Disneyland is removing a portion of its decades-old “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride that depicts a scene in which women are sold on an auction block. The scene, which was a very real aspect of a pirate’s life, depicted the depravity and violence rife among seafaring buccaneers.
Walt Disney Co. announced Friday its plans to cut out the section when it closes for routine maintenance in 2018, replacing it with something more family friendly. According to the Los Angeles Times, the company plans to remove any imagery that might offend park visitors with “modern sensibilities.”
The scene depicts a group of women bound by rope to be auctioned off before a banner that reads “Auction: Take a wench for a bride.”
The auction block setting has been the subject of feminist controversy in recent years. In 2010, Ms. Magazine condemned the ride for “making light of sex slavery” in its overt depiction of the practice, which was commonplace in the Golden Age of Piracy centuries ago.
The publication argued that Disney has the “unparalleled power to shape young hearts and minds” and that it “normalizes sexual slavery” that could potentially desensitize attendees to the subject — as if countless episodes of Law & Order: SVU and other TV shows don’t already point out the heinousness of the crime. Won’t someone please think of the children?
Disneyland plans to replace the scene, with one of townsfolk being forced to surrender their possessions to invading pirates before a sign that reads “Auction: Surrender yer loot.” The red-haired bride from the original auction remains, not as a prize, but as a pirate. It’s a scene that only makes sense in today’s politically correct climate.
It isn’t the only scene to be replaced for reasons of political correctness. The park previously redesigned a scene where pirates chased women to have the women holding trays of food — giving viewers the impression that they’re after the food, and not the women. A balcony scene was also completely revised to have a woman lusting after a pirate shunning her advances. What little agency these pirates have.
