Just How Far Off Is Disney?

[M.D. Holloway]

My Son is doing a report on Pocahantus. He was telling me some facts last night:
1) She didn't marry John Smith rather a guy named Rolf - not like the Disney flick
2) She was only 10 or so when she but her head near his to stop her Dad from whoppling him - in the cartoon she looks about 18
3) She didn't speak english very well at all - not like the film
4) She was captured, brainwashed and converted to Christianity - not at all like the movie

Now I know that Disney is about as far away from reality as one can get and that they apply creative license to all things but I was wondering what other movies Disney made about real folks where they really got it wrong.

So, what movies that Disney put out that are completely rediculous compared to the way in which history is written?

Oh ya, if you want to post pithy comments about Finding Nemo or The Little Meremaid made get it out of your system! I do hope that I can use something someone says to help teach my Son about facts and the Disney Myth...

[TechnoViking]

Stepmothers in Disney are evil and want to KILL YOU.

[Zeke]

I'm sure the live action movies about Davy Crocket and Robinhood were far from any truth. Animated films only represented a theme. They are a cartoon. I don't think you're supposed to expect any real life drama. More like Cinderella drama.

Edit: More: I don't have a lot to back this opinion up, but either Walt Disney was one of the stupidest movie producers or he was one step short of evil. Consider the many innuendos in the classic films. Just the Pinocchio plot of having little boys on "Pleasure Island" at the disposal of the Coachman should give you shivers.

[craigster59]

I had to do a paper in college comparing and contrasting Walt Disney and Hugh Hefner. It's all about selling fantasy, whether you're a 10 year old boy or a full grown man.

[varmint]

I worked with one of the writers years ago. He went on and on about the horde of cultural sensitivity professors brought in to consult.

I was most curious about the scene wher she crawls into the black bear den, picks up the cub, and sings to it in front of the mother.

Who approved that?

By the way, her tribe were a bunch of slave owning thugs who had just finished exterminating a neighboring tribe right before the story began.

[vash]

hmmm...



vs



i would double check those sources..

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Edit: More: I don't have a lot to back this opinion up, but either Walt Disney was one of the stupidest movie producers or he was one step short of evil. Consider the many innuendos in the classic films. Just the Pinocchio plot of having little boys on "Pleasure Island" at the disposal of the Coachman should give you shivers.

The movie industry itself, and the people in it, tried to pull a lot of things. Walt was a pretty strong censor, making them totally redo already finished scenes.

As for Pleasure Island, the point was to show that people who promise anything you want to do for nothing, are "taking you for a ride" so to speak.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

The movie industry itself, and the people in it, tried to pull a lot of things. Walt was a pretty strong censor, making them totally redo already finished scenes.

As for Pleasure Island, the point was to show that people who promise anything you want to do for nothing, are "taking you for a ride" so to speak.

Says you. And there were no drug references in Fantasia or Alice in Wonderland.

Innuendo is something you assume it is but it contains reference to something else. I don't go along so much with the assertions that there were suggestive ghostly images in Disney films. That's like playing the Beatles music backwards. Someone will always find something. I'm sure some things were placed on purpose as in a game.

However, I don't think Gracie Slick was the first to realize hallucinogenics were part of Alice's experience.

But, if ol' Walt was a "pretty strong censor," he missed a lot. Hence my comments.

However, the point for Lube is whether the stories followed any kind of truth or were just "fairy tales."

[HardDrive]

You guys are ruining my Pocahontus vs. Jasmin 'massage turns sexy' fantasy dammit.

[craigster59]

There's more to the "evil empire" than originally thought!
The Conspiracy Zone : THE PERVERTED WALT DISNEY EMPIRE

[Christien]

Disney has always maintained that their movies use the original stories, legends, fairy tales, etc. as a source, and freely deviate from them as they see fit. I would never suggest my kids learn their history lessons about people like Pocohontas, the hunchback of Notre Dame, Mowgli, etc. from a Disney film. But at least they've heard of such characters at a young age. They can learn the real facts when they're old enough to appreciate it.

Originally Posted by craigster59

I had to do a paper in college comparing and contrasting Walt Disney and Hugh Hefner. It's all about selling fantasy, whether you're a 10 year old boy or a full grown man.

Ironically, the Heffner fantasy appealed to me at 10, and the Disney fantasy appeals to me much more now at 37!

[Nostril Cheese]

[Tobra]

I blame Hugh.

[M.D. Holloway]

He drafted this tonight. Its rough . It needs to be tighened up but I think he captured the idea...

