"While the original film should, of course, be preserved for historical purposes, there is no need for the general release version to perpetrate racist stereotypes in a film designed primarily for children."
If that be the case, then what is the point in keeping the original at all if nobody is ever going to see it? Might as well destroy the original celluloid if it's never going to be seen again.
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Committed Brony
Disney is very wise to only release the film with the updated animation. However, I don't think this means that they should destroy any prints with the original artwork. The film is very historically significant and it would be a pity to destroy the original prints.
shareSo I ask again, what is the point in saving them if no one is ever going to see them? Their historical value is meaningless if the only people who will ever see them are Disney animators.
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Committed Brony
The point in preserving the original prints is NOT to market and release this version to the public. The value of preserving the original prints is not monetary. There is intrinsic value for Disney and for film history in preserving the original print because of the historical significance of the film. There may be a time and a context for which the original animation can be shown, perhaps in documentaries about Fantasia, historical depictions of races in film, Walt Disney, Disney films, etc. As far as releasing Fantasia in theaters and for home media, Disney should continue to release the edited animation.
shareWhile how about this, I just found out that Saludos Amigos, a film created by Disney in 1942 was included with a documentary about Walt Disney's trip to South America which inspired the film. On video a cigerette was edited out of Goofy's mouth, but the version included with the documentry DVD is unedited. If Disney released a documentary about Fantasia and they choose to include the film, wouldn't it be proper to include the original unedited version?
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Committed Brony
I think the best scenario in that case would be to show clips of the unedited animation in the documentary itself, but not include the original version of the film. I have the Blu-ray of Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 and I don't recall the original animation being on the set at all in any special features or documentaries, which I'm okay with. I think in a few years Disney will re-release it on Blu-ray, perhaps as a 'Diamond Edition' and maybe it will contain a documentary which discusses the controversy and it could show clips or still photos of the original animation. It's possible that the documentaries on the existing Blu-ray mention the issues, though I haven't seen these features since the Blu-ray was released.
For those really curious about the original animation, I just found it on Youtube.
People are missing a major flaw in Eberts' statement. He said that the film was "designed primarily for children".
This is not true at all. Fantasia was never designed primarily for children. It was created for people of all ages. It's for adults as well as kids. Nearly all animated films, both feature length and short subject, were either aimed at families (all ages) or adolescents and adults. The Looney Tunes and MGM Cartoons by Tex Avery were mainly created for adults.
Fantasia should have been left uncut and uncensored. For one thing, kids probably wouldn't have understood the meanings behind the Sunflower character and just thought she was another cute character. Adults, however, would have understood the implications and what it said about the era in which the film was created. There was injustice and unfairness during that time period and leaving Sunflower in the film would have reminded us of that.
To erase Sunflower is an effort to erase the prejudice and injustice present during those times. It's an effort to pretend that those prejudices never happened.
Is that what we want? A White-Washed History?
I agree that this movie was definitely intended for young and old alike (and everyone in between). As for erasing Sunflower, I honestly feel like the sequence works perfectly without her, so I don't see a problem here.
shareEven though i hate when an origginal version is edited, at least what Disney did for Fantasia makes more sense than the Star Wars changes. We all have to realize that Disney is a family company, and the change they made is minimal because whether Sunflower is there or not makes little impact on the story. Is it wrong artistically? Yes. I just wish that disney hopefully gets back to making the disney treasures boxsets. They were great with exainjng cultural and time oriented animated shorts.
shareThe original animation should never be altered. Disney should do what Warner Bros did for their "Golden Age of Looney Tunes" DVD collection. Whoopi Goldberg (or on some DVDs, it was simply written on the screen in the beginning prior to the cartoons) stated a disclaimer,basically stating that while the animation was racist or inappropriate, to remove this is acting like it never existed and is ignoring a part of our history. I think these are educational to watch because it provides an opportunity to have a thoughtful discussion on culture,racism,society,etc..
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