The entertainment group Disney has subjected the films in its streaming service Disney + to a critical examination and has now provided some with a detailed warning that draws attention to the racist stereotypes they contain and their negative effects on society. Instead of deleting such films with controversial representations, Disney wants to keep them in the program and encourage discussion by pointing out, writes the company.

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Reference to “negative representations” As early as the end of last year, Disney had given some films a brief and meaningless statement: “This program is shown as it was originally created. It may contain outdated cultural representations.” Recently, however, the company expanded and clarified the text and also set up a website that explains the move in detail.

The new notice reads: “This program contains negative representations and / or mistreatment of People or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong today. Instead of removing this content, we want to recognize its harmful effects, learn from them and stimulate discussions in order to create a more integrative, common future. ”

Stereotypes about China in “Aristocats” For some well-known film classics, Disney also explains in the article why this notice is placed before streaming. In the cartoon “Aristocats” by 1970, for example, a “Chinese” cat is characterized with slanted, narrow eyes and buck teeth; she also plays the piano with chopsticks and the singing voice comes from a white actor who imitates an Asian accent. This is a stereotypical image of East Asian people as “permanent foreigners”. In addition, the film contains passages of dialogue that mocked the Chinese language and culture.

Other cartoons preceded by the reference: “Peter Pan” (1953) contain stereotypical representations amer