Browse: Home / Disney Byways: “Pioneer Days”

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Miller's 2020 Double Features: Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
  • Ann Rule: The Face of True Crime
  • Film on the Internet: INSOMNIA (2002)
  • Stuff My Kids Watch: Algorithm of My Son's YouTube Watching
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

Disney Byways: “Pioneer Days”

Posted By Gillianren on February 12, 2021 in Features | Leave a response

I’ll be honest—my least-favourite feeling when it comes to my work is “oh, crap, it’s almost time to post.” With this column especially, that tends to mean writing about stuff I never would have otherwise considered. I was browsing YouTube and happened to look at the time. I’m not going to tell you what time I’m writing this, but let’s just say that I’m on the verge of literally just posting this article instead of scheduling it for the time I intend it to go live. That this happens to mean another Year of the Month cartoon is pure coincidence; it’s that YouTube’s algorithm knows that I watch old Disney shorts and suggested one.

Okay, look, we all know that a short from 1930 called “Pioneer Days” isn’t going to be the most culturally sensitive thing in the world. That it’s all funny animals—and in B&W—does mean we avoid some of the worst visual stereotyping. But Mickey and Minnie are in a wagon train crossing Generic Western Landscape. Their party is singing and dancing not far from a war party of . . . honestly, it’s hard to tell if they’re wolves or rats, but anyway they’re attacking. One of them attempts to kidnap Minnie; she and Mickey get away and end up saving the day.

Look, this is a Mickey Mouse cartoon where a character is actually scalped. Now, sure, it looks more like a haircut, but the implication is definitely there. Regardless of what it looks like, we know what it’s supposed to be. So okay. That’s a thing that they decided to animate. And then another character removes what’s clearly intended to be a toupee. At least they’re left alone after that, which I guess is something, weird though it is.

The Western has been iconic as long as there’s been a US film industry, and of course Disney played with that. This is not surprising, and as we’ve seen, it’s not even the first time in 1930 that Disney would do that—this is another Marcellite Garner Minnie, and the last one we talked about was her first. Honestly, this is more sensitive than the considerably later “Californy er Bust,” where all the characters were Goofy but some of them were a Goofy honest-to-Gods painted red. A deep brown-red, but still a redder shade than any actual human’s skin tone regardless of their ethnicity.

Again, though, we’re encountering a short with some surprisingly quality animation, even if it remains not actually all that funny. I’m kind of impressed with how often we find those in this stretch of Disney animation. And again, in this year over at Warners, they were neither funny nor visually impressive, so even if this particular cartoon is only one of those, that’s still better.

Hey, at least it got written; consider rewarding me by supporting my Patreon or Ko-fi!

Posted in Features | Tagged 1930, Animated, Disney Byways, Pioneer Days, year of the month

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Disney Byways: THE ADVENTURES OF BULLWHIP GRIFFIN→

Year of the Month: THAT NIGHT’S WIFE→

Disney Byways: HACKSAW→

THE BURDEN OF DREAMS Version 1.0: THE BIG TRAIL→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    21997 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    17372 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    17163 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    11661 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • B.O.O.: The DreamWorks Animation Movie You Will Never See

    7975 views / Posted January 28, 2016
  • Selznick also vetoed Hitch's idea of having the new Mrs. de Winter shoot first.

    Miller’s 2020 Double Features: Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

    March 4, 2021 / The Ploughman
  • Ann Rule: The Face of True Crime

    March 3, 2021 / Gillianren
  • Film on the Internet: INSOMNIA (2002)

    March 3, 2021 / ZoeZ
  • Stuff My Kids Watch: Algorithm of My Son’s YouTube Watching

    March 2, 2021 / Gillianren
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    March 2, 2021 / The Narrator Returns

Last Tweets

  • Today we compare 2020 remakes of STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL using Legos and REBECCA using an indifference to quality. https://t.co/MT2a4blw3E, 22 hours ago
  • Ann Rule: The Face of True Crime - https://t.co/kh5hLGwqwQ, Mar 3
  • Film on the Internet: INSOMNIA (2002) - https://t.co/11rvZOPWII, Mar 3

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!