10 Potentially Racist Undertones In Family Films You Never Noticed

3. Dumbo

Whilst The Jungle Book made some dangerous parallels that could offend African-American culture, it just about managed to stay subtle enough as not to cause too much of an uproar. Dumbo on the other hand, contains some of the most blatantly racist material that has ever graced a Disney film. Again, there was a song for the ethnic minority, as the tent-pitchers in Dumbo all chanted, "Keep on working, stop that shirking, pull that rope, you hairy ape!" These characters are black, but not even given faces, and if that's not offensive enough for you, try the black crows, who are depicted as lazy, jive-speaking and cigar-smoking. Coincidence? One of them calls himself Jim Crow. Walt Disney comes under a fair share of criticism for his racism, misogyny and anti-semitism, and Dumbo is one of his defining works when it comes to offence. Despite this, the film holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.