Disgustingly, many of these innocent cartoons have been found to have a wide range of perverted images and sounds in the background. Apparently, Disney animators are often horny and bored, and express their sexual frustration in the animations. In several cases, disgusting little tidbits have risen to the surface and shown obvious sexual references. Don't ask me who finds this stuff - I think the person who watches these movies in slow motion looking for penuses is more of a threat to society than the dirty animators. But nevertheless, Disney may not be all it's cracked up to be.
I'm sure there are examples in other movies, but I don't know them. Perhaps someone will node some.
Eloquence: although i do not deny that i am perverted or nasty, i have seen the tower and it is unmistakably a penis. Perhaps you have not seen a penis before but that particular 'tower' was blatantly drawn as one. If you didnt see it, its probably because Disney quickly discontinued the box which had this scene.
I don't think the human body is 'nasty' either, but I dont think its nececarrily the best thing in the world to have penis shaped towers, etc, all over children's cartoons
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, during the scene where Benny the Cab crashes into a lamp post after leaving toontown, Jessica Rabbit gets thrown into the air in such a way that you can see all the way to her holiest of holies for a few frames if you run the scene in slow motion.You can find the frames in question at http://www.snopes2.com/disney/info/jesspics.htm.
Also, the original video release of that movie had single frames of Hardcore Pornography in it, ala Fight Club.
One true case of nudity in a Disney movie is "The Rescuers", where a scene with a topless dancer was hidden in the background. However, the examples you cite are mostly false. Much background information can be found at the Urban Legends Reference Page: Disney: <http://www.snopes2.com/disney/films/films.htm>. The page also shows screenshots and has audio-examples. With regard to the "penis-tower", it says:
Claim: One of the castle spires on the cover of Disney's The Little Mermaid home video was deliberately drawn as a phallus by a disgruntled artist. Status: False. Synopsis: One of the castle spires in the background of the The Little Mermaid promotional artwork bears an unmistakable resemblance to a penis, so much so that many people are unwilling to dismiss the drawing as mere accident or coincidence. Rumors started circulating shortly after the release of the videocassette edition of The Little Mermaid that the phallic object had been deliberately drawn as a last act of defiance by a disgruntled Disney artist who was miffed at being notified that he would be laid off at the conclusion of the project. The plain truth is that the resemblance between the castle spire and a penis was purely accidental, and it was drawn by an artist who was neither disgruntled nor about to be dismissed. First of all, the artist who created the video cover art did not work for Disney itself, thus he was neither "disgruntled with Disney" nor "about to be fired." We questioned the artist, who also drew artwork for Little Mermaid theatrical advertising, pop-ups, greeting cards, Happy Meal boxs, and CDs. The theatrical posters were done before the original release of the film, but the video cover art was not created until a few months before the home video version hit the market. Rushed to complete the video artwork (featuring towers that were rather phallic to begin with), the artist hurried through the background detail (at "about four in the morning") and inadvertently drew one spire that bore a rather close resemblance to a penis. The artist himself didn't notice the resemblance until a member of his youth church group heard about the controversy on talk radio and called him at his studio with the news. The later laserdisc release of the film was issued with a cover containing an altered version of the infamous spire.
Status: False.
Synopsis: One of the castle spires in the background of the The Little Mermaid promotional artwork bears an unmistakable resemblance to a penis, so much so that many people are unwilling to dismiss the drawing as mere accident or coincidence. Rumors started circulating shortly after the release of the videocassette edition of The Little Mermaid that the phallic object had been deliberately drawn as a last act of defiance by a disgruntled Disney artist who was miffed at being notified that he would be laid off at the conclusion of the project. The plain truth is that the resemblance between the castle spire and a penis was purely accidental, and it was drawn by an artist who was neither disgruntled nor about to be dismissed.
First of all, the artist who created the video cover art did not work for Disney itself, thus he was neither "disgruntled with Disney" nor "about to be fired." We questioned the artist, who also drew artwork for Little Mermaid theatrical advertising, pop-ups, greeting cards, Happy Meal boxs, and CDs. The theatrical posters were done before the original release of the film, but the video cover art was not created until a few months before the home video version hit the market. Rushed to complete the video artwork (featuring towers that were rather phallic to begin with), the artist hurried through the background detail (at "about four in the morning") and inadvertently drew one spire that bore a rather close resemblance to a penis. The artist himself didn't notice the resemblance until a member of his youth church group heard about the controversy on talk radio and called him at his studio with the news. The later laserdisc release of the film was issued with a cover containing an altered version of the infamous spire.
It is remarkable that many of these rumors originate from conservative action groups and parents. It seems that the perception for nudity increases as the exposure to it decreases, up to the point where sexuality is seen in buildings, swarms of dust, background noise, unidentified shapes under clothes ..
Who's the pervert here?
Although I guess this isn't classed as nasty sexual imagery, this is as good a place as any to mention it.
I remember that shortly after The Lion King, there was a story in the tabloids about a recall of the talking storybooks. You know, those books that have a panel of buttons down one side that you can press to make various story related sound effects. Apparently, the Lion King edition of this book had parents up in arms. There was a button for Rafiki the baboon, I can't remember exactly what he was supposed to say. Many people had decided that he was saying something very innapropriate, and Disney quickly had the book recalled.
Now apparently this didn't apply to their very own Euro Disney. I went there about half a year later, and after spotting said story book in one of their many gift shops, I couldn't resist having a listen, even though I was pretty sure all of the offending books had been replaced by 'safer' versions.
It turns out I was wrong after hearing "SHOVE BANANAS UP HIS ARSE, SHOVE BANANAS UP HIS ARSE!" blaring out of the tiny speaker on the front. I stood there laughing to myself, nobody else seemed to notice. I soon made sure all my friends heard this too, I would have liked to have bought the book, but alas, I was much younger and couldn't afford the extortionate Disney prices.
I still to this day have absolutely no idea what Rafiki was actually supposed to be saying.
3/3/01: Powers has just informed me that Rafiki was actually supposed to be saying "Asante Sana, Squash Banana" . Shows how shitty the speakers really are on those things.
I've seen the scene in question. Freeze-framed, no less. They're his knees. He has really short legs, so his knees are fairly close to his body. In one frame his robe is above his knees, and when he bends them, the robe covers them, creating an erect bulge. THEY'RE KNEES.
Thank you.
All the urban legends you've probably heard about Disney movies, and more, can be found at snopes.com, specifically at (http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/films.asp). Among the more interesting ones:
Ironically, here's the ones you probably haven't heard about:
printable version chaos
Everything2 Help
