Song of the South

[Spot's Meow]

So, I just finished watching Song of the South for the first time, and I'm shocked. Shocked that there has been so much controversy over such a harmless film.

Obviously there is something I am not getting here. Maybe it's my age (I was born in 1986), so I am not getting what to others seem like racist references. Such as the tar baby scene, which I thought nothing of until reading online that it is an offensive term. I had never even heard the term before watching the movie, and the movie does not present the scene in a racist light whatsoever, it's just something that Brer Rabbit gets stuck in.

Now of course there are scenes depicting the "master" speaking to her "slaves," but I honestly don't know how that situation could be depicted on film in a way that would please everyone or even most people. So should we never even attempt to portray slavery of that time because of this? Should we just pretend it never happened? I can see why some might be unhappy about the movie's upbeat tone possibly giving the idea that slavery was positive, but would anyone watching this film really come away with the impression that slavery was all rainbows and sunshine? Any adult waching would know better, and any child watching probably wouldn't realize that there was even slavery going on, they probably think that Uncle Remus is just Johnny's neighbor. Sure he lives in a crappy little shack compared to their mansion, but there is also a white family of neighbors living in a crappy little shack of their own.

If I were to imagine a children's movie set in this time period, with this story of a small white boy befriending an old black man, I can't really imagine any way to do it less offensively than Disney did. Do people just not want this time period to be reflected in films at all? If someone has an idea of how the film could have been done more tastefully, I would like to hear it (I'm being serious, not sarcastic).

Actually, the only thing in the film that I saw as being negative for children is the scene in which Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit smoke a pipe.

Is this movie a case of Disney freaking out over something that's really not that big of a deal, or is it truly an offensively racist film? I guess I am looking for perspectives from people who are older than I and have been around when this film was re-released in the past.

 

[Amaris]

The two times I have seen it, I have enjoyed the film. I consider it a product of it's time, and find nothing offensive about it.

J.

 

[Joy]

The thing about the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby is that it came from an African folk tale. Interestingly enough, the Jicarilla Apache also have a Tar Baby story, only it features the Coyote and is called The Coyote and the Pitch Baby; we were assigned to read this story in our "textbook" in Folklore. It's amazing how common stories can come about independently, half a planet away.

And the story, in my opinion, is quite harmless. At its most basic, it is a story of the Trickster being out-tricked; in the end, it is the Tar/Pitch Baby (which is really a sort of scarecrow in the context of the story) who is the victor over the Trickster (who is more often than not considered the hero in his tales).

Joy

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Is this movie a case of Disney freaking out over something that's really not that big of a deal, or is it truly an offensively racist film? I guess I am looking for perspectives from people who are older than I and have been around when this film was re-released in the past.

I think that Disney, by not releasing the film, is making an issue of out something that wouldn't, otherwise, be an issue. Audiences are savvy enough to recognize that Song of the South is of its time, and that it reflects another time and place. By hiding the film, Disney is giving off the impression that the film is worse than it actually is.

There are two ways that Disney can release the film.

Either release it quietly, at a high price point to discourage families from buying it, yet still making it available for film scholars to study, or...

Release it with copious documentaries that place the film in context, in terms of film history, in terms of American history, in terms of literary history.

Either way, the film is not going to appeal to the parent in Target buying The Little Mermaid IV.

But I think Disney is afraid of an imagined PR backlash if they release the film domestically. (It's been available internationally for years.)

 

[CaptainCanada]

The tar baby thing isn't in and of itself racist; it's an old folktale. But subsequently it became an insult to blacks in the South.

Yeah, it's clearly a super-romanticized depiction of the South, but it didn't strike me as being as bad as some people bill it as.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Disney should shrewdly release it on video in a package set of crap people already have for some absurd amount of money and available for a limited time.

BEFORE IT GOES BACK TO THE "EMBARASSING DRAWER" IN THE DISNEY VAULT

 

[DonIago]

^Are you suggesting it be released with The Black Cauldron and The Black Hole? Sort of a theme set?

