Posted on 03/25/2007 7:43:17 AM PDT by Ellesu
ORLANDO, Fla. - Walt Disney Co.'s 1946 film "Song of the South" was historic. It was Disney's first big live-action picture and produced one of the company's most famous songs _ the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." It also carries the story line of the Splash Mountain rides at its theme parks.
But the movie remains hidden in the Disney archives _ never released on video in the United States and criticized as racist for its depiction of Southern plantation blacks. The film's 60th anniversary passed last year without a whisper of official rerelease, which is unusual for Disney, but President and CEO Bob Iger recently said the company was reconsidering.
The film's reissue would surely spark debate, but it could also sell big. Nearly 115,000 people have signed an online petition urging Disney to make the movie available, and out-of-print international copies routinely sell online for $50-$90, some even more than $100.
Iger was answering a shareholder's inquiry about the movie for the second year in a row at Disney's annual meeting in New Orleans. This month the Disney chief made a rerelease sound more possible.
"The question of 'Song of the South' comes up periodically, in fact it was raised at last year's annual meeting ..." Iger said. "And since that time, we've decided to take a look at it again because we've had numerous requests about bringing it out. Our concern was that a film that was made so many decades ago being brought out today perhaps could be either misinterpreted or that it would be somewhat challenging in terms of providing the appropriate context."
"Song of the South" was re-shown in theaters in 1956, 1972 and 1986. Both animated and live-action, it tells the story of a young white boy, Johnny, who goes to live on his grandparents' Georgia plantation when his parents split up. Johnny is charmed by Uncle Remus _ a popular black servant _ and his fables of Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear and Brer Fox, which are actual black folk tales.
Remus' stories include the famous "tar baby," a phrase Republican presidential hopefuls John McCain and Mitt Romney were recently criticized for using to describe difficult situations. In "Song of the South," it was a trick Brer Fox and Brer Bear used to catch the rabbit _ dressing a lump of hot tar as a person to ensnare their prey. To some, it is now a derogatory term for blacks, regardless of context.
The movie doesn't reveal whether it takes place before or after the Civil War, and never refers to blacks on the plantation as slaves. It makes clear they work for the family, living down dirt roads in wood shacks while the white characters stay in a mansion. Remus and other black characters' dialogue is full of "ain't nevers," "ain't nobodys," "you tells," and "dem days's."
"In today's environment, 'Song of the South' probably doesn't have a lot of meaning, especially to the younger audiences," said James Pappas, associate professor of African-American Studies at the University of New York at Buffalo. "Older audiences probably would have more of a connection with the stereotypes, which were considered harmless at the time."
Pappas said it's not clear that the movie is intentionally racist, but it inappropriately projects Remus as a happy, laughing storyteller even though he's a plantation worker.
"Gone with the Wind," produced seven years earlier, endured the same criticism and even shares a common actress (Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for "Gone" for playing the house slave "Mammy").
However, Pappas said he thinks the movie should be rereleased because of its historical significance. He said it should be prefaced, and closed, with present-day statements.
"I think it's important that these images are shown today so that especially young people can understand this historical context for some of the blatant stereotyping that's done today," Pappas said.
From a financial standpoint, Iger acknowledged last year that Disney stood to gain from rereleasing "Song." The company's movies are popular with collectors, and Disney has kept sales strong by tightly controlling when they're available.
Christian Willis, a 26-year-old IT administrator in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., started a "Song" fan site in 1999 to showcase memorabilia. He soon expanded it into a clearinghouse for information on the movie that now averages more than 800 hits a day and manages the online petition.
Willis said he doesn't think the movie is racist, just from a different time.
"Stereotypes did exist on the screen," he said. "But if you look at other films of that time period, I think 'Song of the South' was really quite tame in that regard. I think Disney did make an effort to show African Americans in a more positive light."
Though Willis is hopeful, there's still no telling when _ or if _ the movie could come out (beyond its copyright lapsing decades from now).
