The larger discussion surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black men and women has had a hell of a ripple effect. It’s pretty incalculable, in part because the effect hasn’t yet stopped. Last night, WarnerMedia caused some headlines — and some headaches for conservative whiners — when they announced that they were temporarily pulling the 1939 epic Gone with the Wind from the HBO Max streaming service.
I say “temporarily” because WarnerMedia also confirmed that GWTW would return, but with more direct language about its presentation of the Civil War-era South as something romantic and nostalgic, instead of something horrific and inexcusable. In short, the film will have added context when it returns. And hey, considering that Turner Classic Movies is one of the sections on HBO Max, it sure is nice to know that one of the most famous movies of all time will soon have some added context. (Why is WarnerMedia not leveraging a lot more of the already-created TCM content on HBO Max? Just generally speaking.)
What, you may wonder, does this have to do with Disney? Part of the anger surrounding Gone with the Wind among right-wingers is that by temporarily removing the film, HBO Max has somehow tarnished the legacy of Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for her performance as Butterfly McQueen. Leave aside the fact that you can rent the movie online, buy it on Blu-ray, or watch it on TV. And leave aside the fact that none of these people could name another film featuring McDaniel to save their lives. I’ll help them out, and point you all to why this became a Disney thing.
Hattie McDaniel also co-starred in Song of the South, the Disney film from 1946 that is simultaneously impossible to find and very easy to buy. (Just Google the film’s name and the keyword “dvd”. You’ll see what I mean.) Now, Disney hasn’t ever made the film available on home media, and I would imagine it’ll be a cold day in Hell when they will. I’d rather Disney be more upfront and self-confrontational about its past, but I realize it’s not going to happen.
And yet, while Song of the South is impossible to watch in any legal form, you can always experience something inspired by the film: Splash Mountain. Today, a few folks (myself included) have asked the question on Twitter: why doesn’t Disney retheme Splash Mountain?
You are forgiven if you’ve ridden Splash Mountain before and had no idea about its history, or the film inspiring the ride. The history of the attraction, looking at it 30-plus years later, is truly baffling. By the time the ride was unveiled at Disneyland in 1989, Song of the South was on its way to never being released officially ever again, last showing up in theaters in 1986. (That is not a typo.) There are, for example, probably a lot of people who only know “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” as part of the ride, not as part of a larger cultural discussion of Black culture being stolen by white people over the last century and change.
The question is this: does Splash Mountain need to be themed to Song of the South to be a good ride? (Your mileage may understandably vary — I think the ride is extremely enjoyable, if I can compartmentalize its origins.) The answer is no. A hybrid of a dark ride and a log flume can exist with many different choices for theming. Could the ride be themed to The Princess and the Frog instead? Or have a totally original redo? Why not? So many of the classic attractions at the Disney theme parks have been redone again and again, overlaid with new characters and themes. It’s A Small World now has characters ranging from Ariel to Cinderella. Half of Tomorrowland in Disneyland is themed to Star Wars, with the other half often being dedicated to other intellectual property.
Disney doesn’t need to do anything with Splash Mountain, of course. They can choose to. I wonder if they’ll make any kind of response with the theme parks reopening and a greater, more cognizant sense of racism pervading all culture. (It’s always been there. Some of us are just starting to notice now, long overdue.) I like this ride a lot, but there’s no good reason to keep it as a Song of the South-themed attraction.
Put it this way: if Disneyland is indeed not a museum, as so many fans will often argue when defending other updates, then Splash Mountain can handle a retheming.