Jim On Film
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While no one doubts that it is important to guard our children against images that could create stereotypes in their minds, encourage violent behavior, or endorse chemical dependency, the reality is that Disney has only made selective edits in their immense library of films. Most of these edits lack logic or reason when compared to other films, causing frustration for the many devoted adult Disney fans. To my knowledge, the following Disney animated classic films have been released on video and/or DVD with at least one alteration:

Fantasia

Saludos Amigos

Make Mine Music

Melody Time

Lady and the Tramp

The Great Mouse Detective

Aladdin

The question must be asked as to why this matters. For some, it doesn’t. If it doesn’t and you’ve read this far, it must mean you’re bored. For those to whom it does matter, some reasons:

1. For some, it’s a matter of art. Most people, for one, do not read abridged literature (such as some high school editions of Shakespeare) and do not like abridged films. When Amy Tan wrote The Kitchen God’s Wife, if she had wanted to alter anything in the book, she would have done so before its printing. If she were to later alter the book, those who liked the book the way they remembered it could always find a copy from its first series of printings. The same, it can be reasoned, is true for Disney films. Unfortunately, fans cannot return to what was first shown in theaters.

2. For others, they like things the way they always remembered it. All of the sections of the package films from the 1940s (including Make Mine Music and Melody Time) have aired many times on television in various forms since their original release. Furthermore, all of those films, including Saludos Amigos, have been airing on The Disney Channel since the 1980s. I’ve even met collectors who remember the films from their original release. An alteration is an alteration in what they loved and a discrepancy in their memory.

3. For others, its a matter of frustration over the Politically Correct movement. People like to make choices for themselves.

In some cases, such as Fantasia, edits can be more than justified; however, most of the time, it happens as a result of faulty logic on the part of people at Buena Vista Home Video. Either way, if Disney is truly worried about corrupting the minds of America’s youth (in which case they’d burn all surviving copies of the Touchstone flick Camp Nowhere), then they should also cater to the adult collectors who have supported Disney for so many years.

In several letters written over the years (but one lonely letter hasn’t gotten very far), I have written to Buena Vista Home Video concerning the potential of adult collector’s editions of the films they have released in edited form. It is probable that Disney collectors would probably dish out a higher price to buy special editions of films, such as Melody Time, in which the film appears in its original theatrical form (as defined in a Webster’s Dictionary). Packaging could be clearly identified through special edition labels, and parents would shy away from the higher price. The DVDs could be sold in stores that cater to video collectors (such as Virgin, Suncoast Pictures, etc.) or on the Internet. This would prevent kids from learning to smoke like their hero Pecos Bill or from learning negative stereotypes about Arab Americans from watching Aladdin. For those who like Fantasia, if Disney were worried about offending parents and interest groups, they could mark the price up to, say, $40 or more, clearly identifying the unedited version for collectors interested for historical and collectable purposes. This would ensure no confusion in the potentially highly-offensive content. Surely this would not create a stir among high-powered interest groups, and Disney could earn some extra money too.

Too often Disney neglects the interests of its loyal adult collectors (such as the recent DVD releases of several live-action films without the option for widescreen viewing). Perhaps the biggest draw for many of these collectors is the Disney canon, the forty-one films created through Walt Disney Feature Animation, the same canon that Disney highly publicizes and counts on fans wanting to buy every seven years. If Disney is willing to perform elective surgery on these films for family viewing, perhaps they could be persuaded to present the originals for adult collectors as well.

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-- Jim Miles

-- Posted June 27, 2002

Copyright Jim Miles. Licensed to LaughingPlace.com.