Disney goes pc...

[Spinal]

So I decided to watch one of my childhood favorite cartoons... Disney's Aladin...

Within the first few minutes, something felt wrong... so I played the opening song again, which I was sure involved cutting ears off...

Turns out, in the remastered version, they changed the lyrics!

Instead of:

Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam
Where they cut off your ear
If they don't like your face
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home

they now sing:

Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam
Where it's flat and immense
And the heat is intense
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home

grumble... I know this is a weird rant... but this is just going too far!

M.

 

[whitenemesis]

Totally ridiculous!!

Fairy tales are supposed to be gruesome, dark and frightening. Look at the original Grimm brothers fairy tales. Children expect it

 

[Spinal]

Not just that - I did some looking, apparently theres a fleet of things Disney is trying to conceal (e.g. Uncle Remus, the ales of Br'er Rabbit as told by a Afro-American in a plantation).

Admittedly, some of these would be on the border of racism if released in modern times... That said, in the world/culture they were released in, they were perfectly acceptable.

I'm not saying we should accept them as "correct" or "acceptable behaviour"; I'm saying that we should accept them as part of our history, which hasn't always been all flowers and roses.

If we start hiding the darker sides of our past, we will end up repeating the same things... grumble... (yes, I am expanding this to cover a larger concept - but you have to understand Disney cartoons were my life as a kid. We had a TINY b/w television (the largest that my father could afford... about 5-6inches across) and whenever his work sent him to the UK he would come back with a cassette to watch (there was no broadcast TV where we lived). In the early years these were recorded off BBC, and as he started earning a little more, these became Disney cartoons and movies.

Disney trying to edit their classics feels like an attack on my childhood...

M.

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

I think one of the first examples of cartoons going all PC was when they replaced the housekeeper (Mamma Two-Shoes) in Tom & Jerry, then they edited out all of the smoking scenes..pretty soon they'll remove the violence - whatever then?

 

[Ted]

Coincidentally, I was talking to my daughter about this on the way into work, where she had seen an animal grave for a dog with the same name as Guy Gibson's dog, and she was outraged.
I had to explain that 100 years ago, this would not have been offensive, while today it clearly is a very offensive word. Times change, and we shouldn't even attempt to judge people by the standards and meanings of today.

So basically I do agree with the above posts - the world is going too PC, however, there were cartoon characters from my youth that I would find grossly offensive if they were in children's comics today. How about Captain Hurricane, fighting the 'buck toothed weevils' Japanese, or the Commando comics, where it was great fun to kill loads of Germans. I'm sure we can also remember many more which went even further into racial stereotyping.

 

[abecketts]

Coincidentally, I was talking to my daughter about this on the way into work, where she had seen an animal grave for a dog with the same name as Guy Gibson's dog, and she was outraged.
I had to explain that 100 years ago, this would not have been offensive, while today it clearly is a very offensive word. Times change, and we shouldn't even attempt to judge people by the standards and meanings of today.

So basically I do agree with the above posts - the world is going too PC, however, there were cartoon characters from my youth that I would find grossly offensive if they were in children's comics today. How about Captain Hurricane, fighting the 'buck toothed weevils' Japanese, or the Commando comics, where it was great fun to kill loads of Germans. I'm sure we can also remember many more which went even further into racial stereotyping.

I wonder how they will deal with the dog in the remake of the dambusters currently being filmed, my bet it will be "trigger" and we can all think of only fools and horses at that point.

 

[portzy]

I wonder how they will deal with the dog in the remake of the dambusters currently being filmed, my bet it will be "trigger" and we can all think of only fools and horses at that point.

Dont worry, the Americans will have a hand in the remake, B17's will replace the Lanc's, Bruce Willis will replace Guy Gibson and the dog will be called "Chuck" or something similar.

Yes, that was all tongue in cheek btw

Portzy.

 

[Ted]

With 'Flight of the Valkyries' as the theme tune.