(ducks)

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I thought the same thing about the Amos and Andy episodes I saw on Youtube. My stepfather wanted to see Song of the South again and I had to go online to burn a copy and it did seem fairly harmless. I guess the controversy about the film isn't so much that it's racist overtly as much as it is that it glosses over what was really happening back then. Then again, that's pretty much what's happened to blackface gags and whatever on TV shows and movies; all the shows with that kind of stuff have been either trimmed or buried so it's as if anything offensive never actually aired.

There's another weird effect about things being sanitized is that people growing up in different generations see things differently. I saw on the news where a guy was accused of being racist for suggesting to a black audience that they use "eenie meenie miney moe" to randomly select something. I had to go online because I myself had never heard the racist variant of the rhyme. Had I been in the situation I might have done the same thing out of naivety.

 

[DonIago]

I'm a moderator on a different board, and while trying to lighten the mood while dealing with someone who was upset about a warning (why you'd get upset about a warning beats me), I said something like, "Dude...it's really not worth getting upset about." He baffled me by getting even more upset and telling me I shouldn't call him "dude" because it was an offensive term.

I was laughing about this with a co-mod until I did some research and found out "dude" actually did have certain connotations, though at this point I think they're archaic.

It did make that one line from the musical Carousel make a lot more sense though..."Dress up like a dude, in a dickie and a collar and a tie."

 

[melancholymecha]

it cant just be b/c it glosses over that time in history, from the reviews Ive read theyre doing the same thing (glossing over the reality of how blacks were treated at a certain period in time)with Princess and the Frog...

I sometimes wonder if its some big group of individuals with a lot of influence in the Disney company who are the ones that dont want it released for whatever personal reasons...

 

[mrcoaster]

As a former Disney employee, I must ask that you all stop talking about Song Of The South. Disney says that it is forbidden to talk about it, so don't get the Mouse angry!




Seriously, I wish they'd just release it already with the little "disclaimer/putting it in it's place and time" commentary beforehand and move on.

 

[Aragorn]

I sometimes wonder if its some big group of individuals with a lot of influence in the Disney company who are the ones that dont want it released for whatever personal reasons...

Usually when it comes to easily-offended groups, their numbers are small but they're extremely vocal about it.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Are all of you new to America? We have become a country that is uncomfortable showing reruns of All in the Family. Corporate America is terrified of anything that might get them tarred as racists. All it takes is a sideways glance from Al Sharpton and they're running for the hills.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

I just started a torrent download of it. It has been decades since I saw it.

 

[felixofgolden]

I find it funny that the flume ride still exists at Disneyland, but doesn't carry the name of Song of the South any longer. The briarpatch is still out front, along with all the plaques on the walls in the waiting line area talking about rabbits and stories and so on. If you're not aware of the connection you might think, uh, what rabbit, what story are they talking about?

 

[Misfit Toy]

As I recall, the point that many were finding offensive was the concept of 'happy slaves'.

I think, like Allyn suggested, that Di$ney would be able to "Release it with copious documentaries that place the film in context, in terms of film history, in terms of American history, in terms of literary history."

 

[Mistral]

I wasn't aware of Disney's reluctance to release it. To this day, Zippity-Doo-Dah rings in my head sometimes when I'm feeling whimsically happy. Any movie with that song can't be all bad.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I find it funny that the flume ride still exists at Disneyland, but doesn't carry the name of Song of the South any longer. The briarpatch is still out front, along with all the plaques on the walls in the waiting line area talking about rabbits and stories and so on. If you're not aware of the connection you might think, uh, what rabbit, what story are they talking about?

I'm really surprised that it got built at all. The last time Disney released the movie was in 1986 and they have refused to do it again after that. The ride, however, opened in 1989. I don't believe it ever had direct references to Song of the South on it, so yes, when I was a small child going on that ride for the first time I had no idea what Disney movie it was supposed to relate to. But I chalked it up to being like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride; a Disney reference that only grown-ups understand.

