Your opinions please: Should Disney re-release "Song of the South"?

Walt Disney Co. is considering releasing on video its 1946 movie “Song of the South,” a landmark film long criticized as racist for its depiction of Southern plantation blacks. Is the time right to release this film, or should Uncle Remus, Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit remain hidden in Disney’s archives?

the conversation has turned into an all-out war:

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/chatter/entries/2007/03/28/song_of_the_sou.html

Me, personally? I really don't have a problem with releasing it.

but it seems like that should be a parental choice.

:popcorn:

Not sure how. It is the same version that spawned "Zip a dee doo da" right? When was it banned supposedly?

:)

:hi:

and Birth of a Nation, what harm could some cartoon critters do? :shrug:

BTW, did they really re-release Birth of a Nation? That seems significantly more controversial than Song of the South...:shrug:

I do know that the movie can be bought in certain places

:hi:

in a "cult cinema" theatre. You can watch about 70 full movies for free. "Birth of a nation" is on there too.

which needs to be preserved and enjoyed by future generations, do children read the Uncle Remus books anymore? I loved them!

On the other hand, as I recall, the whole thing was set in this dreamy southern plantation world where everybody was jolly and happy, and the darkies knew their place. It's just as important that future generations understand this aspect of it as well.

"The Tar Baby" is in the news lately, in the usual destructive political way, but I remember it as a wonderful lesson, warning us about certain kinds of situations we'll encounter in life, and the lesson is with me still, and just as valuable.

I also learned a lot from Brer Rabbit begging not to be thrown in the briar patch.

These are sophisticated stories. They contain a lot of wisdom. I'd love to see that movie again.

i saw it in the mid fifties and it did`t warp my view of the world around me...

whether it be the Song of the South or Mein Kampf, these things exist for better or worse, and just putting them away doesn't mean that the very real problems in our societies that inspired these works will suddenly disappear too. i think it's important to see these things for what they are and hopefully even spark discussion about the roots of these issues.

i say print it.

I believe that parents should use the opportunity to discuss the issues with the movie in the context of the time it was made, just as they should with some of the more controversial aspects of Gone With the Wind and other films that relay both racial and gender stereotypes, biases and inaccuracies.

and It didn't make me a bigot by any means. Call me crazy I've always been able to distinguish between movie fantasy and real reality.

opportunity. What is that saying, "Those who remain ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it?" (Or something like that.)

If it's re-released, I'd buy it. I love the music.

As a white Southerner, it was a staple. As a child, I enjoyed the film.
But, as I matured, the racism became evident. As a work of art SOTS is
very good. As social commentary, it sucks. Release the DVD and let the
marketplace decide. Could very well be DisCo's first commercial flop.

it was originally marketed for children, and of course, children don't see racism or social commentary where adults do, so I might have totally different feelings watching it as an adult.

and would love to see it again. Why not use it as a teachable moment for children of all races?

I didn't think of that.

:toast:

I love the Brer Rabbit stories. I bought a reproduction of the original Joel Chandler Harris book and read it to my kids when they were little, along with folk tales from all over the world. It was a great intro to learning about other cultures, the good aspects and the bad.

It's regularly up on ebay in a couple of formats.
Dozens of torrents available online too, often listed as "banned in the US".

Was it really banned? By whom?

all I know is what I put in the op, which I got fromt the AJC.

they re-release them for a limited time, then they put them back into the "vault".

I think it should be re-released. From where I sit (which I'll grant may not be the ideal perch) there wasn't that much objectionable about it. It's like how the Our Gang shorts got buried: yeah, the stereotyping (Buckwheat - oy, vey) looks pretty horrible to our 21st century eyes, but it had kids of different races playing together and it was portrayed as no big deal to them, and this in the 1920s and '30s! How is this so bad?

But as to the Remus character, as stereotypes go, he seems, from the clips I've seen, more like a goofy stereotype I'd roll my eyes at than a hateful one I'd get upset about. YMMV. And anyway, he's the hero of the film and a stable role-model for a white kid whose father abandoned the family. I just don't get what the problem is. I could be wrong, and I'm willing to hear the other side with an open mind, but from what I've seen of it, just fucking let it out already.

Edit: grammar

has a depiction of African-Americans that is so vile my jaw dropped to the floor while I was watching it.

