Disney Strongly Considering Releasing Controversial 'Song of the South'

Yeah, I can understand Disney's longstanding reluctance to release "Song of the South." But why not just release it because some of us are just, well, curious about it? While we're at it, I'd like to see William Friedkin's controversial "Cruising" on DVD. I've read so much about it; now I'd like to see it.

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If Disney ever releases this heap of dung onto DVD I guarantee they will see hundreds of thousands of black folks take their dollars elsewhere.

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It should be noted that James Baskett, the actor who portrayed Uncle Remus, recieved an honorary Academy Award. The award was: "For his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world, in Walt Disney's Song of the South."

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This is a beautiful film and it's a shame our world of today makes so much to do about things of the past, and for which the notion is to sue....get real and be enriched by the goodness of this film.....

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"If Disney ever releases this heap of dung onto DVD I guarantee they will see hundreds of thousands of black folks take their dollars elsewhere."

So to Disney thats like what? $30 to me or you?
I've seen the movie plenty of times, back in the 80's before the PC police came along, While its obvious the film didn't care walk on egg shells, racism wasn't the central theme, and the fact that the boy is embraced by Uncle Remis, is proof even in that day Disney was all about peaceful racial relations.
There are waaaaaay more insulting films out there, I say release this one, but make it a limited release, so collectors are the target customers..

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*Add some tasteful, somber commentaries by film experts.
*Make is a cautious, limited re-release at first.
*Add stickers to the DVD cover saying it may not be appropriate for children.

Voila, you have your release.

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There's a reason the United States isn't Bosnia, Lebanon, or Northern Ireland as far the races are concerned.

Black folks put aside the past in a way that few ethnic minorities have done in any other country. We'll decide what offends us or not thank you very much.

If Disney releases this film on DVD I promise you they will feel retribution to their bottom line.

Tell you what, let's do a deluxe package of Leni Refenstahl films and see how well the company that puts that out is greeted in the marketplace.

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Richard Bottoms,

Just curious. Have you actually seen this film? If so, what exactly to you makes it such a bad film?

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I think a Riefenstahl box set would be great. People could buy the set without feeling self conscious about buying Triumph of the Will -- though nobody should feel that way about such an amazing piece of work -- because they could claim more interest in the brilliant Olympia, or even her early mountain film The Blue Light.

Anyway, I can't wait for them to release Song of the South. I loved it when I was a kid and grew up okay, so I don't see what the harm is in letting children see it. People are so sensitive.

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I remember as a "kid growing up" there was a segment on the old "Mickey Mouse Club" television program when Uncle Remus would make an appearence and, with the aid of Disney cartoons {i.e. Donald Duck, Goofy, and on occasion Mickey himself}, sit and tell the most enchanting stories, and I didn't realize it at the time because of my "enchantment" with his story about life in general and even current events and he also would teach you about "morals", a character trait that is all but extinct in todays world, and after the show, if they were allowed out after "supper" my friends, which included the black kids, and I would talk about the story and in our own way try to do what "Uncle Remus" had told us to do, about, and to quote him, "Don't be like the baddies in my stories to y'all, yooze show ery-body dat y'all ken be friends." Oh, we had our squabbles, but somebody would mention "Uncle Remus" and that's all that was needed!! Again, different time and the stories about "morals" are in today's world, G. F. E.s.....Gone For Ever! Maybe "Uncle Remus" could work his magic if released with "Song Of The South", but ??????? Who Knows??

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"I loved it when I was a kid and grew up okay, so I don't see what the harm is in letting children see it. People are so sensitive."

I see this particular set of arguments a lot ("I loved it as a kid, what's the harm, people are so sensitive") and today it happened to anger me just enough for a reply.

Why should the fact you by your own admission "grew up okay" make it okay for Disney to distribute and promote a film with negative portrayal and stereotyping of blacks?

If your kids watched this on dvd today, what would be the harm? Yeah, what would be the harm if they were fed with a few stereotypes about blacks, because that's none of your business, right?

People are not more sensitive these days. Society as a whole is just more sensitive to other peoples needs than just the white cultural norm.

You think this film was not hurtful to african-americans when it was released? Yes, there where many other more despicable portrayals available at that time, but of course this was one more building block in strengthening the stereotypes of the day.

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I've never seen it but would like to know what all the fuss was about. I the film is important in a historical context and believe that my Children have a right to understand the mistakes adults made in the past.

I'd like to see an african-american contribution to explain what is wrong with this picture - I'm an Australian and a lot of that sort of thing isn't well understood here.

