[TomGuy]

is not a reaction to an alleged threat by the NAACP to boycott Disney products

uh huh...ok.

Just wondering out loud (aka fingering the keyboard)--- Wonder whether Disney was a part of any of Jesse Jackson's Shakedowns?

[Mom_Grandmother]

I have been in love with all the Disney classics for 35 years, and I would go out of my way to buy anything the NAACP boycotted just out of pure, mean spite. They were all loveable characters that meant no one any harm. Compare them to today's stand-up comics, it makes no sense.

[B Knotts]

We need copyright reform in this country. In addition to cases like this, where works are being suppressed through political pressure, many other works are being lost or forgotten, because copyright holders do not find it profitable to publish them.

I propose a new aspect to copyright law: automatic copyright abandonment. If the holder of a copyrighted work fails to publish that work in its entirety, or otherwise as a meaningful whole, for a period of five years, the work shall fall into the public domain.

Whadda think?

[SpookBrat]

I had an Uncle Remus record when I was little. My brother and I listened to it a zillion times. We had it memorized backwards and forwards. I LOVED that record. I still have it, but it's in bad condition.

"Everybody's got a happy place. Take that frown, turn it upside down, and you'll find yours I know-ho-ho".

This is so sad.

[Constitution Day]

BannedFilms.com will give you a copy of Song of the South as a "special prize" for buying their copy of a 1950 Uncle Remus Syrup ad.

$55.95 includes the shipping of this ad, plus your "special prize".

[DonQ]

I had been able to find Song of the South at the video rental store. I think that Disney releases and re-releases all its classics (which would include Song of the South) on a very carefully planned cycle, something like 14 year intervals. So it may be that the Disney people simply stopped issuing new videos of Song of the South as part of their regular schedule to allow a demand to build up again, rather than a deliberate form of censorship. The Song of the South was, in fact, a sort of break-through for race relations, no matter how backward it looks to jaded 21st century tastes. Incidentally, the live-action story takes place AFTER the Civil War, Uncle Remus is not a slave but appears to be a free man working as a family retainer; he's free to leave. The picture provided employment for an enormous number (compared with almost any other Hollywood film of the era - except Tarzan movies) of African American performers. It shows white people treating black people with respect, speaking to them politely, etc. ... not quite the same as the equality we've now taken for granted but a very big step when the film was made!

[elwoodp]

Add me to the list of those who loved Uncle Remus and thought he was a major factor in offsetting negative stereotypes of blacks in the Fifties.

The fact is, I would much rather have been Uncle Remus living as a freed slave in the post-bellum south than a modern-black living in the hellholes they have turned our cities into today.

[TomGuy]

The text version of Uncle Remus is public domain and probably available in book form. It is the movie (Disney version) that is not available.

Link to online text version.

[lsee]

but decried "the impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship"

So, they'd rather a hostile master-slave relationship?

[lds23]

Holy Mackeral Andy!

[Is2C]

Just FYI, I just purchased a sealed, hologrammed Song of the South VHS on Ebay for $39.99 British ($60 US) plus $5 shipping via the Buy It Now option. Thanks for the tip.

[Squantos]

I miss Heckel and Jeckel myself ..........

[HamiltonJay]

Got my original legal copy! Cost me an arm and a leg, but I have a PAL version, from Europe and have a few NTSC copies made from a PAL version as well... Disney = spineless.

[SauronOfMordor]

It's not just "Song of the South" that's being suppressed. "Johnny Tremain", the story of a boy who takes up arms in the Revolutionary War, is also unavailable. "Kids with guns", y'know.

[MadelineZapeezda]

I do have the lp album of Song of the South. (to those youngsters reading...it's the record, the black shiny thingy)

[absinthe]

I've got a laserdisc copy of "Song of the South" from Japan; I bought it about fifteen years ago.

When I was in medical school in the mid-90's, I mentioned this movie to one of the school secretaries (a black lady). I made her a VHS copy of the movie. Not only did she watch it, but it made the rounds of every black person she new. They LOVED the movie, and were so glad they were finally able to see it. (They also loved the copies of "Carmen Jones" and "Green Pastures" that I loaned them.)

I guess they didn't know they were supposed to be offended.

[majordivit]

Disney's reluctance to market it in the USA is not a reaction to an alleged threat by the NAACP to boycott Disney products. The NAACP fielded objections to Song of the South when it premiered, but it has no current position on the movie.

Now i understand why Hollywood is just as concerned about foreign opinion than American opinions. This might explain part of why (just a part) they are not overtly patriotic in the aftermath of 911. I never expect Hollywood to go back to the way they were doing the second world war but they seem to be bending backwards not to be patriotic..not to offend Europe or Asia which seems to fear American nationalism and patriotism...