One of the Marx Brothers movies (A Day at the Races) has a musical sequence that most people today would find horribly offensive.

I would never want these or any other movie banned (although I won't hesitate to point out that Cimerron really sucks). They are documents of their times, and as such, are useful in showing us how far we've come in so little time - and a reminder of how quickly we could slip back.

As for Song of the South, I saw it in the movie theater when I was about 8, and I remember loving the character of Uncle Remus. My father is a cold man and I was always looking to movie substitute father-figures to make me feel like I had some worth. That said, I believe that my 39-year-old self would almost certainly find the film racist today. And that's the important point: it's a discussion still worth having - between me and myself, and between all of us.

I think they should release it.

and in the middle of the group of kids is like, a total stereotypical "Buckwheat" kid. My friend and I just CRINGED. x(

We've come a really long way.

There must have been a mid-70's theatrical re-release.

Of course I was a middle-class white kid in the 40s in segregated Birmingham, Alabama.
So I guess you'd have to consider the source on this one.

I've come a long, LONG way since then.
Spent most of my adult life with a major corporation in the north and northeast. Traveled and worked (and lived for short periods of time) all over the world.

SOTS was a product of its time. Mark Twain had Nigger Jim and Disney had this.
OK, I don't put Disney in the same literary class as Twain, but they both reflected the times.

SOTS does paint a very benign picture of slave life.
But not, I think, a 'racist' one in that it puts blacks down.
In fact, Uncle Remus is the wise old man who imparts some of his wisdom to the little white boy in the forms of fables.

He's a teacher.
And the lessons he teaches are well worth learning.
Pride goeth before a fall.
Don't get too big for your britches.
Clever can beat brute strength.
It's cool to be smart.

Besides all that...the songs and the animation combined with live action are (IMHO) charming.
I could sing 'Zippity Doo Da' to you now.
And 'How Do You Do?'.
The lyrics to 'Everybody Has A Laughin' Place' seem particularly poignant today.
http://www.songofthesouth.net/movie/lyrics/index.html

My 35 year old daughter saw it on TV when she was a kid.
A few months ago she was trying to find it for our grandson and couldn't.

Try not to read too much 'social conciousness' into a movie made over 60 years ago.

For those who don't know what it is about -which included me before I did some research
http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/sots.htm

It does help to understand the controversy... The issues were emblematic of the time in which the movie was made (1946); fortunately the world that would think nothing of depicting African Americans in that way-- during that time-- is one of the past... The lessons remain, however, and I think NEED to be shared with our children.

everything should be out in the open. It doesn't do any good to put it away, then wonder several decades later when it's "resdiscovered" why no one understands it.

I think someone could do a very find graduate thesis on the Uncle Remus tales and put them in their proper context within American folklore, where they belong.

but they're just as much a part of African American culture as gospel, blues, jazz, and many other homegrown arts.

and what was wrong about the "Old South". They explained to us the messages in the parables and how the glitter and glamour of that movie was just make believe. As a southerner, there are parts of our heritage we are not proud of, but they are a part of who we are, remembering them helps us apprciate how far we have come and makes us work that much harder to get past the image the rest of the nation has of the south. We still have a ways to go and I'd say over the last 7 years (this admin's fault) we have regressed, but I'm not giving up and I watched that movie as a kid. I loved it. I can still sing just about every word to "ZippityDodah"

Poiuyt and I were discussing this movie 2 days ago. Like everything in the world parents must use judgement with small children. I love it.

I think it's fine to release it, but not as any other movie. Maybe along with a documentary or something that can put it in context. It illustrates some truly racist ideas, which should at least be accompanied by a commentary track or some literature.

I suppose I don't agree with forcing Disney to ban it, but I don't think Disney has an obligation to release it either. In any case, I hope Disney is socially responsible about any kind of release.

Could you imagine Song of the South advertised as any other "Disney DVD" release? Or as Happy Meal toys? :eyes:

I'm for freedom of information. This kind of goes along with the whole book-burning thing. Hiding the stuff away or banning it isn't going to make it any less real. I've never seen SotS, but regardless of whether or not it's racist (and I suspect that to some degree it is), it's a part of American cultural and film history and should be available for public viewing.

I have the British import version and my family loves it. The kids' favorite character is Uncle Remus, after Brer Rabbit of course.