Song of the South [Merged Threads]

[Jshiddy]

I would really like a copy of Song of the South. I guess the hot rumor is that it's not available in the US because of NAACP. Does anyone know if this is true? I found numerouos copies on ebay, but really want to know why I can't find this anywhere else. Does anyone know where I can get a DVD copy?

[Strmchsr]

I've PM'd you a link, but there are no official copies. Whether because of the NAACP or whomever Disney has decided the movie is too "sensitive" to release and have no plans to do so any time soon.

[LibertyTreeGal]

Too bad, James Baskett deserves better than that, he did an incredible job (which is why he got an honorary oscar for it) and he has a voice like velvet. Zip-a-dee-do-dah won best song too

I picked up a copy of the tales of Brer Rabbit at Splash Mountain last year and my boys love to listen to the stories.

[jray21]

You can get it in online. you just have to internet search song of the south. I did get one and the quality and sound is equivalent to VHS or worse. I wish they would release it. Personally I feel that current movies are more discriminating than song of the south. It is great movie.

[Paradise Pier Pinocchio]

There was talk a while back that the studio was finally going to release the DVD with a disclaimer by Bill Cosby. But then he got into "trouble". Then it was going to be Whoopi, but haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Unfortunately this great movie will not see the light of day, for a long while anyway.

[DizneyRox]

There was talk a while back that the studio was finally going to release the DVD with a disclaimer by Bill Cosby. But then he got into "trouble". Then it was going to be Whoopi, but haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

Last I heard it was Kanye West... Just kidding...

SotS will NOT be released any time soon. There are a million rumors as to why not, it all boils down to not wanting to offend a particular race. Most that have seen it would probably agree that it's not as it's made out to be. But, whoever is in charge of making those decisions obviously doesn't feel that way.

If you want a copy, search the net, they are very easy to come by. Reasonably priced I might say as well. It was recently shown on TV in the UK and copies of that have been circulating on the net as well.

[kai2234]

Last I heard it was Kanye West... Just kidding...

hhahahahahhaa

[mickeyd]

This issue came up at last year’s Disney Annual General Meeting. Someone at the meeting asked Robert Iger about Song of the South and when it might be released. Iger answered that he had viewed SOS shortly after taking over as CEO, and had decided that at this time it was inappropriate to release the film on DVD. He did not rule it out in the future, and in fact was quite apologetic about the ‘non’ release. (SOS was supposed to be released in late 2006 to celebrate it’s 60th anniversary.)

Somehow, I don’t think Disney will release it on DVD any time soon. Which is a shame. I thought it would be perfect as part of the Disney Treasures DVD series – especially given an appropriate introduction by Leonard Maltin

[NotaGeek]

from snopes.com:
Song of the South, a 1946 Disney film mixing animation and live action, was based on the "Uncle Remus" Song of the South Video Cover stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Harris, who had grown up in Georgia during the Civil War, spent a lifetime compiling and publishing the tales told to him by former slaves. These stories -- many of which Harris learned from an old Black man he called "Uncle George" -- were first published as columns in The Atlanta Constitution and were later syndicated nationwide and published in book form. Harris's Uncle Remus was a fictitious old slave and philosopher who told entertaining fables about Br'er Rabbit and other woodland creatures in a Southern Black dialect.

Song of the South consists of animated sequences featuring Uncle Remus characters such as Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear, framed by live-action portions in which Uncle Remus (portrayed by actor James Baskett, who won a special Oscar for his efforts) tells the stories to a little white boy upset over his parents' impending divorce. Although some Blacks have always been uneasy about the minstrel tradition of the Uncle Remus stories, the major objections to Song of the South had to do with the live action portions. The film has been criticized both for "making slavery appear pleasant" and "pretending slavery didn't exist", even though the film (like Harris' original collection of stories) is set after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Still, as folklorist Patricia A. Turner writes:

Disney's 20th century re-creation of Harris's frame story is much more heinous than the original. The days on the plantation located in "the United States of Georgia" begin and end with unsupervised Blacks singing songs about their wonderful home as they march to and from the fields. Disney and company made no attempt to to render the music in the style of the spirituals and work songs that would have been sung during this era. They provided no indication regarding the status of the Blacks on the plantation. Joel Chandler Harris set his stories in the post-slavery era, but Disney's version seems to take place during a surreal time when Blacks lived on slave quarters on a plantation, worked diligently for no visible reward and considered Atlanta a viable place for an old Black man to set out for.

