The male characters, meanwhile, do take off their shirts, if working in the sun, but they're careful to rarely display their navels. But the title card doesn't do the work for you. Because for all of the dazzling shipwrecks, pirate chases, tricky sailing trips, and fending off wild animals, Swiss Family Robinson is really just the story of a mostly normal, loving family trying to survive and stay intact, all while relying on each other. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. The message imparted there is broad and non-specific. . The plucky, crafty Robinsons of Swiss Family Robinson are so good at surviving the harsh conditions of a tropical island (and getting off a sinking ship with plenty of supplies) that they make it look easy. "They were able to construct a fascinating tale and build up its potential. Have something to tell us about this article? "This success is due to the fact that American culture recognised in the text an element of the beloved boy-scout. Disney is no stranger to the concept of pirate characters in its films and its theme parks, but the pirates depicted in Swiss Family Robinson might as well be faceless stereotypes. Having thought about this a bit more, I have a recommendation. ", Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA After the shipwreck, the survivors have to rebuild a world in which to live. Is it not wonderful to be lectured on morality by a company in business with the Chinese slave holders? 23:41. One of the more mature struggles in the film is between the parents: William (Mills) is quick to adopt a can-do attitude about living on the unknown island, whereas his wife Elizabeth (McGuire) initially wants the family to figure out a way to head to New Guinea, their original destination. I suppose as a Northern European with Scots/Irish ancestry I should consider any reference to being stingy as an ethnic slur. They have to be seen and understood in the cultural context in which they were made several decades ago. But being a quintessential Disney adventure means you have to take the good with the bad. There are after all mirror neurons. Cookies help us deliver our Services. And Frollo stalking and harassing Esmeralda made me uncomfortable to watch. For later adaptations, see, Frontispiece by John Gilbert from the 1851 American edition, The Swiss Family Robinson (disambiguation), The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island, "A Note on Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson, Montolieu's Le Robinson suisse, and Kingston's 1879 text", "New Switzerland, Jules Verne's Imaginary Shipwreck Sanctuary", "TJ Hoisington Pens the First Swiss Family Robinson Sequel in Over 100 Years", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Swiss_Family_Robinson&oldid=1138717803, Swiss novels adapted into television shows, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 11 February 2023, at 05:58. } And if that isnt good enough for everyone then have a parental password for some of these hot topic films and if your child wants to watch them, then you can choose to let them watch it and/or have a conversation about the film and why parts of it are wrong. I think Disney has gone crazy! WebThe new disclaimer appears on screen before the start of movies like Aladdin, The Aristocats, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Swiss Family Robinson and The How much more woke can Disney get and much more can they de-value Disney plus?!?! The exoticism of The Swiss Family Robinson was at odds with the Swiss reality of the time. So are they going to remodel the Peter Pan ride into something else? Swiss Family Robinson s1 e16 return paradise. Thomas, other peoples feelings matter. Ernst (played by 60s-era Disney stalwart Tommy Kirk) is a bookish sort, but both he and Fritz end up havinguhlet's call them teenage yearnings for Roberta (Janet Munro), a young woman they rescue from the pirates and invite into their family. A Swiss Family Robinson remake is currently in the works for Disney+, as well as a live-action Peter Pan & Wendy, both of which we can expect to handle race much better than the original films. In the novel a minister, his wife, and their four sons are shipwrecked and become castaways on an island in the East Those same pirates threaten the Robinsons' safety on multiple occasions. Does this mean Disney will reimagine Tom Sawyers Island? I know it feels good to use melodramatic language when venting, but lets keep things grounded in reality and not mired in alternative facts. Those of us who are parents with uncanceled Disney Plus subscriptions will continue to enjoy uncensored Disney classics like Dumbo, and some of us will have discussions with our kids about certain characters so we avoid the possibility of a future call from schoolteachers asking why our child was adopting a Stepin Fetchit voice and referring to himself as Jim Crow in class. Like Robinson Crusoe, the survivors are resourceful and have the skills to survive on a desert island, but they retain character traits specific to their national identity. But that's not the case with Swiss Family Robinson, which will amuse and mildly startle adult viewers. The book has inspired films, series and even theme parks. