A student has slammed classic Disney films for being ‘horrendously outdated and offensive’, claiming that the Jungle Book character King Louie is racist and that many of the animations have ‘not aged well’.
Lauren Robertson re-watched 11 Disney favourites – accusing most of them of ‘portraying racist and exaggerated stereotypes’.
The student, who studies languages at Aberdeen University, branded films such as Dumbo, The Lady and the Tramp and The Little Mermaid as ‘dodgy’.
Addressing The Jungle Book, from 1967, Lauren, who is originally from Dunblane said: ‘Remember King Louie the orangutan?
Lauren Robertson (pictured above) re-watched 11 Disney favourites – accusing most of them of ‘portraying racist and exaggerated stereotypes’
The student claimed that the Jungle Book character King Louie (pictured above) is racist
‘You probably didn’t realise when you watched it age five with all your animal teddies lined up in front of the TV, but there is a hell of a lot of criticism about him being a racist caricature.
‘He and the other monkeys are shown to be foolish and criminal, and they literally sing about wanting to be able to make the white man’s fire.’
She also warned viewers not to be ‘fooled by fond memories of two cute pups eating spaghetti’ in Lady and the Tramp – something which she claimed is ‘actually problematic in itself’, but did not go into detail as to why she thought it was an issue.
Miss Robertson also highlighted the scene with the Siamese cats and said the ‘Siamese Cat Song’ was racist and had been ‘cut out of the remake’.
Miss Robertson (pictured above) also discussed other Disney films such as Lady and the Tramp
Miss Robertson said the scene from Lady and the Tramp which shows the ‘Siamese Cat Song’ (still image from the film above)
She added that re-watching some of the most famous scenes was ‘painful’ and ‘completely cringeworthy’.
‘Not only do the cats both look and sound identical, their characters are sneaky and quite frankly annoying.’
Miss Robertson also delved into Dumbo, which has recently been remade by Disney, she claimed it is ‘racist’.
She said the lead crow ‘Jim Crow’ was a term used to mock black men, adding that you ‘didn’t have to look far to see where the movie goes wrong’.
She also highlighted the the crow scene in Dumbo (above) and said it was used to ‘mock black men’
When launching its new streaming service, Disney put some disclaimers in the descriptions of the films
‘In amongst its classic bops, Disney has many songs with pretty problematic lyrics.
‘In Dumbo’s ‘Song of the Roustabouts’, faceless dark-skinned characters sing ‘When other folks have gone to bed / We slave until we’re almost dead.’
Some of Miss Robertson’s harshest criticism was reserved for the original version of Aladdin, which she explains ‘everything’ is ‘problematic’.
She said it was another film that Disney remade in order to ‘cover up the blatantly problematic original’.
‘Right smack bang in the middle of the opening song, Agrabah (Arab-land) is described to be ‘barbaric, but hey, it’s home.’
Miss Robertson said Aladdin was ‘problematic’ and added that Disney had made a new version to cover up the previous mistakes
Many titles on Disney+ were also listed as containing ‘tobacco depictions’ but didn’t highlight the concerns Miss Robertson had
‘Aladdin is a white fantasy with mispronounced Arabic words and has nonsense scribbles as writing. They also have American accents?’
She looked back to when she was a child and said she though Jasmine had been ‘badass’, but that now she saw her as a character who ‘cries into her tiger’s fur’.
Other films that came under fire in the astonishing rant include Beauty and the Beast, for ‘bestiality’, Cinderella is ‘super anti-feminist’ and The Little Mermaid.
Miss Robertson said some of the old classic movies are not the most politically correct or culturally appropriate.
Miss Robertson (pictured above) added that she was glad she ‘got over her dreams of being a Disney Princess’
‘Many of the films have not aged well, with characters portraying racist and exaggerated stereotypes.
‘It’s a good shout from Disney to acknowledge that many of the films would not be so well received if they were released today, that is if they were allowed to be released at all, they’re that dodgy.’
She added that she was ‘shocked’ when she watched them back and realised how ‘horrendously offensive and outdated’ many of them are.
‘Honestly I’m glad I got over my dreams of being a Disney Princess, because that dodgy world is not one I want to live in.’
MailOnline has contacted Disney which had previously added to its new platform that some of its old film may feature ‘outdated cultural depictions’.