Disneyland removes controversial ‘zip-a-dee-doo-dah’ lyric from its parade
New York
CNN
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Disneyland has eliminated the “zip-a-dee-doo-dah” lyric played through its park parades mainly because it arrives from a movie that has been criticized for racist portrayals of Black People.
The lyric originally appeared in the “Magic Happens” parade when it debuted in March 2020. The parade just lately returned just after a virtually a few-calendar year hiatus since of the Covid-19 pandemic. On its re-introduction very last month, spectators of the twice-each day parade, described as “celebrating magical moments from famous Disney stories” on its website, now listen to the lyric — “think of the happiest things” from “Peter Pan”— in its location.
The modify to the parade’s lyrics was initially reported in the OC Sign-up.
The tune “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” originated in the 1946 film “Song of the South” that has prolonged been criticized for stereotypes of “spiritual” Black guys and its seemingly nostalgic look at of the antebellum South.
Disney is in the method of slicing references to the movie in other parts of it parks. In 2020, Disney Parks and Resorts declared that Splash Mountain was currently being “completely reimagined” at both equally Disneyland and Walt Disney Planet, for the reason that the log flume ride is dependent on “Song of the South.” It is becoming revamped to star the people from the 2009 animated film, “The Princess and the Frog,” which capabilities Disney’s to start with Black princess.
Disney
(DIS) reported at the time that the new Splash Mountain concept is “inclusive” and “one that all of our visitors can join with and be motivated by.” The Splash Mountain trip at Walt Disney
(DIS) World in Orlando has by now been shut for transforming. The new attraction is envisioned to open at both US resorts in 2024.
Disneyland officers explained to the OC Sign up in 2020 that the elimination of the “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” tune from the theme park resort is section of a constant procedure to supply an surroundings that characteristics tales that are pertinent and inclusive. The OC Sign-up also stories that in 2020, the song was eliminated from tunes played in Downtown Disney, the shopping and eating district of the Disneyland resort, and in 2021 it was eradicated from the new music played at the King Arthur Carrousel.
“Song of the South” is so controversial that Disney has locked it away for a long time and even retained it off the substantial library of Disney+. Modifications to the log flume ride arrived just after Black Lives Issue protests in 2020 that spurred deep dialogue and introspection in Hollywood pertaining to depictions of race in well-liked society.