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Find out why. The world does not need the magical nonsense of Disney. Liberals will be the death of everything. Mother Robinson (Dorothy McGuire) gets awfully nervous when her strong swimming husband and sons are swinging on a vine over a swimming hole, but neither she nor anyone else seems afraid of that unclean water. Eventually, a British ship that is in search of Jenny Montrose anchors near the island and is discovered by the family. Parents may have been offended for children. Audiences are curious about the Swiss Family Robinson pirate scene in the wake of recent discussion. It was his son, Johann Rudolf, who published the novel. He sings in poorly accented English voiced by a white actor and plays the piano with chopsticks. Racist imagery and cultural stereotypes in six Disney animated classics including Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp, The Aristocats, Dumbo and Swiss Family Robinson are being flagged on the Disney+ streaming site with warnings and detailed explanations of the negative depictions in each title. Fortune cookie always wrong., The crows and musical number pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations. {{#media.media_details}} {{#media.focal_point}}. If you don't visit the Stories Matter website (and I wonder how many of you reading this are visiting that site now for the first time), you won't even know what it is about Swiss Family Robinson that Disney is implying is offensive.That's especially true because there's a very obvious element of racist representation that's not accounted for in the more detailed description on the website. , directed by Ken Annakin and starring John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, and more, you probably know the basic idea of the story. Father speaks with the natural, clipped British accent of the man who portrays him, John Mills, while Mother speaks in a mid-Atlantic dialect that highly theatrical, vaguely British, mid-20th manner of speech used primarily by actors like Katharine Hepburn. Two dogs from the ship, Turk and Juno, swim beside them. In truth, what Disney+ really needs is context. The novels, in one form or another, have also been adapted numerous times, sometimes changing location and time period: In 1963, the novel was dramatized by the Tale Spinners for Children series (United Artists Records UAC 11059) performed by the Famous Theatre Company. Disney made a lot of live-action movies in the 1960s and 1970s, but few are as fondly remembered as Swiss Family Robinson. Bob, my point is that it is not up to Disney to decide what my children should see or not see that is MY job as the parent. window.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || { In The Song of the Roustabouts, faceless Black workers toil away to offensive lyrics like When we get our pay, we throw our money all away.. The life of a well-to-do group from snowy, landlocked Switzerland doesn't suggest there would be much opportunity to learn the expert-level abilities the Robinsons demonstrate in their tropical paradise. Adapted from the 1812 novel of the same name, has the perfect kind of high-concept hook that's inspired everything from multiple direct adaptations to the 1960s TV series, : a family is stranded at sea after an attack by pirates, and must fend for itself on a deserted-island paradise. Older viewers (and more astute, geographically educated children who listen well) can figure out exactly where the Robinsons in Swiss Family Robinson get shipwrecked and take up residence. WebKids, Educational, Learning, Entertainment, ABC, History, Books. Also in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Rocketeer features Nazis who put millions of people in concertation camps in real life. Daniel Defoe's story of Robinson Crusoe has inspired many Swiss figures. There seem to be a lot of people commenting who dont understand that these movies are still available on Disney+, they just cant be watched by little kids without permission from their parents. Parents are still able to continue deciding what their children should and shouldnt see, even with the new changes being implemented. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. (Even though I strongly dislike The Aristocats, I feel slightly bad for the 1970 animated feature because no one at Disney realizes they have excluded the word "The" from the title.) I doubt kids get the references the movies portrayed. If Disney is going to do this, they need to also take out the popular show Phineas and Ferb also, because the main character Candaces best friend, Stacy and her little sister, are both Japanese descent and are drawn with slanted eyes, whereas Candace the white girl is drawn with perfectly round eyes. The family spends the next few days securing themselves against hunger. They could say nothing at all, or refuse to make these films viewable. The story was a best-seller at home and abroad, attracting an English-speaking readership in particular. The movie Robinsons, however, aren't real people, and they just roll with the scary and don't seem much worse for the wear. Swiss Family Robinson (1974) E04 - Animal Kingdom. They were sailing from Europe to the Indonesia-adjacent island of New Guinea in southeastern Asia. But it's not enough. The new notices have been implemented with the assistance of an advisory council composed of various organizations including GLAAD, the African American Film Critics Association, Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, IllumiNative, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and RespectAbility, among others. If they have any. Most of the titles receiving this treatment are old-school animated classics. Nodding towards the existence of the bad isn't quite enough. It's an attractive premise which appeals to readers. No, Swiss Family Robinson has not been removed from Disney+. However, it is no longer available in the childrens category. The Swiss Family Robinson reflects a fascination for the rest of the world, but it also presents the Swiss system as an effective and universally valid model. And in much the same way that Clark Kent's glasses conceal Superman's identity, in the world of this film, that head wrap somehow makes the pirates and the boys not notice 26-year-old actress Janet