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Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean gets feminist makeover, removes wench auction

 
Disney has given its Pirates of the Caribbean a ride a modern update. The red-headed character who was once a "wench" for sale is now a pirate auctioneer named Redd who oversees a sale of the townspeople's most prized possessions and goods.  Photo courtesy Walt Disney World
Disney has given its Pirates of the Caribbean a ride a modern update. The red-headed character who was once a "wench" for sale is now a pirate auctioneer named Redd who oversees a sale of the townspeople's most prized possessions and goods. Photo courtesy Walt Disney World
Published March 21, 2018

In the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp, the image of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride's auction of "wenches" for sale just didn't seem so funny anymore. The theme park released an updated storyline this week at the Magic Kingdom that features a red-haired female pirate.

"Just as Walt Disney embraced and encouraged Disney Parks to 'keep moving forward' since the opening of Disneyland Park in 1955, Walt Disney Imagineering has introduced many new characters at Pirates of the Caribbean attraction over the years," a statement on the official Disney parks blog said.

The red-haired character was once a wench for sale. Now she's a pirate auctioneer who oversees a sale of the townspeople's most prized possessions and goods.

"In this scene, the familiar redhead figure has switched sides to become a pirate named Redd, who's just pillaged the town's rum supply and has something to say about it," the Disney release said.

The original sign in the scene read "AUCTION" and "Take a wench for a bride." It now reads "AUCTION" and "SURRENDER YER LOOT."

The change didn't go over too well for some fans of Disney theme parks, who don't like the classics to be messed with.

"There is very little that is politically correct about Pirates of the Caribbean," Paul Pressler, then president of the Disneyland resort, told the Los Angeles Times in a 1997 interview when the park changed a scene in which pirates were chasing women. It was changed to the women holding pies so that the buccaneers were pursuing food rather than ladies.

One of the ride's creators thought the change was missing the point that pirates are bad guys.

"Nobody asked me, but my reaction was, this is Pirates of the Caribbean not Boy Scouts of the Caribbean," legendary Disney "Imagineer" X Atencio, who wrote the ride's iconic Yo Ho song, said in a 2016 interview with D23, the company's official fan club.

The attraction at Disneyland Paris received a similar revision last year. Disneyland in California will also receive similar updates to its Pirates of the Caribbean attraction later this spring, with work beginning April 23.

Contact Sharon Kennedy Wynne at swynne@tampabay.com. Follow @SharonKWn.

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