 

[Spinal]

Coincidentally, I was talking to my daughter about this on the way into work, where she had seen an animal grave for a dog with the same name as Guy Gibson's dog, and she was outraged.
I had to explain that 100 years ago, this would not have been offensive, while today it clearly is a very offensive word. Times change, and we shouldn't even attempt to judge people by the standards and meanings of today.

So basically I do agree with the above posts - the world is going too PC, however, there were cartoon characters from my youth that I would find grossly offensive if they were in children's comics today. How about Captain Hurricane, fighting the 'buck toothed weevils' Japanese, or the Commando comics, where it was great fun to kill loads of Germans. I'm sure we can also remember many more which went even further into racial stereotyping.

I totally agree - if it's a remake for today's market, then go ahead and make it acceptable for today's culture...

What enrages me is the attempt to hide things (or more accurately, judge past actions by todays standards).

If they feel the need to apologise for it, then do so. Openly. But do not attempt to hide it!

M.

 

[Bellow]

Post 2001 remastered, re-released version of The Cures Three Imaginary Boys LP. And no Killing An Arab.

Will we be burning Hemingway books soon?

 

[Palfrem]

Ted = Those comics from the '60s eh?

I used to have them all.

Every week some lantern jawed Tommy knocking seven bells out of the Hun

Great stuff!

 

[Spinal]

Just wait until I watch fantasia

(Tom & Jerry I never liked... I always felt sorry for Tom, never was a fan of rats!)

M.

 

[DITTRICH]

So I decided to watch one of my childhood favorite cartoons... Disney's Aladin...

Within the first few minutes, something felt wrong... so I played the opening song again, which I was sure involved cutting ears off...

Turns out, in the remastered version, they changed the lyrics!

Instead of:


they now sing:


grumble... I know this is a weird rant... but this is just going too far!

M.

You are not the only person to have noticed this.
The original version is much better!

 

[lancebond]

ET- in the original the kids On bikes are chased by men with guns
Remastered - kids on bikes are chased by men with walkie-talkies

And of course the unforgivable one. Starwars, mos eisley cantina. Greedo and Han

HAN SHOT FIRST!

 

[Ted]

Ted = Those comics from the '60s eh?

I used to have them all.

Every week some lantern jawed Tommy knocking seven bells out of the Hun

Great stuff!

Gott in Himmel!!!

Die Tommy!!

Eat lead Fritz!!

 

[Spinal]

ET- in the original the kids On bikes are chased by men with guns
Remastered - kids on bikes are chased by men with walkie-talkies

And of course the unforgivable one. Starwars, mos eisley cantina. Greedo and Han

HAN SHOT FIRST!

I must admimt I missed (i.e. can't remember) who shot first! Gotta go back and rewatch them this weekend!

ET I have heard about... but not seen; I've heard something similar happened with the Matrix Twins...

M.

 

[Druk]

And what about John Cleese goose-stepping across Faulty Towers. Will they show that I wonder?

 

[Spinal]

And what about John Cleese goose-stepping across Faulty Towers. Will they show that I wonder?

They will; but now he will walk normally, in a non-descript way. The word "war" will be replaced by "mission of peace" or "liberation". "Germans" will be replaced with "terrorists".

It's just updating really!

M.

 

[st13phil]

What enrages me is the attempt to hide things (or more accurately, judge past actions by todays standards).

If they feel the need to apologise for it, then do so. Openly. But do not attempt to hide it!

I agree wholeheartedly.

The trouble with rewriting history to match today's moral standards is that the truth gets obscured and, ultimately lost, along the way. It's absolutely fine to consider and reappraise what happened in the past in today's context and with the benefit of hindsight, but it is also vitally important to the understanding of events that one judges the actions of people in the context of when those events occured. Failure to do so not only risks the ignorant repetition of some of the horrors that the human race has managed to inflict upon itself, but also masks genuine progress (or regression, for that matter) where that has occured.

 

[Darrell]

Off topic a little bit but I have spent all afternoon watching a dvd of The Goodies.

Total fun.