BUSINESS
Why is the new Disney World ride inspired by Princess Tiana so controversial?
The controversy surrounding Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the ride which is set to replace Splash Mountain at Disneyworld later this month.
Later this month at Disneyworld, the iconic ride, Splash Mountain, will be reopened as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The cast of the film recently gathered in Florida to test out the revamped attraction.
The announcement of the change came in the summer of 2020, at the height of the George Floyd uprisings, as a part of Disney’s plan to step away from the corporation’s racist history. “Song of the South,” a movie produced by Disney in the 1940s, had inspired Splash Mountain, and the re-naming is a way to address criticism that Disney is not taking its past and the harm done seriously.
At the time, Black film critics voiced their outrage with “Song of the South” and its acceptance by white America. The film is accused of glorifying slavery and the condition of Black people living on plantations. Richard B. Dier, writing in The Afro-American, described the film “as vicious a piece of propaganda for white supremacy as Hollywood ever produced.” The film was released in the Jim Crow era, and Disney was harshly criticized by a Jewish outlet over the fact that James Baskett, who played Uncle Remus, was barred from attending the premiere held in Atlanta, Georgia. Disney never released the film on DVD or Blu-ray, and it is not available to be streamed on Disney+.
The critics and their calls to nostalgia
The contemporaneous critique of the film by Black critics and other activists at the time of its release helped to show that the film has always been seen as racist. It wasn’t until systematic racism was unveiled in the United States at such a level that companies like Disney fell under scrutiny that they made any efforts to address their history. Disney had planned to transform Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure before 2020, but after facing backlash from fans of the ride, they reversed course.
Disney has released a point-of-view video of the new ride, which has fueled critics who loved Splash Mountain and are frustrated that it will be eliminated from the ride catalog.
Rather than engaging with the critique of the ride and the film it is based around, lovers of Splash Mountain rely on calls to nostalgia. However, another group of critics believes that Disney should have developed a ride for The Princess and the Frog separately and not made adjustments to Splash Mountain as an attempt to paper over the racist history of the ride forms part of.