The ax of censorship seems to have struck again, hitting one of the cornerstones of Disney’s comic book narrative: there Scrooge McDuck saga. A true Disney cult, Don Rosa’s work is considered one of the most iconic representations of the myth of the richest duck in the world, a journey to discover the origins of this character and a passionate look into the soul of Scrooge. He is therefore perplexed by the news that Walt Disney Company will impose censorship on Scrooge McDuck sagagoing to change the passage of some stories.
Don Rosa confirms that Disney will apply censorship to the Scrooge McDuck saga according to the new company policies on inclusiveness
News that was not immediately disseminated by Disney, but which was indeed revealed by Don Rosa himself. Expected at the VancouverFaneXpo, Rosa anticipated that he will not attend the event, motivating this decision as an act of protest against the decision to change some passages of his beloved story of Scrooge’s life. This choice by Disney is motivated by the new policies of the entertainment giant in terms of inclusiveness, which have pushed not only to impose an understandable control over future works, but also to review previous stories in this light, even reaching opt for radical cuts on the cult of the Disney myth. At the heart of Disney’s decision would appear to be the Gongoroa character in the eyes of the Disney censors could represent a jarring detail due to its connotation.
This vision of Disney could result in the heavy rewriting of two chapters of the Scrooge McDuck saga , The richest duck in the world And The dream of a lifetime. Despite Rosa’s understandable fear that the finale of her cycle will therefore be mutilated, it seems more probable that she will fall under the ax of Disney’s internal censorship only The richest duck in the worlda possibility that embitters Don Rosa in any case, worried that readers will no longer be able to enjoy his work to the fullest. In that sense, one wonders how much this action taken by Disney can affect the future of reissues, considering how many appreciated historical cycles of the Disney world could have a similar fate. In the past there have certainly been cases of internal censorship (the story linked to Italian history is historic Mickey Mouse in I Married a Witch), but the Rosa affair shook Scrooge aficionados more noticeably.
However objectively admirable is the Walt Disney Company’s intention to meet the sensibilities of all readers, we must ask ourselves how much censorship risks doing more damage than it intends to heal. Works with years of honorable career behind them are the daughters of a sensitivity different from the contemporary one, and should be experienced as such, making them even part of a process of socio-cultural evolution that bears witness to a real and not hypocritical inclusive will. As often as we tend to forget it, the authors are children of their time, an indissoluble bond that unconsciously influences their work, whether it’s terms that later became socially unacceptable or by addressing the narrative in a disruptive way. Today we are talking about Don Rosa, but starting on this path of cancel culture we could easily come to want to ban critical moments of other productions of the ninth art, looking at large narrative universes such as the Marvel Universe or the vast production of DC Comics.
Disney’s choice to censor the Scrooge McDuck saga more than for an intention of heartfelt inclusiveness, it has the bitter taste of a desire to avoid a potential problem, not facing it but simply hiding it. Instead, it would be more useful to republish Rosa’s work in its entirety, historically contextualizing it and enriching the reading with editorial sections in which the problem is faced honestly, explaining why certain jokes or some passages of works considered cults are today seen in a different way . Cultural and social evolution must not be built through damnatio memoriae, but it would be preferable to make these critical works a moment of conscious growth
