10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Dumbo (1941)

Although Dumbo is now a cherished American classic, it still stands as one of Disney's most controversial films. On the Disney Plus streaming service, it is one of many animated movies to come with a warning first about racial stereotypes and negative depictions. This is mostly because of the group of crows who sing the When I See An Elephant Fly number.

The crows pay tribute to racial minstrel shows, in which white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved African Americans on Southern plantations. The lead crow is named Jim Crow, a reference to the laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.

There's also the Song of the Roustabouts scene, depicting faceless black workers with lyrics such as "Boss man houndin' keep on poundin' for your bed and feed".

But it's not just the questionable crows that have put Dumbo under the microscope. The Pink Elephants on Parade sequence - a surreal moment which sees the titular character get intoxicated and experience a hallucination of garishly pink, empty-eyed pachyderms - has of course come under scrutiny too.