[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] The American company Walt Disney has added warning labels to its animations. This is a measure taken in response to criticisms that certain scenes in the cartoons promote racial discrimination amid social changes.
According to foreign media on the 16th (local time), Disney attached racial discrimination warnings to three classic animations?'Peter Pan' (1953), 'Dumbo' (1941), and 'The Aristocats' (1970)?as well as the live-action film 'The Robinson Family' (1960), which are broadcast through the video streaming service Disney Plus.
Currently, when playing these works, a screen appears stating, "This program contains negative portrayals or mistreatment of people or cultures."
Through the warning, Disney stated, "These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now," adding, "Rather than removing such content, we want to acknowledge the harmful impact, learn from it, and spark conversations to create a more inclusive future together."
According to Disney, 'Peter Pan' includes scenes where Peter Pan disparages Native Americans by calling them "Redskins" and mocks Native American culture and imagery.
Additionally, in 'Dumbo,' there is a scene where a white person with a blackened face and ragged clothes imitates and mocks Black slaves on a Southern plantation. One of the crows that helps Dumbo is named "Jim Crow," a racially discriminatory name, which led to the warning label being attached.
The Jim Crow laws were regulations enacted by Southern states defeated in the American Civil War to continue discriminating against Black people by segregating public institutions between white and Black individuals.
In 'The Aristocats,' cats with exaggerated facial features such as upturned eyes and buck teeth, and a cat playing the piano with chopsticks in a clumsy English accent, were criticized for racially stereotyping Asian people.
'The Robinson Family' was labeled with a warning for depicting pirates as barbarians with yellow and brown faces.
Meanwhile, Disney is reviewing not only works from the 1930s and 1940s but also those from the 1990s for any racially discriminatory scenes, and plans to add warning labels immediately upon discovery.
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