For this story, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Disney's distribution arm, issued a statement: "Song of the South is one of a handful of titles that has not seen a home distribution window. To this point, we have not discounted nor committed to any distribution window concerning this title."
On the Net:
"Song of the South" fan page: http://www.songofthesouth.net
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
"In today's environment, 'Song of the South' probably doesn't have a lot of meaning, especially to the younger audiences," said James Pappas, associate professor of African-American Studies at the University of New York at Buffalo. "Older audiences probably would have more of a connection with the stereotypes, which were considered harmless at the time."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
As described in detail in Thomas Sowell's book 'Black Rednecks and White Liberals'.
Hey...click on post 112.
Actually, a brief preface about how this was not intended to be racist (and was not perceived as such when the film was released), but uses terms and phrases that would now be considered offensive, would be a good idea. Most schools do precisely that before reading Huck Finn, because the lessons learned from the book ("Oh, I'll go to hell!" is one of the greatest scenes in American literature) outweigh the offensiveness of the use of the term "n-----r."
Didn't you notice "Ms. Jemima" got a makeover several years ago. Don't know about "Homey Ben."
Gay Days are only organized by independent gay and lesbian groups that infiltrate many different theme parks across the USA every year. You can read more about it here.
Disney does not organize, endorse, or promote Gay Day in any way. Don't expect a Disney representative to take the initiative to tell potential park goers when the gays are coming. It's not their event. They don't manage it. Unless their is something illegal about it, there is absolutely nothing Disney, or any other theme park, can do to stop it.
Before I visit the park I take two seconds to visit the Gay Day site to see what days not to visit.
Ernest Hemingway said, "all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.... All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."
More to the point it is a disservice to Mankind to refer to "Nigger Jim" as anything other than "Nigger Jim". To call him simply "Jim" is to lose the irony of the slur (as it is perceived today) being used on one of the finest examples of humanity ever in fiction.
I'm a huge Jolson fan, by the way. He truly was "America's greatest entertainer".
That is precisely right. You cannot sanitize Huck Finn without eviscerating the point that the n-----r is the only real friend Huck Finn had. (This was revolutionary for its time!) At the same time, our culture is unavoidably racially charged. You couldn't teach Huck Finn in high school without explaining that society had different standards then, and that n-----r is now one of the most offensive words in the English language.
The solution isn't to sanitize Huck Finn, or to stop teaching it. Instead, the solution is to learn from it and give mature high school kids a preface regarding the use of the word n----er. ("It's a period use. It's okay for the book to use it, but don't you dare use it otherwise.")
Likewise, Song of the South shouldn't be suppressed - but at the same time, it probably shouldn't be given to young, impressionable children. Some parental guidence is needed - and I'd argue a Disney intro saying "times were different when this was made" would go a long way towards helping learn from the past.
Hopefully soon my friend.
My sister has been after this movie for years.
Closest way to experience the movie now is to ride Splash Mountain at the Mouse House.
Aunt Jemima looks like Phyllicia Rashad-Jemima now. Uncle Ben is still the same dignified-looking gentleman, however.
And Rastus the Cream of Wheat chef hasn't changed a bit.
THAT, we will NEVER see on Saturday morning cartoons.
Like the one where Porky Pig says "Son of a B---"
Interesting. The most popular Spanish-language comic book character, Condorito, has a dog named Washington. Coincidence? (Televisa, the Mexican media conglomerate that owns Condorito nowadays, has renamed the dog as "Byte" in the official English-language version of the strip.)
Incidentally, Condorito is a helluva funny comic strip. You can read it daily for free online.
As a kid, I loved Uncle Remus, and I always will.
Wow. I thought he was gonna say it.
Look what they have done to "Uncle Tom." The character in the book is a young, virle man who is a model Christian. The stage play, howeverm turned him into an old and white-haired man, I guess because the producers could not imagine a young black man in the role.
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