Kind old Uncle Remus caters to the needs of the young white boy whose father has inexplicably left him and his mother at the plantation. An obviously ill-kept Black child of the same age named Toby is assigned to look after the white boy, Johnny. Although Toby makes one reference to his "ma," his parents are nowhere to be seen. The African-American adults in the film pay attention to him only when he neglects his responsibilities as Johnny's playmate-keeper. He is up before Johnny in the morning in order to bring his white charge water to wash with and keep him entertained.

The boys befriend a little blond girl, Ginny, whose family clearly represents the neighborhood's white trash. Although Johnny coaxes his mother into inviting Ginny to his fancy birthday party at the big house, Toby is curiously absent from the party scenes. Toby is good enough to catch frogs with, but not good enough to have birthday cake with. When Toby and Johnny are with Uncle Remus, the gray-haired Black man directs most of his attention to the white child. Thus Blacks on the plantation are seen as willingly subservient to the whites to the extent that they overlook the needs of their own children. When Johnny's mother threatens to keep her son away from the old gentleman's cabin, Uncle Remus is so hurt that he starts to run away. In the world that Disney made, the Blacks sublimate their own lives in order to be better servants to the white family. If Disney had truly understood the message of the tales he animated so delightfully, he would have realized the extent of distortion of the frame story.

The NAACP acknowledged "the remarkable artistic merit" of the film when it was first released, but decried "the impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship". Disney re-released the film in 1956, but then kept it out of circulation all throughout the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s. In 1970 Disney announced in Variety that Song of the South had been "permanently" retired, but the studio eventually changed its mind and re-released the film in 1972, 1981, and again in 1986 for a fortieth anniversary celebration. Although the film has only been released to the home video market in various European and Asian countries, 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.

Perhaps lost in all the controversy over the film is the fact that James Baskett, a Black man, was the very first live actor ever hired by Disney. Allegedly, though, Baskett was unable to attend the film's premiere in Atlanta because no hotel would give him a room.

By using the search function I found this post in one of the other several Song of the South threads and thought it was really interesting and provided information that I had never read. It seems this is a popular topic, even though Disney Execs. have stated emphatically that the movie will not be released any time soon in the USA. So I figured I would throw in my two cents.

As a minority, even though this movie is a milestone in cinematic history, its themes and characters DO NOT represent a positive part of American History. Please keep this in mind, because this film shouldn't just offend "people of a certain race" it should offend EVERYONE. Slavery was not a good old song and dance time with cartoon rabbits and foxes in the South. It was a matter of life and death for a HUGE number of people and the remnants of the racial tension caused by it's practice can still be felt through this century. Slavery was a horrible part in the social evolution of our country and should be portrayed accurately for our present society.

That being said, I love Splash Mountain, Brer Fox and Brer Bear as much as the next person on this site. But, I do remember being shown this film in elementary school every holiday and even as a child it made me feel uncomfortable. So I will be completely fine if no other child has to see this film as I don't believe it serves a good purpose or gives ANY good Magic message that Disney wants to re-live.

Off my .

[DizneyRox]

... As a minority, even though this movie is a milestone in cinematic history, its themes and characters DO NOT represent a positive part of American History. Please keep this in mind, because this film shouldn't just offend "people of a certain race" it should offend EVERYONE.

While I do respect that people have different opinions, using this logic, movies like Schindler's List should not have been made, etc...

While slavery may not be a shining moment in American History, IT IS AMERICAN HISTORY. It would be a shame to pretend it didn't happen. I don't think people want this movie released so they can see sharecroppers in action.

[NotaGeek]

While I do respect that people have different opinions, using this logic, movies like Schindler's List should not have been made, etc...

While slavery may not be a shining moment in American History, IT IS AMERICAN HISTORY. It would be a shame to pretend it didn't happen. I don't think people want this movie released so they can see sharecroppers in action.

You missed the entire point that I made. Schindler's List was a perfect example of what happened during the Holocaust, it didn't show Jews and Nazi Soldiers coexisting in a made up world where Jews were just really happy to have a place to sleep, it showed the truth and is a wonderful way to show the historical facts of a terrible part of world history, you can't compare Schindler's List and Song of the South as historical memoirs.

Sharecroppers and slaves are not the same thing.