If Disney is so ashamed of the movie or fears public outcry, it's really odd that they would build entire ride around the movie, even if they never do mention the name or show Uncle Remus anywhere.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Well I imagine if germany made a happy cartoon about the Holocaust, some people might get bent out of shape no matter how harmless the actual movie was.

 

[NileQT87]

Some notes:

The film takes place during the Reconstruction period (slavery was already outlawed and it is HISTORICAL FACT that the majority of ex-slaves still worked the fields for many years after by choice). In fact, Uncle Remus is even shown about to leave the plantation. The film also shows Johnny and Ginny befriending a little black boy named Toby and has a very touching scene where Johnny has come to want Uncle Remus at his bedside when he is injured instead of his own father (whom he has wanted to come home the whole film).

It's also good to note that Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear and Br'er Rabbit have their live-action counterparts in the two white, wrong-side-of-the-tracks bullies and young Johnny playing the part of Br'er Rabbit and learning life lessons from Uncle Remus' stories about how to deal with bullies. The villains of the film (besides Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear) are the two bullies and Johnny's mother.

The Uncle Remus stories were compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, who was an outspoken ABOLITIONIST! Harris wanted to save the stories that he was told by the slaves in order to preserve their folklore. It's good to note that there is a strong hint that the father in the film is basically Harris--he remarks that some people are angry about what the father is writing in the newspaper (abolitionist material like Harris) and it's also remarked on that the grandmother, who owns the plantation, likes what the father is writing in the newspaper. The grandmother is shown as being quite friendly with the very elderly Uncle Remus.

Also, one of the major shots of the film is young Johnny's small white hand being held by Uncle Remus' black hand. I think that says all that needs to be said about how the film handles race.

F.Y.I. James Baskett, who played Uncle Remus, was the second African-American to ever get an Oscar (after Gone with the Wind's Hattie McDaniel, who is also in the film) and the first male African-American to do so. He played Uncle Remus, but also voiced Br'er Fox and also Br'er Rabbit during the Laughing Place scene due to the Br'er Rabbit actor being unable to finish the voice work. James Baskett originally only ever auditioned for the part of a butterfly.

Much of the cast and voice talent includes talent from Amos & Andy.

This film also contains the young Bobby Driscoll, who was the first child actor ever signed to Disney. He was also in So Dear to My Heart (for which, along with The Window, was the film that he became one of only 12 recipients of the Juvenile Oscar for--company that includes Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Margaret O'Brien and Hayley Mills), Melody Time, Treasure Island and was the voice and live-action reference for Peter Pan. Peter Pan's appearance is a carbon copy of Bobby (including the big, crazy eyebrows, prominent teeth, upturned nose and elvish looks). Bobby was the first boy to play Peter Pan. You'll note that Bobby's voice had already changed, as well.

Shortly before Peter Pan was released in theaters, Bobby was fired for having severe acne (15 years old) and found out about it a tabloid. He went to see Uncle Walt, who had told the press on the set of Song of the South that he saw Bobby like his own son, but Walt refused to see Bobby and had the secretary call security to literally throw Bobby out in tears. Bobby went from a straight-A student and boy scout to experimenting with drugs within a week (he also had a pretty bad stage-mother). After television work, a stint at Chico (for which he told the judge, "They carried me on a satin pillow, then dumped me in the garbage."), had 3 children, and in a last ditch effort to rescue his career, went to New York. Bobby found himself as an artist in Andy Warhol's troupe, but lived on the street. Bobby died of heart failure due to hepatitis after years of drug abuse. Bobby's body was found by two children playing in an abandoned tenement building where they weren't supposed to be. Nobody recognized him and he was buried in an unmarked, mass grave in a potter's field. His mother went to Roy Disney to help find her son and it was only because of Roy that it was discovered that Bobby had been buried a John Doe the year before. Despite requests from the family, Bobby Driscoll, the voice of Peter Pan and an Oscar winner, still remains on Hart Island in a graveyard for the unwanted. Some of Bobby's paintings from his time with Andy Warhol was displayed at the Getty Museum.

It was Bobby Driscoll's live-action films that kept Walt Disney studios from going bankrupt in the 1940s.

Spoiler: Bobby