7 Truths Behind Disney's Hidden Sexual Messages That Aren't as Sexy as We Think
Debunking Disney "sexy subliminal messages" one post at a time.
Everyone, including myself, loves to think that Disney animators have been secretly adding explicit images to our favorite childhood movies for years. I'm not 100% sure why. It could be that it's funny, perhaps just because the idea of being a child totally oblivious to sexual suggestions reminds us of happier times, or maybe the conspiracy theory that Illuminati are trying to brainwash us is just too good to pass up.
In any case, most of Disney's "subliminal sexual messages" have taken a decent amount of imagination to create and perpetuate. While I'm sure that you guys are aware of some of the following debunkings (hello, this is the Internet after all), let's just clear the air a bit by dispelling and confirming some of these rumors.
1. The bishop doesn’t get aroused in The Little Mermaid
Sadly, the elderly bishop officiating Vanessa and Prince Eric's wedding was not so excited that he popped an animated hard-on. While the anatomy of animated characters can be a bit tricky, in an interview with HuffPost Entertainment, one of the former Disney animators behind The Little Mermaid Tom Sito cleared this one up.
"It's his knees. The joke was he’s a little man standing on a box and his robes, his big bishop robes, are draped over everything so they’re covering his whole body. And people are just seeing what they want to see."
Ahhhhh the knees. That makes sense. But it did kind of look like a boner, even if it wasn't intentional. In versions released later, the little nubbin was removed thus ending any speculation from future generations...maybe.
2. Also, a disgruntled Disney employee didn’t draw a penis on its promotional art
Similar to the bishop's mistaken member, Disney claims that adding a phallic image in their promotional art was completely unintentional. No, it was not the work of a Disney employee who had been made aware of his imminent unemployment, but just a mistake of an outsourced artist who was working with tired eyes late into the night.
I mean, it for sure looks like a penis, but Snopes spoke to the artist and in this case it really was just an accident and not the work of some higher, sex-obsessed power. Or so they claim. Again, the spire was removed once Disney had been made aware of the rumors going around. I wonder what it's like to work for Disney's PR team.
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In any case, most of Disney's "subliminal sexual messages" have taken a decent amount of imagination to create and perpetuate. While I'm sure that you guys are aware of some of the following debunkings (hello, this is the Internet after all), let's just clear the air a bit by dispelling and confirming some of these rumors.
1. The bishop doesn’t get aroused in The Little Mermaid
Sadly, the elderly bishop officiating Vanessa and Prince Eric's wedding was not so excited that he popped an animated hard-on. While the anatomy of animated characters can be a bit tricky, in an interview with HuffPost Entertainment, one of the former Disney animators behind The Little Mermaid Tom Sito cleared this one up.
"It's his knees. The joke was he’s a little man standing on a box and his robes, his big bishop robes, are draped over everything so they’re covering his whole body. And people are just seeing what they want to see."
Ahhhhh the knees. That makes sense. But it did kind of look like a boner, even if it wasn't intentional. In versions released later, the little nubbin was removed thus ending any speculation from future generations...maybe.
2. Also, a disgruntled Disney employee didn’t draw a penis on its promotional art
Similar to the bishop's mistaken member, Disney claims that adding a phallic image in their promotional art was completely unintentional. No, it was not the work of a Disney employee who had been made aware of his imminent unemployment, but just a mistake of an outsourced artist who was working with tired eyes late into the night.
I mean, it for sure looks like a penis, but Snopes spoke to the artist and in this case it really was just an accident and not the work of some higher, sex-obsessed power. Or so they claim. Again, the spire was removed once Disney had been made aware of the rumors going around. I wonder what it's like to work for Disney's PR team.
