I’m not sure if I can genuinely describe Disney’s 1955 classic, Lady and the Tramp as a childhood favourite. I suspect, in fact it was a childhood favourite of my younger sister, but I did watch a lot of Disney movies in my teens, often under the guise of being slightly irritated because we only had one TV and I therefore didn’t have a choice (unless I wanted to do something productive like my homework. Which frankly I didn’t). Anyway, whether out of choice or because I lacked any kind of impetus to do anything else, I did watch them. And if I’m being honest I enjoyed them.
When, in more recent times, I started subscribing to Disney Plus, it was purely on the basis of being able to watch Star Wars and Marvel stuff. But I do have a young daughter and so I did start re-watching some of the Disney animated movies with her. And while again under the pretext of watching them for the benefit of someone else, I have rediscovered the fact that I quite enjoy them. Not all of them, of course. Disney has made some duds. But I definitely enjoy some of them.
And Lady and the Tramp would definitely count as one of the good ones. If you can ignore a bit of racism in the middle of the movie. Because the Siamese cats are pretty unacceptable. I’m not a fan of the notion of removing the racist bits of old movies. I think they serve as a helpful reminder of the kinds of views that are probably more prevalent than we’d like to admit even today. The offensive cats aren’t in it for very long, but they do serve as quite an important plot device so you couldn’t really edit them out anyway.
Cats aside, Lady and the Tramp is entirely charming. I haven’t seen the ‘live action’ remake yet, but I find it hard to imagine that it could possibly be as good. Although I also find it hard to imagine that it could possibly be entirely ‘live action’ either.
Score for Christmasishness
While definitely not a Christmas movie, the story is bookended by two Christmases, which certainly gives it a Christmassy vibe. Also, one of the titular characters is, in fact, a Christmas present. And I’m pretty sure the VHS tape that we watched to death as children was also a Christmas present. Although that probably shouldn’t be taken into consideration. Nonetheless, I’m happy to declare that Lady and the Tramp is quite Christmas(ish).
James Proclaims! 
On the racism aspect its quite telling that you can’t buy ‘Song Of The South’ on DVD, Maybe it was available on VHS- or Beta not- I guess its from that age where every view was blindingly white.
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Yes, apparently that one crosses a line that even Disney can’t live with anymore.
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Interesting critique. Lady and the tramp is a favorite of mine and I agree with everything you said. The thing is there is so much racismand stereotypes in those old movies eliminating it can ruin the story. in Dumbo the crows are horrible stereotypes but they sing the best song and they discover his ability to flyYo need them.
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Joyous Laughter
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Haven’t seen Dumbo in years but I do remember the crows being fairly pivotal to the flight and excellent singers. But it’s not hard to imagine that they were racist stereotypes either. It’s a minefield really but I think it’s worse to try and edit them out of history than to just acknowledge that racism used to be a bit more explicit and openly accepted than it is now. How else will we learn?
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I agree better to educate than eliminate 😂🤣😂
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