akin to The Lone Ranger or a completely original Western themed idea. Maybe theme it after the country bear jamboree or just keep it as Splash Mountain while revitalizing the the characters in a new film or series, that way the characters wouldn’t be associated with their racist background and instead become their own characters such as the case with characters such as Speedy Gonzales or Daffy Duck (One Daffy short supposedly portrayed stereotyped black culture through Daffy and the other ducks associated with him). I think this all stems from Disney’s obvious attempts of hiding “Song of the South” which has led to the film getting even more exposure, sadly becoming one of Disney’s most known live action films aside from Mary Poppins and Treasure Island.
The problem with the characters was explained in the video-Joel Chandler Harris was a slavery apologist who DEFINITELY stole and rearranged the stories to fit his pro-slavery apologia. Disney continuing to use the characters like they were the ones who created them would be continuing to rub salt into the wound for the Black people who ACTUALLY originated them. That being said, I would LOVE a Country Bear Jamboree-themed flume ride!
Plus, in addition to the reply already here, the ride's just dying of old age from a mechanical standpoint as well. As in, from what I hear, it rarely has even one ride cycle which doesn't suffer from at least one notable stopdown. A repair at such a deep level is obviously the best time to do a retool, both logistically (it's gonna be closed for a long time anyway, so why not) and for marketing (let's announce something that's worth the wait).
@@spencerpetunia8268
Right?! Or a classic cowboy Western themed ride with Disney animal characters! But anyways I’ve always hoped that some version of Brer Rabbits tale would be retold by famous black influencers and celebrities. The characters have always been retooled by white people, when these characters could be the opportunity for Black People to create an entire animated production. I mean can you imagine assembling a team of black writers, animators, and voice actors to remake the story of Splash Mountain?! I mean that could be a great movie and much better than The Lion King Remake. Instead of revitalizing Song Of The South, they need to separate Splash Mountain and make it it’s own thing, being it to modern audiences in a new way.
I'm okay with the Princess and the Frog retheme, since Song of the South wasn't exactly a frontier theme.
But how about basing the ride off of the Pixar short "Boundin'"?
@@kevinbailey8827
Maybe or they could even base the ride off of Woody’s round up. Having Woody, Jesse, and Bullseye give you a tour of the mountain before things go wrong, maybe Stinky Pete could be the villain?
I had so much fun recording backup for this one so thank you again for the chance to participate. :) The video is fantastic as always, I'm constantly asking myself how to make sure that nostalgia is partnered with social education and you put it into words better than I ever have.
I've never been to Disney so idc if they rebrand it ik a lot of people will tho but tiana is my favorite princess and she has been since 2009 so I'd love to see a ride themed after her.
YES
Disney trying to erase racism by changing a ride that the easily offended claim is racist and make themselves out to not be racist is like that old saying "Im not racist I know plenty of black people"
Please erase all history that I don't like because it offends me. Thank you Disney.
This is just a lot of garbage in a sweet voice. This film and the story are misrepresented and the destroying or shaming of this story takes away powerful performances and lessons to be cherished. Oh, and the theme song was awarded an Acadamy Award for James Basket the first black man to be awarded such an award. Going back and re-writing history has been popular, but this film provides an important perspective. NOT slavery or bigotry, but the mercy, wisdom, and love that the black characters show in the film, true loving values. But of course if the loud have their way their judgment will replace your judgment as you can't see the film and judge for yourself. These people are practicing censorship which takes away everyone's right to free speech or being able to judge for themselves. All this "NICE" talk to justify censorship is just sick!
Still hate this video. You made a video praising the LGBTQ community for reclaiming the Orange Bird, which you are a part of said community, and separate them from the source material. Then turn around and tell my community we can't reclaim our stories, and separate them from the source material. But yeah now because of the whole retheme Tiana ended up getting a crappy attraction that was overly lazy that keeps breaking down, so good for you guys. Now both Br'er Rabbit and Tiana ended up getting disrespected.
