Disney+ Censors a Butt With Hilarious CGI in the Tom Hanks Film ‘Splash’
The 1984 Disney movie Splash is fairly important. It made Tom Hanks a movie star. It also popularized the name “Madison.” Now, it’s back in the news for completely unexpected reasons.
Splash isn’t a movie known for its sensuality. It’s a lighthearted movie about a mermaid. However, Disney still felt the need to censor the film on Disney+.
The scene from ‘Splash’ that was too risque for Disney+
Splash is essentially the predecessor to a more popular 1980s film, The Little Mermaid. Splash is about a straight-laced guy named Allen who falls in love with a mermaid named Madison (played by Daryl Hannah). Like The Little Mermaid, there’s a scene where a mermaid becomes human and isn’t wearing any pants.
In The Little Mermaid, Disney stopped the film from getting risque through the use of camera angles, lighting, and some well-placed bubbles. Splash was made for an older audience, so Hannah’s rear was briefly visible to the audience. Until now.
Disney+ prides itself on being a family-friendly streaming service. Netflix and Hulu might feature sex or horrific violence, but Disney+ doesn’t have anything that wouldn’t fly on daytime television. As such, the streaming service edited Splash to remove its brief nudity in a way which was unexpected and – to some – hilarious.
How Disney+ changed the film
In the original cut of the film, Madison’s hair only extends down to her lower back. In the edited version, her hair extends down to her buttocks, essentially covering up any nudity. Interestingly, the original cut of Splash was actually rated PG for “non-sexual nudity.”
The original version was rated PG partially because it was released in March 1984, a few months before the introduction of the PG-13 rating. Disney+, however, originally gave Splash a PG-13 rating, the most adult rating on the site. However, because the brief nudity has been edited from the film, Splash’s Disney+ rating has been changed to PG.
Is the edit funny or hypocritical?
According to The Verge, fans had a mixed reaction to these changes. Some fans felt Disney+ wasn’t employing a consistent standard. For example, the Incredible Hulk’s naked rear can be glimpsed in a scene from Thor: Ragnarok. Disney didn’t feel the need to censor that scene, perhaps revealing they are more concerned about censoring female nudity than male nudity. The Verge also notes that Disney+ might feel that a nude Hulk is less scandalous than a nude Madison as the Hulk is a CG character.
Others simply found the edit hilarious. After all, it’s pretty clear some of Madison’s hair is real and some of it is CGI. Disney spends millions to make sure the special effects in its films look good, but they likely didn’t spend too much money on editing Splash.
Some fans don’t like to see their favorite film edited, even slightly. Others feel Disney should have just put Splash on its more adult streaming service, Hulu. Regardless, this is the most attention Splash has received in years.
