The character Sunflower from the "Pastoral Symphony" is a minor but rather famous character in this film. Sunflower is a Centaurette (female centaur) who is depicted as being a hybrid of a young black African girl and a donkey. She is shown performing duties as a servant and beautician to the other Centaurettes. In the 1960s there was controversy that the character represented a racist and negative depiction of black people, including both her design and her subservient role in the film. Reacting to the controversy, Disney deleted her scenes from the film in 1969. In 1990 the scenes were restored, but the shots involving Sunflower were cropped so that she could not be seen, which has remained true for all subsequent releases. However, the unedited scenes were preserved in old tapes and circulated among those interested in the character and her depiction. The scenes are widely available on the Internet, with a few articles and pages devoted to analyzing them. Sunflower and her depiction have also been discussed in published works by film critics and scholars specializing in the depiction of minorities in film and animation. Despite Disney's efforts to de-emphasize her, Sunflower has more of a presence in public consciousness than most other characters from the same film.

Film

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