Pocahontas the Real and the Disney Version

Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian who made friends with a colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Powhatan, the chief of many different tribes that made up an Indian nation in Virginia. Some historians think she was born in 1595. Pocahontas was made famous because she was going to sacrifice herself to save an Englishman named John Smith. John Smith was caught by the Indians for stealing. Her father, Chief Powhatan was going to smash his skull in with a war club but Pocahontas put her head down on his so that her father would have to kill her when he killed John Smith. It was believed that she was only ten years old at the time.

Pocahontas was not getting along with her father the Chief. The English settlers wanted an Indian that they could brainwash and convert to Christianity and bring back to England and show off. She has captured by the English but really she didn’t mind it. She wanted to get away from her father so she went to live with the English settlers. The English settlers spent many months brainwashing her and then converted her to Christianity. She met a man named John Rolf who she married.

She Sailed to England with John Rolf and other English settlers. When she was in England she met King Charles and Queen Elizabeth. When she was in England she was brought to many parties and showed off as a savage that was now civilized. She wore English dresses and big hats. She spoke a little English and became famous. Many people wanted to have her at their parties. They also wanted to have her go to church with them. The English people did not know she was brainwashed. She was very defiant to anything organized like religion. She was thought by many English people that she was always a savage because she never really learned how to speak English and that she always remembered how to speak her langue. I think that they somehow told her that her sun god was the Son of God also known as Jesus Christ and she bought into it. She died on March 21, 1617, in Gravesend, England. It is not really known how she died. Some people think she died of pneumonia or tuberculosis and then there are other people who think that the King poisoned her because she made him mad.

Pocahontas had very famous descendents. One was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, who was the wife of President Woodrow Wilson. Admiral Richard Byrd was also a descendent. He led a team to be the first ones to the South Pole. The Virginia Governor Harry Flood Byrd and the fashion-designer and socialite Pauline de Rothschild were also decedents of Pocahontas. One of the most famous descendents was former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

A popular movie cartoon about Pocahontas was made by the Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company always makes films to have a happy ending. The company wants to make the audience feel good at the end of the movie so they do not always tell the real story. They make up things to make people happy and to leave the movies wanting to see another Walt Disney movie.

In the movie John Smith is a young, fit, strong and reckless, handsome man. In real life he was old, fat, slow and not really much of a hero. The Walt Disney Company makes him out to be a hero when he really wasn’t a hero but a thief. In the movie Pocahontas always looked 18 even when she sacrificed herself to save John Smith. Actually she was 10 years old. In the movie she always looks the same age and she always wore the same clothes expect when they went to a ball. In movie she had a body guard but in reality she didn’t have one. In the movie she falls in love with John Smith but that actually didn’t happen. She married John Rolf and even then you have to wonder if she really loved him. In the movie she knew English immediately but in real life it took years and even then she wasn’t very good at speaking English. Because she didn’t know how to speak English many English people still considered her a savage. In the movie the English seemed really nice and helpful. They seemed to want the best for Pocahontas but in real life they used her to show off to the King that the savages could be changed so they brain washed her because she was defiant of Christianity.

Many Disney movies will make up fantasies and some are based on real people but they are never true to the real story. The English settlers came to the new world to worship according to their own church. When they came over to the new world they took land and killed Indians and tried to enslave them and convert them because they thought that was the right thing to do. The Walt Disney Company could never tell the real story because no one would feel very good if they knew the truth. Maybe the Walt Disney Company should stick to making movies about talking fish or Magic lanterns or space robots and leave the history to the History Channel and books where you can get the real story instead of a fake one.

[Hugh R]

The Walt Disney Company Mission/Vision Statement:

"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world."

[TimT]

Lewis Carol published "Alice's Adventures Underground" in 1865

Disney, and Grace Slick did there things with the scenes from the novel many years later.

[tabs]

I know Pluto is a dog but what is Goofy?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by tabs

I know Pluto is a dog but what is Goofy?

Looking for historical fact in a children's cartoon?

[herr_oberst]

What did Mickey say to Minnie?

"I didn't say I wanted a divorce because you're crazy, I said I want a divorce because you're flocking Goofy"

[Maxim S]

Originally Posted by Zeke

I'm sure the live action movies about Davy Crocket and Robinhood were far from any truth. Animated films only represented a theme. They are a cartoon. I don't think you're supposed to expect any real life drama. More like Cinderella drama.

Edit: More: I don't have a lot to back this opinion up, but either Walt Disney was one of the stupidest movie producers or he was one step short of evil. Consider the many innuendos in the classic films. Just the Pinocchio plot of having little boys on "Pleasure Island" at the disposal of the Coachman should give you shivers.

Common industry "knowledge" is that he was a pedo. No real proof out there of course, aside from a few people who've made claims that he did stuff to them, but the rumor's been around Hollywood as long as anybody I've known has been in the industry.