Disney's Subliminal Messaging

The term subliminal message is - in layman's terms - any images, words, or sounds that fly under your subconscious - or unconscious mind embedded in another signal, designed to pass below the normal limits of human perception.. Subliminal messaging has been around for years; in advertisements, radio, television, movies, books, etc. Subliminal messages usually is an idea or theory that someone is trying to imprint on your mind to make you think a certain way.

Example: The cartoon on the right is a very extreme and blatant example of a subliminal message. Its almost considered not a subliminal message because it is so blatant.

For years, Disney has displayed their enjoyment with subliminal messaging. Of course the wholesome tyrant has explained away any accusations of such "disgusting monstrosity". However, not only does Disney show their "disgusting monstrosity" for racism (as explained in Is Disney Racist?), but they also display their "disgusting monstrosity" in subliminal messaging as well.

Disney's The Little Mermaid

In Disney's The Little Mermaid we meet 16 years old Ariel - a mermaid, who wants to ditch her life under the sea for a "luxurious life" part of our world. Problem is that she meets a handsome prince who isn't a fish, he's a land man who can't know that she's a mermaid.

Ariel's prince picks the wrong girl to marry, but this isn't the subliminal message. Have you ever noticed that - in the original Little Mermaid - the priest performing the marriage ceremony between Ariel's prince and the other female suitor seems to get a little too excited in the pants region when he says the opening vows as shown in the picture to the right.

Of course Disney's PR explains it as a knee. But, if you have seen the first few original copies of Disney's The Little Mermaid on VHS, you'll notice that the "knee" grows, not move. What do you think? I think: Disney, you've been caught.

Also, you'll notice that on the original VHS cover of Disney's The Little Mermaid that there's a very visible phallus strategically placed in the golden towers of the city of Atlantica in the background. Of course Disney has changed this now, but back when The Little Mermaid was first released it was very prominent on the VHS' cover.

These are just two examples in Disney's The Little Mermaid alone! Let us discover more, shall we?

The Rescuers

In the 1977 Disney classic, The Rescuers, two mice named Bianca and Bernard go around saving children in need. They fly on a bird in one of the scenes through the city where, in the background, you can see a poster of a topless woman about 38 minutes into the movie.

On January 8, 1999, Disney announced a recall of the home video version of The Rescuers because it contained an "objectionable background image". Newer copies of the video have been redone so that you can no longer see this poster in the background, but if you have the original copy of The Rescuers until the year 1999 you can take a look for yourself.

The Lion King

In Disney's The Lion King, Simba is banished from his pride by his evil uncle who plans on taking the thrown and becoming king for selfish reasons. In one particular scene, as Simba slumps down to concentrate on his life, particles of dust float away from him spelling the word 'sex'.

Yet again, Disney execs tried to explain this away as well claiming that really the words in the floating debris is in all actuality a homage to their special effects group - SFX. Of course we could argue that it does indeed say S-F-X instead of S-E-X because the 'F' in SFX is simply an 'E' from SEX with the bottom erased from it. If not for their track record in adding subliminal messages to their movies, I actually would have believed their explanation myself. But, you be the judge of whether you believe Disney or your own eyes.

Tangled

Tangled is a remake of the beloved story of Rapunzel by the animation giant, Disney. In a promotional poster of Tangled we see Rapunzel wrapping her hair innocently around the leading man, Flynn Ryder. But was that act simply an act of defiance or an act of subliminal messaging? Let's take a look. On the right you can see the picture innocently showing Rapunzel wrapping Flynn in her hair, but right below it is the same picture with Disney's true meaning right there in bold red letters. This is the second time Disney has displayed the word 'sex' in their animations. The first was The Lion King, as stated above. Mistake? Another SFX homage? Or does Disney seriously have some explaining to do?