Abigail Disney doesnât really get to talk because she was his Grandneice (I donât know about you, but iâm not real close with my grandfatherâs brothers. Itâs not exactly the closest of relations) AND she was only 6 years old when he died, so itâs not like she ever actually knew him, or can say who Walt Disney was as a person. I donât know about you, but I trust the words of people who knew Walt Disney and worked closely with him over the word of someone who was a child when he died.
As to the old Disney films, Iâm going to borrow squigglydigg's words from a different reblog chain of this post because they said it perfectly:Â
"By modern standards, nobody will argue with youâyes, those things are considered racist today. When those movies were made, however, they were simply seen as stereotypesânothing more than the typical guy = masculine, girl = feminine stereotypes that continue to prevail today. Â They were inaccurate, yes (just like the gender stereotypes), and offensive to certain people, but during their day they were seen as nowhere near as bad as they are today. Iâm not saying that these depictions are âokayâ at all or that they arenât racist. What I AM saying is that, when these movies were made, people wouldnât necessarily see them as racist."
Not to mention the fact that Walt Disney wasnât the only person working on the films put out by Disney Studios. And although he was incredibly involved in the making of early films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, etc, as time went on, there was a lot to focus on with WW2, an industry strike, and eventually the work on Disneyland and the TV show that went along with it. Walt Disney couldnât stand over his artistâs shoulders and give 100% of his attention to everything they were doing.
Also, you mention the Jungle Book. Walt Disney did not come up with the idea for that movie. It was based on a book written long before Disney Studios got their hands on it. Likewise, Walt Disney passed away from lung cancer while that movie was still in production, so itâs not really one you can blame on Walt Disney. (Song of the South was also not an original Disney story, though Iâll let you have that one. If they wanted to make a film about African American folktales, there was definitely a better way to go about it. Semi-related fun fact: James Baskett received an honorary academy award for his role as Uncle Remus in Song of the South, making him the first African American man to win an oscar. So at least some good came out of that film.)Â
Walt Disney hired people who were African American, Jewish, Hispanic, and women (it was Walt Disney who said âIf a woman can do the work as well, she is worth as much as a man. The girl artists have the right to expect the same chances for advancement as men, and I honestly believe they may eventually contribute something to this business that men never would or could.â) in a time when prejudice against these groups was even worse than is now.
Walt Disney was a dreamer who lived to create magic and make people happy. But he was human, and nobodyâs perfect. There were things that, by the majority and the industryâs standards, were considered okay, but probably shouldnât have been. We understand NOW that a lot of things in old Disney films are racist, and if Walt Disney was alive today, whoâs to say he wouldnât understand too? Whoâs to say he wouldnât go back and remake those films or try to make new films to make amends for the old ones? Just because he doesnât live up 2015âs standards doesnât mean Walt Disney was the racist, sexist, anti-Semetic monster that you want to make him out to be.Â