Song of the South Rumor

[Ponine]

I would also love for this to be offcially released. I was given a copy by a lovely person, but I fear that none of my players are adept at playing burned DVD's, save my laptop.
<I could cry> My mother would love to watch it, but alas, not with my laptop on her lap.

[mamabot]

That reminds me...I owe someone a DVD. Or two.....

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Captain Eo!!!

[mousepod]

I was reading an editorial this week about the current troubles over the PBS cartoon with the lesbian mommies. The writer showed the episode to her 6-year-old son and asked him what it was about. The kid replied, "Buster visited a dairy farm!"
When I saw Song of the South as a kid, I was traumatized by the scene with the bull. I never thought about any racism, because to me Uncle Remus was as much a father figure as Bert in Mary Poppins.

I've always been disappointed that Splash Mountain uses characters and songs for which American kids under 30 have no point of reference.

Bring back the movie, with whatever contextual explanation Disney needs to make itself not seem dirty. A 'treasures' tin seems perfect.

[belleh5]

I can't even find it on video anymore

[HTHBellcaptain]

I love "Song of the South." It bothers me that it is seen as being racist by some. The African American characters are the smart interesting and caring characters in the film. Outside of the Grandmother, the white characters have a lot of problems. It's the white characters that are mean (the two bullies), selfish (the boys father), and bland (the boys mother). Yes, it takes place during a time of American history that we all wish would have been different, but the stories have some wonderful morals.

I sure hope that they do release it on DVD.

[flippyshark]

I agree with HTH's assesment of SOTS. There is only one brief scene that struck me as being a tad condescending - Uncle Remus at one point is seen gathering firewood and singing a cute little ditty that basically says he'd rather sleep than have to work. This plays on a very common "lazy negro" stereotype. (The movie came out around the same time that Willie Best was making movies as "Sleep N' Eat.") It's kind of a charming song, but it certainly plays off of a long-discarded image. (Of course, James Baskett is completely disarming at all times in the film, which makes it hard to criticize. He's just amazing.)

Actually, I don't think most of the voices speaking against the movie see it as overtly racist. I get the feeling that they mostly find it's portrayal of poor but happy sharecroppers as being condescending and over-romanticized, selling the notion that the social order we see in the film is "mighty satisfactual."

I read a piece by Alice Walker in which she described seeing the movie as a child, and feeling angry that her own people's folklore had been appropriated by the white establishment. She seemed to feel that Brer Rabbit stories should have stayed in the oral tradition among African-Americans, not become fodder for mass entertainment made by whites for whites.

I would be interested to see how much of this discussion makes it's way onto any eventual DVD. It will certainly have to provide lots of context, but I imagine that the vast majority of people will have no trouble responding to the warm emotional core of the story, and will regard the other issues as secondary.

For what it's worth, I have had plenty of African American guests at the parks ask me if Song of the South is ever going to be released on video, and telling me that it was one of their favorite movies.

[HTHBellcaptain]

What I find amazing is that there are several of the World War II cartoons that were recently released in a tin set, that (by today's standards) are racist against the Japanese. Some of these are (in my opinion) fairly mean spirited. I am able to watch them because I can put them into there proper context. We've changed a lot as a society since then. I think that if it were released in the Disney Treasures tin set, that people would be able to distinguish between story and reality.

[flippyshark]

I think it will happen - of course, if the wartime tin is any indication, we will never be able to start the movie without first being forced to see Leonard Maltin's cheesy grin and "golly gee whillikers" persona.

I couldn't agree with you more - I think audiences are ready to decide for themselves on SOTS.

[BarTopDancer]

I have it on VHS and I have yet to watch it!