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As the Disney+ versions gradually become the canonical releases of all Disney movies, I wouldn't be surprised if they retcon a number of their movies. There's a

As the Disney+ versions gradually become the canonical releases of all Disney movies, I wouldn't be surprised if they retcon a number of their movies. There's already been blatant examples like adding Hayden Christensen to Return of the Jedi[1], but they've also changed movies like Lilo & Stitch, Toy Story 2, Splash, etc and I think it will only get more prevalent as time goes by (although I'm sure the changes will be similar to the ones mentioned in the article- removing some of the darker aspects of their stories, or ones that might offend more puritan viewers.) [1]: I realize this change was pre-Disney+, but presumably Disney has the rights to previous cuts of Star Wars in addition to the "Special" ones

offtop5 6y ago
I can definitely see many of the Simpson episodes being taken down within the next decade. Physical media will always matter for this reason
- layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
  *piracy will always matter for this reason
  - ghaff 6y ago
    You're assuming that current content doesn't tend to drive out the older content. Piracy works a lot better for popular new material than for obscure older material. (The Simpsons is popular enough that this may not apply but torrents don't work very well for mostly obscure works.)
    - marcosdumay 6y ago
      I think the GP is just pointing that physical media mostly doesn't exist anymore, and even when it does, DRM means it's not durable.
      - ghaff 6y ago
        >physical media mostly doesn't exist anymore It mostly does. Of course, that will certainly change over time.
    - layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
      >torrents don't work very well for mostly obscure works You’re not on the right sites :)
    - neuralRiot 6y ago
      Private trackers FTW.
- Rebelgecko 6y ago
  Disney+ is already missing at least one Simpsons episode (the Michael Jackson one). A lot of jokes have also been censored or neutered, although some of those changes were already made to reruns before Disney+
echelon 6y ago
When and why did America become so embarrassed of itself? I'm a liberal, but I hate all of the censure going on. I think people have the capacity to understand change and social progress. In other instances, we're actually backsliding into conservatism (wrt sex and nudity). Replacing sex with violence is not a good alternative.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  As a cynic, I'd just guessed that every time they change a work they reset the copyright clock.
  - PeterisP 6y ago
    It does not reset the clock on the old version (which people might prefer), the changed version is technically a new work. However, the copyright terms are so long that the clock won't run out even for the old versions during my lifetime, so that's probably not the main reason.
- vagrantJin 6y ago
  Its a lack which manifests through an entire generation. Probably because movies are at the intersection of big money and expressive art. So revision of classics becomes status quo. Theres a good word to describe it : DECLINE. It's fundamentalism. Steven pressfield says it best. We cant find our way into the future so we retreat to the mystical 'golden age'...there are people pitching to remake Bambi - with a straight face. Why? Is there no new story to tell? No new classics to be written?
  - Razengan 6y ago
    > We cant find our way into the future so we retreat to the mystical 'golden age' This is such a perfect quote. Apt for many things.
- tzs 6y ago
  Not all the changes are because of embarrassment. The Lilo & Stitch change was to one scene, where Lilo tries to hide from her sister by hiding in the clothes dryer. They changed the dryer to a storage cabinet. It turns out that a couple thousand kids a year are injured by getting inside washers and dryers, and a few die. They either get locked in and suffocate, or somehow the machine gets turned on which can cause a lot of trauma.
raverbashing 6y ago
I think the only movie that D+ won't touch is Song of the South (for understandable reasons) though yeah, some other changes might be good ideas or not (though I don't mind so much the "updates" in the Star Wars movies)
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  Hiding $Song of the South* is silencing Black voices and erasing Black culture. If they cared about racism they'd do a remake that keeps the beautiful art and reframes the context a bit.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    Br'er Rabbit, like Rabinovich in soviet jokes, is often worthy of emulation. Was it Br'er Rabbit or a cousin (or maybe even El-ahrairah himself?) who convinced the Greedy Lion to attack his own reflection in the well?
  - curryst 6y ago
    It's a movie, made by white people, based on a book written by a white person, which was a re-writing of African American tales he collected on plantations. While at the very core there is a hint of Black culture, I would say that it's viewed through a very, very white lens, to the point that it's more of a statement of white America's views of Black culture than it is a piece of Black culture. > If they cared about racism they'd do a remake that keeps the beautiful art and reframes the context a bit. The controversy is almost core to the current interpretation of the movie. It's the fact that the characters (slaves or not slaves, but free men, if you follow the book which establishes the setting as antebellum) seem happy, or at least unperturbed, by their relationship with their master and their status in society. If you reflect the truth, that they were unhappy and being held down, that seems more like a new movie than it does a remake.
goto11 6y ago
The article is about how a story changes and evolves during the development of a movie. This happens for every movie and has nothing to do with censorship.
- Rebelgecko 6y ago
  I think it's interesting how the story can evolve and develop once the movie is already released. I think it's interesting how we perceive movies as being these immutable works, but they're actually being changed to better fit in with modern times (eg the removal of the bit in Toy Story 2 about Harvey Weinstein bit because jokes about his predations are less socially acceptable)