This is an incredible stretch that takes a half hour and mental gymnastics in order to assert that a log flume with great music and a rabbit beating a fox is somehow racist.
im glad princess and the frog is getting acknowledged at all despite its own problematic elements, but its problematic elements are not as deeply unsettling as song of the south. patf a good movie and a good time, at least it always has been to me. i have no emotional attachments to nearly any disney ride anyway since ive only been once to disney world,
the only ride id go as far to say ive got an attachment to is the haunted mansion one, because i felt very alone and out of place when i was at disney since i wasnt with anyone i knew very well, i was with some classmates because it was a school program and i was lucky to go, but i wasnt with friends or family. the ride was a comforting and familiar sight because theres a gmod map of it and a channel i liked on youtube had a video playing around in it. i hope theres no problematic elements on that one lol
Stupid sjws.
No matter what, that one is here to stay. The great thing about classic rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion with little to no ip attached to it means it can be added to or tweaked without losing the original or what makes it special in the first place. Haunted Mansion as far as I know doesn’t have any problematic elements, but effects have come and gone and been updated as technology gets more advanced. If there is anything problematic, a removal likely would not be noticeable.
There was that MASSIVE controversy about the removal of the bride auction in Pirates, which I never truly understood because the ride is still there, the core elements of pirates causing mayhem was still there, and it even came with more advanced animatronics.
@@NeonTailzzz sorry to inform you but there’s been hot debate over whether Disney will or should remove the always my way out scene from HM due to it essentially being a suicide reference
I love the Haunted Mansion source engine map so much.
I’m not sure why people think Song of the South is racist. The film is set during the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War (just like the original Uncle Remus tales). Disney for some reason didn’t make that clear. So Uncle Remus and the black characters are free and are not slaves. They are sharecroppers yes, but they can leave the Planation when they please. The animation is well done and the songs too. James Basket is Uncle Remus. It’s very unfortunate and maddening that he was banned from the film’s premiere due to Atlanta’s segregation laws at the time.
@@TheFoxFromSplashMountain Agree. If Disney released the movie, then the misunderstandings and rumors will be cleared up easily. James Basket was great as Bere Fox and even voiced Bere Rabbit in Everybody has a Laughing Place. And it was great to have Hattie McDaniel in the movie. Nick Stewart’s Bere Bear was hilarious too. Splash Mountain should have stayed as it was while Tiana's Bayou Adventure should have been built somewhere else in the park or the resort.
I just hope they do not erase splash mountain from the Disney history and own up to it unlike how they just erased song of the south like it never existed.
I have mixed feelings about the ride and context surrounding it as an animator, history buff, and ADOS (American Descendant of Slavery).
On a surface level, I don't care about the ride either way, because I've never been there, and the ride is not a part of my personal nostalgia.
On another level, the historical preservationist in me likes to preserve old things in some form or another, maybe even especially if those things are problematic. Even though I've never been on the ride, I am familiar with the film and the stories it's based on, and... I don't think necessarily things should be erased because they may be uncomfortable, but neither do they need to be glorified. Times change. Personally, I always liked the stories (my Mom used to read them to me and my siblings, and have us cracking up because she did the voices) and felt the film should be made available in the US with a disclaimer, but Disney has always been the sort of company to sanitize, because of the importance of the brand, and that's nothing new. No matter what the trolls say, Disney still isn't "woke" (a term that itself was appropriated from "Black Twitter" now ripped away from it's original meaning), Disney has always been limited by the requirement that it be "safe."
The "black" part of me rolls her eyes at this latter in a long string of hollow symbolic gestures by white-run organizations. Rarely do substantive issues that black people actually care about get substantive action. I don't think black folks actually cared about Splash Mountain, and it's not as if The Princess and the Frog film doesn't have it's own set of problems!
Still, I also roll my eyes at the people losing their minds over the re-theming. What many of them seem to be angry about has little to do with the ride itself, and more about how much they personally identify with the current White Conservative backlash against diversity in media and the country's real-life changing demographics. 🤷🏿♀️. That's when the US slavery apologists inevitably come out of the woodwork. SOTS takes place during Reconstruction, but fundamentally, nothing had changed during that time, and had in fact worsened.
**OK, I'm sorry, but I'm going to go on a rant about Reconstruction. 😆**
In my opinion, the "Reconstruction" era and the 100 years after the American Civil War were in *some* ways, worse than the Antebellum era, because the US government FAILED to COMPLETE the victory it had just won with all the bloodshed and expense of the war!
