Wenches, Guns, and Pansies

By now, most Disneyland fanatics are aware of the upcoming changes to the Wench Auction scene on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (you can read about it here). This post will be sprinkled with some contemporary shots that I haven't published yet (yes, I get behind!), including the first juicy panorama shot.



There has been buzz for years about the Wench Auction scene being offensive because of its portrayal of women as sex objects sold by men. I get it...even though I'm a man, yes, I can understand it. What I never "got" in all the 46 years I have been on that attraction was that particular message; it never really occurred to me. Nope, it was just a fun scene showing some Pirates from the days of yore with a very saucy Red Head in the spotlight. Regardless of the hidden or not-so hidden subtext of the scene, to me, that Red Head was and always would be front and center and in control of the action.



What I DON'T understand is the crazy furor that the upcoming changes are causing. The banner that now reads “Auction, Take a wench for a bride” will be replaced with a sign that says “Auction, Surrender yer loot” and instead, the Red Headed Wench will be a gun-toting pirate. This will remove the "message" of the scene that degrades women; forget any kind of message it might send that carrying a gun is ok. Please people...one offensive item removal at a time.



Here's what I find truly offensive about the announcement itself: that in order to appease a very politically correct and sensitive public in order to keep the cash registers ringing, the Disney Corporation has to continually align itself with the lowest common denominator. Then, in an attempt to keep the "old guard" happy, they trot out a relic like Marty Sklar to say that Walt would be "ok" with this change. Folks, Walt is dead, and nobody really knows what he would think about ANY of the changes being made to his beloved theme park. So please...don't insult my intelligence with that crap.

Here are some of the amusing comments that have been made about the announcement. Misspellings and grammatical errors have been left intact for your reading pleasure:

So basically this what are world has become. We are going to change and censor our history just to be politically correct because a few overly sensitive Idiots don't agree what was and is real.

History? Do people really think that anything left at Disneyland is about real history?

A bigger priority should be changing the atrociously ignorant audio representation of the Polynesian gods in the waiting area of the Tiki Room.

"Me Rongo—God of Agriculture. My land so good to me, I got time for sport. I fly kite. Me number one kite-flyer. Too bad I don’t have key—then me, I find electricity."

Hang on people...I'm sure that attraction will be fixed in the very near future, too.

After 40 years people are now taking offense to this? There are too many overly sensitive fools running amok in society.

Replacing one felony with another. Brilliant!

it's about darn time. because of that ride, I spent my entire childhood and early adult life thinking it was OK to auction women off for marriage or servitude. I've since learned that this is wrong! Just because a cartoon pirate does something, it doesn't make it OK.

I'm offended they spelled your, "yer".

Yo Ho Yo Ho...A Neutered Life For Me...

Disney neutered the Star wars movies........now they are looking for new targets

And to think this was the country that got through WWI, The Great Depression, and brought down Germany, Italy and Japan. We have become a nation of wusses afraid of our own shadows.

Pc correct pansys need to shut their fat mouths and stop ruining everything for others

They censored other parts of the ride back when they added Jack Sparrow a few years ago, too. At this rate the cutlasses will be feather dusters and the muskets will be super soakers in another decade.

And my very favorite:

I guess they need to change the name to "Pansies of the Caribbean".

Amazing that with all that's going on in the world that people find time to be surprised about the Disney Corporation making this change. If you don't like it, don't go to the Park. Vote with your wallet. And if you are in favor of this change, get your ass over to the Park and ride this attraction. It would be interesting to see just how many of the people that vocalized their complaints actually drop money at Disneyland. In the end, who cares. The Red Headed Wench will always survive one way or another.



For more vintage and contemporary Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland photos head on over to my main website.