Los Angeles (AFP)

Disney will modify the "Splash Mountain" attractions of its American parks, which evoke the racist past of the United States, to put them in the colors of its first black princess, Tiana, he announced Thursday.

Very popular attraction of Disneyland (California) and Disney World (Florida), "Splash Moutain" consists of an aquatic course in a dummy trunk ending in a big fall in water.

The current theme of "Splash Mountain" is taken from a very controversial Disney film, "Melody of the South". As soon as it was released in 1946, it had attracted numerous critics who accused it of disseminating racist clichés and painting in an idyllic light the slave plantations of the old South of the United States.

For these reasons, the film has not been shown in theaters since the 1980s and has never been released on DVD. "Mélodie du Sud" was also deliberately kept out of the Disney + video on demand platform catalog.

The two "Splash Mountain" will be "completely reimagined" and will in the future stage the story of "The Princess and the Frog", whose heroine Tiana is the first black princess from Disney.

"The new concept will be inclusive, all of our visitors will be able to navigate and be inspired by it, and it will speak to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year," the world's number one entertainment provider said in a statement. .

This decision comes as many statues and monuments associated with slavery and racist oppression are removed or renamed across the United States, in the wake of demonstrations denouncing the death of George Floyd.

For Disney, the change of theme of "Splash Mountain has a particularly important meaning today" but the company says that it had already started this process since last year and is used to bringing its attractions in line with their time.

In the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, a scene showing women sold at auction had, for example, been removed from a "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction at Disneyland.

"It's important that our visitors can recognize themselves in the experiences we create," said Carmen Smith, creative and inclusion strategies at Disney.

The group has not specified when these changes would be completed in the two US parks, which are currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

© 2020 AFP