If you are of a certain age, you know that cartoons and movies aimed at children weren't always the most 'woke' things back in the day. There were seriously problematic racial depictions that, looking at them through 2021 eyes, and not just cringeworthy, they sometimes have parents reaching for the television remote to hit fast forward as quickly as possible.

A couple of years ago, I took my three granddaughters to see Lady and The Tramp that was screened during the Plaza Classic Film Festival. I had completely forgotten that there was a song sung by a pair of Siamese cats that is wildly racist in its depiction of Asian stereotypes. Darren and I were pretty horrified at the song but only our oldest granddaughter who was 14 at the time understood how problematic the song was. Our younger granddaughters just thought it was a funny song, and therein lies the problem for Disney. Is this just a funny song from long ago or is it something that needs a disclaimer:

Seeing the song sung by the legendary Peggy Lee now makes us cringe at such a negative stereotype but it's not the only Disney property that has that problem. Classics like Dumbo which has negative African American depictions and even the Muppet Show which has recently begun streaming on Disney Plus has cringy portions that Disney felt needed to be addressed.

If you stream many Disney Plus movies and tv shows, you might run into the 18 second disclaimer that cannot be fast-forwarded through that reads:

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A lot of people just wait for the 18 seconds to pass but there are a lot of people who say that Disney has joined the cancel culture. Some right-wing media shows have said that the disclaimer is pointless because they haven't removed the scenes in question. Some have said that they are pandering to 'woke' people so they won't lose subscribers.

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It's true that the disclaimer could just be sucking up to 'woke' people or maybe it's just that while we realize that these types of depictions used to be no big deal, they are now and removing the content prevents a teachable moment for generations to come. I think Disney made the right move with the disclaimer. We learn from history and past mistakes. It's not 'woke', it's growth.

LOOK: A history of Black representation in movies

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