The ride's "history and storyline are steeped in extremely problematic and stereotypical racist tropes from the 1946 film Song of the South," the petition stated, and supporters thought the attraction could be reimagined with a Princess and the Frog theme. There have been objections for years, but in June 2020, during the national protests against racism and police brutality, a petition was started on calling on Disney to redo Splash Mountain at Disneyland and Disney World. It is described by Disney as being "a musical cruise" where riders follow "happy-go-lucky Br'er Rabbit to his 'laughing place,'" before experiencing a "thrilling 5-story splashdown!" When did critics call on Disney to change the Splash Mountain theme? Splash Mountain opened in Disneyland in 1989 and at Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland in 1992. Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear characters already walked around the park, CinemaBlend reports, and Disneyland was able to reuse for the ride animatronic animals from its defunct show America Sings, which fit the Song of the South aesthetic. Initially, the attraction he developed was known as the Zip-a-Dee River Run, with characters from the Song of the South. In the 1980s, Disney wanted to introduce more thrill rides for teenage visitors, and Imagineer Tony Baxter also wanted to find a way to get people to Disneyland's Bear Country. Song of the South was never released on home video in the United States, and is not on the Disney+ streaming service, where some movies have a disclaimer saying they include "outdated cultural depictions." In 2020, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Song of the South is "not appropriate in today's world." Why was 'Song of the South' the inspiration for Splash Mountain? In 2019, The Guardian's Scott Tobias wrote that there are "plenty of examples of pernicious racism in Song of the South that are right there on the surface: the minstrelsy of the animated characters, particularly Br'er Fox the slang in the dialogue a wandering chorus singing traditional Black songs and, most notoriously of all, a fable where Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear use a tar baby to fool and ensnare Br'er Rabbit." He also noted that during the film, Uncle Remus reminisced about life before the Civil War, saying "every day was mighty satisfactual" and "'twas better all around." At the time, the NAACP and American Council on Race Relations objected to the movie and its stereotypes about Black people.
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