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."
Aunt Jemima has been recast as the wise and knowledgeable family Aunt, appearing slender, well-dressed and well-coifed as if she just came home from church, looking like an all-knowing family member standing over your shoulder in the kitchen.
Kudos to the company for remaking her image into something that speaks to "today".
I first read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer when I was in 7th grade. I did it on my own, and didn't need anyone to explain that "nigger" was a bad, derogatory word. I already knew that from my upbringing. It made me realize how much society has changed, and better understand Mark Twain's points about Jim being human, and not a label.
If kids don't know that blind bigotry is bad by high school, they never will. It isn't as if some three paragraph introduction to the text is going to make a lightbulb click on in a 11th grader's head: "Oh, gee! Calling people derogatory racist names is wrong! I never realized that!".
Peaking of un-PC things, I remember in the 50's eating licorice candies called "N----- Babies". They were made in the shape of little black bears. I also remember the kids discussing the name, wondering whoever gave it that kind of name, since even in the 50's, the culture was telling us not to use the "N" word.
ping
But it's racist... we should destroy all free speech to protect the minorities... that way they can all get along like the blacks and Mexicans in Los Angeles.... they have such a good understanding and respect for one another. And we can spread this respect through out the world by surpressing free speech... the liberal way.
Whoops, never mind. I got it to work.
Ditto on your comment. The way I was brought up, using the word "nigger" at home would have gotten me some unwanted disciplinary attention. I read Huck Finn at a similar age and had no problem understanding that it was written in, and about, a different time and place, and that Huck did not use it in a derogatory fashion even so.
"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips," currently available on YouTube (interestingly, uploaded by a Guilt-Ridden Anti-American American).
Personally, I've never understood why the anti-racist position coincides with the triumph of evolutionism. Certainly people who actually, truly believe that every single human being who has ever lived is descended from Adam and Eve can say (as did Thomas Dixon Jr., author of The Clansman [which became the basis of the film The Birth of a Nation]) that Blacks can never be equal to whites because of thousands of years separating the "social evolution" of the two. Yet Dixon was a Baptist minister (or was for a while, anyway) while people who insist that people are animals who are at various stages of development are crusaders for brotherhood. That has never made any sense to me, and it doesn't make any sense now.
I like Kipling's Mowgli stories as well. Mowgli is actually a superior character to Burroughs' Tarzan.
Someone who feels guilty that we won World War II???
Must be one of the people who's posted all those tributes to Mussolini.
Oh, silly me, I forgot! The Eurpean phase of WWII was good because we were fighting "us!" It's only the Pacific phase that was bad because we were fighting "the other!"
So why can't the Japanese kill whales? Aren't they "indigenous pipples?"
Probably. Or the poster is utterly ignorant of 20th Century world history. How else to interpret this:
"Rare offensive cartoon made by Merrie Melodies starring Bugs Bunny. Titled "Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips". And America wonders why the rest of the world hates them..."
Oh yeah? So how come he ain't got no town named "Mowgliana"?
Wow 24hrs and its already ben taken off Youtube!
Check this out, Looks as Close to Authentic
www.songofthesouthdvdremastered.com
Splash Mountain, IIRC. There's also a parade float featuring those characters (sans Uncle Remus, o' course) in the Magic Kingdom.
FWIW, Song of the South *was* released by Disney on DVD - in the U.K. That's where most of the bootleg copies originated.
Nope, not really. In the mid-eighties, we were still "circling the drain" of political correctness and had not yet been pulled under.
Another example of entertainment from that period is Eddie Murphy's HBO stand-up comedy specials (complete with "faggot" jokes). By 1990, that stuff was conspicuous in its absence (particularly from comedy routines).
There is nothing wrong with the movie.
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As you say, Uncle Remus is the hero without a doubt. It takes a twisted mind to see this movie as demeaning to black people. I was born during WWII and grew up in South Carolina within ten miles of the location of the first secession meeting, this movie made me feel deprived because as a small boy I didn't have an Uncle Remus to tell me tales.
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