1. The plantation owner's property should have been immediately seized and divided among the formerly enslaved.
2. The Union military should have occupied the rebel territory for MUCH longer, and supervised all the subsequent southern elections.
3. Black Union soldiers should have received their promised "40 acres of land and a mule " in exchange for their service by the US government.
4. The leadership of the rebellion should have all been tried for treason and executed, if for no other reason than to make an example of them.
In failing to recognize and neutralize the threat that the rebels still posed, the president was assassinated, and everything got a whole lot worse for black residents of the South. Entire black towns were destroyed by white mobs. The lives and property of the newly freed and their descendants were not protected. It is during that time that White Nationalist paramilitary organisations like the KKK were permitted to form and grow like a cancer, and the image of the Antebellum South was meanwhile being rehabilitated in the media and with the erection of statues and memorials valorizing Confederate generals.
So, That's basically how we get January 6th. 😆 😆
Well said, but because you're not a white woman in middle America, you won't be taken seriously. The white woman is the loudest in the USA right now, and they love to speak for other races and religions. I'm with you 100% - Princess and the Frog is a whole new set of issues. Also, the erasure of Song of the South is also the erasure of James Baskett. I would love to ask him how he feels about it in the current day.
Let's not forget how many of the Jim Crow constitutions are still in force in the traitorous 11. Even though, very obviously, Article One Section Two of the current Texas constitution was written as a failsafe to ensure that even if they finally lost their stranglehold on state politics, white supremacists could point to a "legal" reason to overthrow a government in opposition to them, it can and should be used to call for an immediate constitutional convention for the state to replace this document that establishes a republic only in name, and instead operates solely on the whims of the men elected to the Governor and Lt. Governor's offices.
Technically BLM was more destructive, but Jan 6th is connected to individual killings and mass shootings aplenty.
I'm sorry. But I do not think you're accurate in how you see things. You are, of course, entitled to your own feelings. But not your own facts. Among the things you do not seem to be aware is the Brer Rabbit is a tradition that was handed down from certain peoples of African and came to be changed over the years by Southern Black Americans on the plantations but was a genuine part of that particular subculture; that the actor and role of Uncle Remus in the Disney movie was a marked positive change from the belittling roles given to black Americans previously in American film; and that the confusion of the original writer Harris may well have gotten the ideas for these tales from a plantation that he stayed at for a time in Georgia but was also apparently derivative of tales written down by Robert Roosevelt (an uncle of Teddy Roosevelt) based on Georgian tales about Brer Rabbit which was a figure derivative of a trickster rabbit in Senegalese culture. You should spend more time researching these things instead of pretending that anything hateful spewed out must be true. What's next? Are you going to be hateful of the Illian and the Oddessy when you stumble across the fact that Homer is believed to have been a slave when these tales were initially turned into oral tradition? The actual history of these African-derived tales should be something that brings strength to the Black American tradition instead of being ridiculed and despised by people who have decided that a white person cannot be of any use in spreading these traditional tales? Thanks though. You have given me some inspiration to write a book about these tales and their misuse by the Woke to cause further division in America instead of for the purposes of unity and toss aside cultural context to spread hate instead of understanding. Further edited to help you understand yourself, and your hatred and provide you academic reference. Please see Arnold, Albert (1996). Monsters, Tricksters, and Sacred Cows: Animal Tales and American Identities. University of Virginia Press.
You just tore apart every "arguement" that was made in this video. Nice job. Wish someone would make a video debunking all of the bs in this video.
@RedzRobinz I'm gonna do it soon, I can't stand all of this
@@redzrobinz3135 I don't ike specious arguments based on opinion and the love of destroying traditional values just because it sounds intelligent to some. When I see something like this put up with an air of feigned superiority, I feel a need to educate, take down the pretense a few notches, and hope the lesson is well learned so that the posting person will have food to thought before posting again.
I would not be surprised if this person could tell me how a loaf of bread is problematic and queerphobic
😂😂😂
@@Scooopity seriously though this channel is so toxic, complaining about absolutely every aspect of Disney. Like if you hate it that much why are you a fan?
Reported for misinformation
Something that always gets me about these arguments is that they're rooted in selfishness
"MY favorite ride," "I will miss this," "This makes ME sad."
Like, cool neat, but what about the massive communities that are actually hurt by these stereotypes? It's all just ignorance and selfishness. Your emotions and nostalgia aren't more important than others' lives and safety.