[JRocker]

I for one just don't get it. It is a movie, a FICTION movie at that. No it doesn't accurately display the treatment of the majority of slaves in the south before, during, or after the war between the states. But, then again, it's not a documentary, so it doesn't have to.

There are literally hundreds of films from the same era of production that give the wrong impression of slavery being shown on the classic movie channels every single day. There are a couple of Shirley Temple movies that come to mind, heck lets ban those.

I don't think Disney is doing the right thing by not releasing it. But then again, the U.S. is getting extremely proficient at sweeping the garbage under the rug, so that nobody has to come face to face with it........and maybe even learn from it.

[NotaGeek]

I for one just don't get it. It is a movie, a FICTION movie at that. No it doesn't accurately display the treatment of the majority of slaves in the south before, during, or after the war between the states. But, then again, it's not a documentary, so it doesn't have to.

There are literally hundreds of films from the same era of production that give the wrong impression of slavery being shown on the classic movie channels every single day. There are a couple of Shirley Temple movies that come to mind, heck lets ban those.

I don't think Disney is doing the right thing by not releasing it. But then again, the U.S. is getting extremely proficient at sweeping the garbage under the rug, so that nobody has to come face to face with it........and maybe even learn from it.

I think the point here is that DISNEY doesn't feel that the movie is appropriate to their image in the US market.

I am not saying there aren't other movies that can be just as offensive, but we are discussing one specific movie made by Disney. In our culture "Disney" movies hold some other credibility.

Shirley Temple movies aren't in the same ball park historically. BUT, when's the last time you saw a Shirley Temple movie shown on ANY channel either? I have no idea what lessons can be learned from these movies, maybe I am naive in my belief that positive themes would be better for the world in which we live.

[bob6572]

The platinum edition of Alice in Wonderland has a 10 minute section from Song of he South that feature Br'ear Rabbit. Probably the most of SOTS you will see

[Stevadore]

It could be the Disney Co.'s PC image concerns go beyond the company and are aimed at the image of Disney the man. This movie and screenplay was a project that Walt was personally involved in. It was the beginning of a reocuring theme that runs through many of the moralistic tales that are his legacy. Specificly; the "Laughing Place".
Weather misunderstood or proof of racisim, it is a hot-potato that is too delicate for a fortune 500 company to deal with in the latter decades of the 20th century and aparently at least the first decade of the 21st .
One thing is sure, as witnessed on this site time and again, it will always stimulate discussion. That alone makes it viable.

[DocWeeks]

I think it should be clarified that Song of the South takes place after Slavery has been abolished... so that argument is empty to me.

The film should be released for no other reason than it is a part of film history. As someone who is a bit of a cinemaphile, I hate that I can't legally own this film.

[DREAMADREAM93]

Yes, its true. The NAACP prohibits the mass selling of Song of the South in the United States. It has something to do with it promoting slavery and being offensive to the african race. I dont see that in SotS, so I don't quite see their reasoning but to each their own i guess...

I for one, do have a copy. You would NOT believe where i got it from though ... my grandpa was walking through a flea-market one day and there it was.

But since my luck is SO wonderful, it turns out that my little sister has lost it. I could really have used a Zip-a-dee-doo-da Day after she dropped THAT bomb shell.

- Jordan

[DREAMADREAM93]

I think it should be clarified that Song of the South takes place after Slavery has been abolished... so that argument is empty to me.

The film should be released for no other reason than it is a part of film history. As someone who is a bit of a cinemaphile, I hate that I can't legally own this film.

I agree completly! if only people would open their eyes and maybe do a little reasearch! Why dont these people listen to us !?!

- Jordan

[NotaGeek]

I agree completly! if only people would open their eyes and maybe do a little reasearch! Why dont these people listen to us !?!

- Jordan

Just wondering what "people" you would be referring to? I doubt seriously that Disney would take such a stance on this controversial film without doing some serious research.

By the way, no one ever said this film was supposed to reflect the life of a slave but the actual stories told in the film are slave stories. It actually is never clarified WHAT actual year the film was supposed to be reflect. But, considering that in the a large portion of the South of America, less than equal treatments of African Americans (and most other minorities) continued well into the 1900's, thus causing the Civil Rights movement, integration, Martin Luther King, Jr (and his assassination) ... which is probably why Good Old Uncle Remus isn't what Disney sees as a good example of the History of their film making they choose to relive.