Disney Plus has added a new warning message to viewers about outdated content.
What’s happening: The new streaming service has warned fans that they may find “outdated cultural depictions” while streaming older content.
- Older Disney classics — like “Dumbo,” “The Aristocats,” “The Jungle Book” and the original “Lady and the Tramp” — come with a warning about outdated depictions.
- The warning reads: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”
Why: “These warnings caution sensitive fans that what they are about to watch contains racial portrayals that might be triggering,” according to Fox News.
Bigger picture: Many of these classics have scenes that critics have slammed in recent years because of how they portray stereotypes.
- For example, “Dumbo” has been criticized for its wise-cracking crow characters, which rely on African America stereotypes, IGN reports.
- In the original “Lady in the Tramp” movie, there are a pair of Siamese cats teasing Lady using Asian accents and poor English. The cats also play off Asian stereotypes, according to IGN.
Yes, but: Previous reports suggested that Disney would omit certain content from its platform. For example, “Song of the South” has been left off the service likely in response to criticisms about how the movie portrays slavery.
Not just Disney: According to Mashable, Warner Bros. added similar warnings before some of its streaming content. But Warner Bros. uses stronger language.
“The inclusion of certain titles and warnings on the streaming service invokes the ongoing conversation about how to approach art created in a culture of inherent prejudices, whether racist, sexist, or other,” according to Mashable. “Both Warner Bros. and Disney appear to take the stance that we cannot divorce films from their cultural context, with Warner Bros. explicitly turning this into a history lesson, particularly for younger viewers.”