offtop5 6y ago

I can definitely see many of the Simpson episodes being taken down within the next decade. Physical media will always matter for this reason

layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
*piracy will always matter for this reason
- ghaff 6y ago
  You're assuming that current content doesn't tend to drive out the older content. Piracy works a lot better for popular new material than for obscure older material. (The Simpsons is popular enough that this may not apply but torrents don't work very well for mostly obscure works.)
  - marcosdumay 6y ago
    I think the GP is just pointing that physical media mostly doesn't exist anymore, and even when it does, DRM means it's not durable.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      >physical media mostly doesn't exist anymore It mostly does. Of course, that will certainly change over time.
  - layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
    >torrents don't work very well for mostly obscure works You’re not on the right sites :)
  - neuralRiot 6y ago
    Private trackers FTW.
Rebelgecko 6y ago
Disney+ is already missing at least one Simpsons episode (the Michael Jackson one). A lot of jokes have also been censored or neutered, although some of those changes were already made to reruns before Disney+

echelon 6y ago

When and why did America become so embarrassed of itself? I'm a liberal, but I hate all of the censure going on. I think people have the capacity to understand change and social progress. In other instances, we're actually backsliding into conservatism (wrt sex and nudity). Replacing sex with violence is not a good alternative.

082349872349872 6y ago
As a cynic, I'd just guessed that every time they change a work they reset the copyright clock.
- PeterisP 6y ago
  It does not reset the clock on the old version (which people might prefer), the changed version is technically a new work. However, the copyright terms are so long that the clock won't run out even for the old versions during my lifetime, so that's probably not the main reason.
vagrantJin 6y ago
Its a lack which manifests through an entire generation. Probably because movies are at the intersection of big money and expressive art. So revision of classics becomes status quo. Theres a good word to describe it : DECLINE. It's fundamentalism. Steven pressfield says it best. We cant find our way into the future so we retreat to the mystical 'golden age'...there are people pitching to remake Bambi - with a straight face. Why? Is there no new story to tell? No new classics to be written?
- Razengan 6y ago
  > We cant find our way into the future so we retreat to the mystical 'golden age' This is such a perfect quote. Apt for many things.
tzs 6y ago
Not all the changes are because of embarrassment. The Lilo & Stitch change was to one scene, where Lilo tries to hide from her sister by hiding in the clothes dryer. They changed the dryer to a storage cabinet. It turns out that a couple thousand kids a year are injured by getting inside washers and dryers, and a few die. They either get locked in and suffocate, or somehow the machine gets turned on which can cause a lot of trauma.

raverbashing 6y ago

I think the only movie that D+ won't touch is Song of the South (for understandable reasons) though yeah, some other changes might be good ideas or not (though I don't mind so much the "updates" in the Star Wars movies)

srtjstjsj 6y ago
Hiding $Song of the South* is silencing Black voices and erasing Black culture. If they cared about racism they'd do a remake that keeps the beautiful art and reframes the context a bit.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Br'er Rabbit, like Rabinovich in soviet jokes, is often worthy of emulation. Was it Br'er Rabbit or a cousin (or maybe even El-ahrairah himself?) who convinced the Greedy Lion to attack his own reflection in the well?
- curryst 6y ago
  It's a movie, made by white people, based on a book written by a white person, which was a re-writing of African American tales he collected on plantations. While at the very core there is a hint of Black culture, I would say that it's viewed through a very, very white lens, to the point that it's more of a statement of white America's views of Black culture than it is a piece of Black culture. > If they cared about racism they'd do a remake that keeps the beautiful art and reframes the context a bit. The controversy is almost core to the current interpretation of the movie. It's the fact that the characters (slaves or not slaves, but free men, if you follow the book which establishes the setting as antebellum) seem happy, or at least unperturbed, by their relationship with their master and their status in society. If you reflect the truth, that they were unhappy and being held down, that seems more like a new movie than it does a remake.

goto11 6y ago

The article is about how a story changes and evolves during the development of a movie. This happens for every movie and has nothing to do with censorship.

Rebelgecko 6y ago
I think it's interesting how the story can evolve and develop once the movie is already released. I think it's interesting how we perceive movies as being these immutable works, but they're actually being changed to better fit in with modern times (eg the removal of the bit in Toy Story 2 about Harvey Weinstein bit because jokes about his predations are less socially acceptable)