Ageism in Disney Films?

People study the darndest things:

Even the Seven Dwarfs are guilty, well two of them anyway. Grumpy and Dopey are no longer just the loyal friends of Snow White but must now line up with the likes of the Wicked Queen and Cruella de Vil to be accused of fostering negative images of elderly people.

According to academics, Walt Disney's seemingly ageist cartoon depiction of older people as evil or incompetent risks adversely influencing children.

Grumpy and Dopey join the assorted hags, crones and villains in the dock because they might lead some youngsters to think older people are bad-tempered or dim-witted in real life.

A study by American researchers at Brigham Young University, Utah, looked at 93 characters who appeared to be aged 55 or older from 34 Disney films going back 70 years.

A majority of older characters, such as Maurice in Beauty and the Beast or Rafiki in The Lion King, were portrayed as wise or kind, like Pinnochio's father Geppetto.

But a significant minority were portrayed as unintelligent, nasty, bad-tempered or useless, giving children a bad impression. ...

Typical portrayals of elderly people included showing them as toothless, hunched, and with cracking voices. Many were depicted with "saggy breasts", the researchers said in an article for the medical publication Journal of Ageing Studies.

There's always somebody out there looking for a reason to be offended.