Back in the day, people could basically get away with pretty much anything in TV, and movies, which is fine.
But I think it’s safe to say that times have changed dramatically , especially over the last 10 years.
There are loads of things from old movies and TV shows that would absolutely appal people today.
But like I said , the times were different, different things were acceptable, I can’t stress that enough.
So, for fun, Let’s just take a look at what was considered to be okay back then.
Belle falling in love with her captor in “Beauty and the Beast.”
To sum up this movie without sugar-coating it, it’s about an angry, deranged man who was put under a spell that turned him into a beast.
He kidnaps Belle, locks her up, abuses her, screams at her, starves her, deprives her of having contact with her family, and only allows her to be friends with a teacup, a clock, and a candlestick.
Instead of trying to escape, Belle ends up falling in love with her kidnapper, a clear sign of Stockholm Syndrome.
Last I checked, teaching kids to feel affectionate and sympathetic towards someone holding them hostage is not okay.
The murder, and discrimination in “The Hunchback Of Notre Dame”.
If you’ve re-watched this movie as an adult, you might’ve noticed how unsettling it is.
The opening scene shows Judge Frollo chasing an immigrant woman holding a baby wrapped in a blanket, down the streets of Paris.
Once he catches her, he kills her in cold blood and takes her baby. But once he uncovers the baby, he calls it a “monster” and tries to toss him down a well.
Thankfully, someone stopped him and convinced him to spare the child.
And by spare , I guess he meant lock him in a bell tower for the remainder of his life for being “too ugly”.
Very humane. Great message.
The child abduction and trafficking in “Pinocchio.”
So, these two strange men approach Pinocchio on the street, and try to scam him into going to a place called “Pleasure Island.” First of all, that’s a very creepy name to try to convince a young boy to go.
They tell him that Pleasure Island is a place for young boys, where rules don’t exist (this just keeps getting creepier). But really, it’s a place where they take kidnapped boys, turn them into donkeys and sell them.
Ultimately, he escapes and lives happily ever after. But the thick of this movie has an obvious dark side that we don’t see a lot of today in Disney flicks.
Sneaking into a young girl’s room late at night in “Peter Pan”.
Can you imagine if some random boy flew into your window as a child and took you from your room, telling you he was going to take you to “Neverland?”
Creepy .
I mean, the movie is meant to be about magic, and is completely innocent.
But if you really think about it, it’s definitely weird, and contradictory to the first thing we’re taught as kids: don’t go anywhere with a stranger.
And the obvious instances of racism.
During the scene where Peter Pan and the kids he stole from their beds meet up with a Native tribe, the movie exhibits a full five minutes of an extremely offensive portrayal (at least by today’s standards) of what Native American music sounds like.
The racist stereotyping in “The Aristocats”.
The Siamese cat in the movie was straight-up mocking the Orient culture, using chopsticks to play the piano.
Something that would never fly in any movie today.
Kissing someone while they are asleep in “Sleeping Beauty.”
Obviously if he didn’t kiss her it would have made matters a whole lot worse, so we can definitely let this one slide.
But if there was a movie that came out in 2019, and the entire storyline centered around a man having to kiss a woman who’s basically in a coma, that probably wouldn’t sit right with today’s audience.
The attempted murder of “Snow White.”
I get that Snow White is a very, very old film.
But can we just take in that the evil queen puts a hit out on Snow White because she’s jealous of her beauty, sending her huntsman to find her, murder her, and bring her heart back in a box?
How morbid.
“Not to mention, she’s shacking up with seven random men.”
Dwarves, at that!
It definitely wouldn’t be acceptable today to teach young girls that it’s okay to break into a cabin in the middle of the woods, fall asleep, wake up to seven adult men surrounding you, and then start cooking and cleaning for them.
Sex slavery in “Aladdin”.
Are we all just going to ignore the fact that Jafar kidnaps Princess Jasmine, chains her up, forces her to wear a scantily clad outfit, and feed him.
In order to escape, she has to seduce him by pretending to fall in love with him, touching him, and kissing him.
Basically teaching young girls that using promiscuity to get out of certain situations is sometimes the only choice.
Disney movies have had small sexual innuendos in them before, but this one seemed the most extreme.
The fever dream that was “Alive in Wonderland.”
Back when I was a kid, I obviously had no idea what this movie was about. All I knew is that it gave me horrible nightmares.
Learning that this movie was about being on mushrooms only makes this movie even less appropriate for children.
I get that it’s a classic Disney movie. But it is literally about being on drugs.
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The child labor and cruelty in “Cinderella”.
As a kid, I didn’t even think twice about this. But Cinderella’s living conditions were super not okay .
Her evil step mother keeps her locked away in her house, using her as a slave, cleaning up after their family for her entire life. Somebody call child protective services?
Cruella De Vil trying to murder puppies in “101 Dalmatians”.
The entire plot of this movie revolves around Cruella De Vil’s strange animal fur obsession, and her mission to have these puppies skinned.
Umm, I don’t know how this hasn’t been brought up sooner, but who the hell would want to wear a fur jacket made from puppies? Eek.
Ursula taking away Ariel’s voice in “The Little Mermaid”.
When Ursula takes Ariel’s voice away, she says: “The men up there don’t like a lot of blabber. They think a girl who gossips is a bore. Yes, on land it’s much preferred for ladies not to say a word.”
Disney including a character that makes misogynistic comments about what men “prefer” women to act like would never fly now.
It’s 2019, women don’t care what men prefer anymore. Thank you, next!
Ariel agrees to give up her voice so she can chase a man that she has never even met.
Teaching girls that it’s okay to make major sacrifices for the sake of chasing a man is insane.
Then, Prince Charming is expected to put the moves on Ariel when she doesn’t even have the ability to give consent.
The movie also sends the message that a man should be able to guess when it’s okay to get into a woman’s personal space, even if she’s incapable of giving verbal consent.
The epic and heartbreaking murder of Mufasa in “The Lion King”.
I am a fully grown woman, and I still get teary eyed watching the scene when Scar kills Mufasa.
Including death in a children’s movie can be a bit touchy, since kids don’t fully understand what death is yet. It happened a lot though: Tarzan ‘s parents were killed be a leopard, Bambi ‘s mom was shot, the list goes on.
Nowadays, we see a lot less casual deaths in children’s movies. Probably because this one scarred (pun intended) the rest of us.
The inaccurate retelling of the story of “Pocahontas”.
The actual story of Pocahontas was actually pretty horrifying, and definitely not as fluffy and cute as Disney made it out to be.
For them to make John Smith a charming, likable, heroic savior would probably have Pocahontas rolling in her grave.
Once again, just to make myself abundantly clear, all of these troubling movie scenes are considered normal, and acceptable at the time they were created.
But humans are learning, evolving, adapting, and becoming more sensitive to issues that were once swept under the rug.
Cheers to humanity!