Munro's adult, feminine facial features. (Even though I strongly dislike, , I feel slightly bad for the 1970 animated feature because no one at Disney realizes they have excluded the word "The" from the title.) This is a quintessential Disney adventure, the kind of film that absolutely feels right at home in the theme parks. The Swiss Family Robinson father, mother and four sons survive a shipwreck on the high seas. The gun he gets thrown in by Sheldon Blake proves disabled, and for a sinister reason: near Borneo, Blake's men turn up to capture them. The narrative fosters the notion of belonging and Swiss heritage, which made it easier for readers to identify with it," notes Daniel Maggetti. Disney is overcorrecting. In the novel a minister, his wife, and their four sons are shipwrecked and become castaways on an island in the East Indies. This article is about the original novel. WebWhy did the Swiss Family Robinson not get into the boat? The movie opens with the Robinson family which includes two teenagers and a little kid trapped in a tiny room on a ship as it fills with water. However, twenty years before then, Disney released its original. Corrections? Swiss Family Robinson s1 e15 attack cat. Probably because of the cultural dominance and popularity of Lost,adults watching Swiss Family Robinsonmay be predisposed to not accepting a tropical island at face value. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together., Continued: Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe.. Then, of course, there are the pirates and that's where the title card about stories mattering comes in. We understand and can read the problem is my kids shouldnt need my permission to watch Peter Pan or the aristocrats or Dumbo..my God everything offends somebody..all thats happening is more of a divide is drawn because we go to much to the other extreme because someones feelings are hurtridiculous. An uncomplicated film leaves behind a complicated legacy, and one you can still feel both at the Disney theme parks and in films themselves. The book presents a geographically impossible array of large mammals and plants that probably could never have existed together on a single island, for the children's education, nourishment, clothing, and convenience. But it should/can be used as a learning tool. Disneys live-action 1960 feature Swiss Family Robinson is marked for its yellow face and brown face pirates, while 1941s Dumbo, flagged last year by the channel, now receives a more detailed explanation and some historical context: The crows and musical number pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations. A title card is better than those options, and it's better than nothing. When adapting Johann David Wyss' classic novel, Disney filmmakers didn't worry about toning down any of the Swiss references and historical markers. Updates? Though other adaptations may complicate the matter somewhat , obviously sets its action far away from a tropical island, and also features the nefarious Dr. Smith the Disney version of. In a strictly modest Disney movie from 1960, showing off a belly button would be downright profane, so most instances of shirtlessness involve the Robinson guys hilariously pulling up their long pants almost up to their chests so as to not flash anything untoward. WebThe Swiss Family Robinson reflects a fascination for the rest of the world, but it also presents the Swiss system as an effective and universally valid model. Go forward and live your life, unencumbered and free of content restraints. Swiss Family Robinson (1972) Family Animation. Disney Plus did not make that impossible with this move. Viewed through a sensitive, 21st-century lens, Swiss Family Robinson consists of one harrowing, dangerous, life-threatening, and thus potentially psychologically damaging event after another. 23:42. Im totally watching my DVD of Song of the South in honor of this absolutely nonsense! You will be redirected back to your article in, Banijay Asia CEO Deepak Dhar On The Night Manager, Remaking Suits And The Good Wife, And Making India A Regional Production Hub, Ricou Browning Dies: Creature From The Black Lagoons Gill-man Was 93, Parade At Standing Room Only During First Week Of Previews Broadway Box Office, Drama League Awards Announces This Years Special Recognition Honorees, Creed III Eyeing Franchise-Record 3-Day Debut Of $38M-$40M: Weekend Preview, Dune: The Sisterhood Star Shirley Henderson & Director Exit Amid Creative Overhaul, WGAW Exec Director David Young On Medical Leave; Ellen Stutzman To Lead Contracts Talks, HBOs Bill Maher, On CNN As Part Of Its New 9 PM Strategy, Predicts Biden Beats Trump In 24. The film, Disney's first shot in Panavision, is a widescreen marvel in no small part because it was actually shot on a tropical island: Tobago. WebThe father believes the dogs to be useless because they are both heavy (hard to transport on a raft) and because they eat too much while not providing any specific help. 20:37. However, there is a growing awareness regarding potentially problematic elements of a number of Disney productions too. The larger point is one I've repeated before, both on Twitterand on this very website: Disney+ needsa host. In truth, what Disney+ really needs is context. "We do not see the same success in Switzerland, Germany or France, where the work, although present, re-worked and adapted over time, has a much smaller readership than in American culture". And most importantly, Disney has to consider the bad influence of the award winning show Gravity Falls, where Gruncle Stan taught the kids: When the cops arent around, everythings legal! Or how about the time he had the kids print fake money and they ended up in jail? 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