I linked to this article on Disney Revisionism in my quick link roundup because I didn’t have time to write a full review of the article as I had originally intended. Jeff Pepper read the story and found it lacking in veracity. He offered this rebuke to the article that he has allowed me to publish:
I checked out that particular link on your Roundup today and just wanted
to give you some feedback about it. Typical of this type of punditry,
the authors did some very poor research and kind of played hard and
loose with the facts. Likely more out of ignorance than anything. To my
knowledge, since enacting their anti-smoking initiative last year,
Disney has not censored or revised any older films or classic
animation. The edits of Goofy they refer to were done nearly a decade
ago at a time when BVHV was being ridiculous about that kind of
censorship. A very vocal group of Disney enthusiasts put together a
petition and sent it to Roy Disney to protest these types of actions.
Ultimately, the company rethought their marketing strategies and began
to produce the Treasures line. I believe there still may be edits left
intact in the current Cartoon Classics DVD series but those are
specifically marketed to a young demographic.
It was a bit disingenuous of them to infer that the Goofy edits were
made in response to last years initiative, and then hold it up as
hypocritical in comparison to material on a Treasures DVD. I don’t
think the company has any intention of editing films like 101 Dalmatians
or Alice in Wonderland. as these two gentlemen speculate in an overly
alarmist fashion.
Well said Jeff. You can find more of Jeff Pepper’s excellent coverage of all things Disney at 2719Hyperion.