Another wonderful video, thank you so much for diving deeper than what most others have been doing.
I am black and I'm not hurt by these stereotypes. Seriously, there are lot in the black community who thinks this doesn't do shit. So stop saying this hurts us when it really does nothing but look like brownie pointing.
@@92JazzQueen Notice it's the white liberal that is always offended on behalf of black people.
What does a Song of the South theme on a Disney flume ride have to do with anyone's life or safety?
Lmao imagine writing “others lives and safety” as if the name and theme of an amusement park ride is threatening those. Like how much of a massive twat can you be?
Have you ever like been on the ride? It's really not that bad the only problem is that it looks broken af nowadays
I only want to stick it around because of historical reasons, though with about a million videos on CZcams at this point I'm not to worry about history being erased.
Splash Mountain and Song of the South are not racist. The attraction and film are based on the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, which were popular in the late 19th century. These stories were a representation of African American folktales and oral tradition, and were not intended to be racist. The attraction and film are a tribute to these stories and the culture they come from. African American characters in the attraction and film are not intended to be racist, but rather a reflection of the time period in which the stories were set. The post-Civil War South was a complex and difficult time for African Americans, and the portrayal of characters such as Uncle Remus in the attraction and film should be understood in the context of that time period.
Additionally, it could be argued that the attraction and film have been enjoyed by millions of people of all races and backgrounds, and that the intention of the creators of the attraction and film was not to perpetuate racist stereotypes. The characters and stories in the attraction and film have been celebrated for their warmth, humor, and positive messages.
Wonderful video as always! I can't even begin to describe how excited I am whenever you upload. It's relieving to see someone call out the way Disney community circles perpetuate racism, and your description of the full history behind it made me aware of stuff I didn't even know.
Yeah, hiding behind this group racism to shill the new direction is strawmanning.
Oh my god the song at the end was the icing on the cake of an already incredible video. Really well thought out and researched! Think I might have to subscribe.
The timing of this video coming on my recommend is pretty funny. Recently my friend and I went to Disneyland and we went on Splash mountain as a “final farewell” to the ride. We talked about how many memories we had on the ride but how we were okay with Disney changing it up.
I hate how y’all think everything is racist is so annoying
Did you not watch the video?
snowflakes thinking racism is racist ugh
Don't go on then
If Song of the South is so racist why was James Baskett (the black guy who played Uncle Remus in it if you didn’t know) the first ever black male performer to receive an Oscar for his performance in it?
So if you like Disney your racist. Most of Disney’s projects where racist so if you like him you support his ways of including racism in films.🤷🏽♀️ What’s more racist: removing a racist ride or replacing it with the ONLY black princes. Why haven’t they made a Tina ride before?
Oh yeah, Tiana's Bayou Adventure is so much better. It only works for 30 minutes and breaks down...with people. DEI bullshit!
Woke mob got this cancelled
You getting death threats on such a well researched and thought out video is absolutely terrible. I have subscribed and wish you much success in your future content creation!
I genuinely cannot find a single threat
What death threats?
A. I see no death threats
B. "Well researched"? This lady makes many, MANY errors in this video, and makes really stupid claims like the Zip Corn thing
Criticism and death threats are not the same thing people
So… depicting history is racist ?
Was Remus a slave?
Nope. You make a remark that “he was willingly subservient”. this is also known as being a loyal friend . You really go out of your way to label this movie and attraction as racist. Instead of making a long confusing case for why it’s racist, you should have first looked up the factual definition of racism. I can agree that there’s some historical continent that people could be sensitive to, but that’s it.
Well, truth be told, yes, Remus was a slave at one point. As a freed man he was working on the plantation as an employee. (I doubt there was a “friend loyalty” aspect in play.) Could a postbellum freed man find joy and happiness? SURE! It’s very possible a freed man could have a good relationship with land owners. And NO… The movie wasn’t meant to be a documentary of post Civil War South.
The movie is not racist, the ride is not racist.
Most of the ride are recycled animatronic characters from the America show. And the story does not even follow the movie at all. I heard that the new ride will feature hardly any electronics and that will suck. They will have just mostly screens. The songs were fine and fun to listen to.
Sad how the disneyland version shut down this may