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Song of the South in fact skewers racism as much as it presents sterotypical blacks. Berr Rabbit and the Tar Baby are solid slaps at the foolishness of racism and the lack of smarts in the racists. Berr Rabbit becomes completely incompacitated trying to get the tar baby to talk to him. In the relationship between Berr Rabbit and Berr Fox the rabbit always out foxes the fox.

I hope Disney does re-release the movie.

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I understand why Disney never released the film (although I distinctly remember a "Brer Rabbit and the Tarbaby" book and record when I was little) but I don't understand why other movies are. For example, if Song of the South is considered too racist for video/DVD, why is Breakfast at Tiffany's--which features Mickey Rooney in the most offensive portrayal of an Asian man I've seen in the movies--considered a classic? One could argue that Breakfast at Tiffany's isn't really about Holly's Asian landlord. But apparently Song of the South isn't really about race. I don't know.

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And if anyone (especially people outside the US) wants to know why this is a big issue, rent Spike Lee's movie "Bamboozled."

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I had a professor at college who was one of the original writers of Song of the South, so I've had this conversation a few times before, with the professor and a few sentimental kids defending it on one side, and basically everyone else who had seen the film condemning it on the other.

I think my own opinion falls somewhere in the middle, but I'd probably lean toward not releasing it. I think it's unfair to compare this film to Birth of a Nation or Triumph of the Will. Both of those films are propaganda films, pure and simple. In Birth of a Nation, blacks are animalistic, amoral and cruel. Triumph of the Will works on the opposite side of propaganda, portraying the Nazis as saviours of a country and protectors of a race.

Black people aren't evil in Song of the South. Neither are white people, for that matter. They're just, well, really happy with the status quo of slavery. Oh, and deeply, deeply stupid. Everyone is completely stupid.

It's also pretty different from Gone With The Wind. Although Gone With The Wind is guilty of employing cultural stereotypes to tell its story, it also shows at least a broad overview of the political and ethnic conflicts that were going on in the South at that time. They're dramatized and simplified, yeah, but they're there.

In Song of the South, Uncle Remus couldn't be happier to be taking care of the master's kid. There's no sense that he would like to be anything other than a slave, and by glossing over one of the greatest violations of basic human rights in American history, we justify it.

In Song of the South, black people are portrayed in much the same way we tend to portray children in modern movies, cheerful but possessed of a simple wisdom we can all learn from. Apart from the dangers of portraying a grown man in the same way you would portray a child, there's the additional problem that both portrayals are wrong. Neither black people or children are eternally optimistc or spouting off nuggets of simple wisdom. By taking away the fears, angers and general negative feelings that we all have to deal with, you dehumanize them.

Now, doing that in modern movies, like The Green Mile or The Legend of Bagger Vance, is a dicey proposition. But when you do that and set the movie during the era of slavery, I think you do cross a line. So yeah, I would say let it sit quitely in the Disney vault and piss people off from a distance.

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Well folks, you know you can go right over there to Amazon.com and get yourself a copy of Triumph of the Will, several versions even. Oh my goodness, better start writing your congressman and start getting your lumber for the movie burnings and book burnings to follow. You know, they even have Mein Kampf for sale, hide the children.

Now the world won't end when they finally release Song of the South and I can add it to my collection next to my copy from someone's laser disk that I found, your world won't end either. And if the song Zippa Do Da really gets you lathered up then clearly you haven't seen any music videos lately, I mean since the last twenty years. Seriously.

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Gilbert, (if you were responding to my comment)I think you mistook my meaning. I'm not saying the movie should be banned, or all the copies should be rounded up and tossed on the flames. I don't think any form of art or expression, no matter how offensive I might personally find it, should be destroyed simply because I don't like it.

The comments I was mostly responding to were the ones that said "I don't understand why people would find this offensive" or "People are just being too sensitive." My personal opinion is that people who find this movie offensive have a pretty valid beef. It's not that the film is shocking, it's that it's patronizing, and I find that nothing pisses people off more than being talked down to.

The reason I'd leave this film in the vault is because it's bad business. If I were the Walt Disney Company, I wouldn't distribute a sixty-year-old film that a) has the potential to set off a substantial boycott based on the subject matter alone, and b) appeals to an audience that is niche at best. Yeah, you can get Triumph of the Will, but who distributes it? My guess is, not a company large enough that it's willing to risk the hassles that would come when offended parties boycott their other products.

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Well Jackson I was sort of responding to the spirit of some of the previous posters generally but I'm happy to say a few words specifically about your comments. First of all, I think Disney has agreed with you and not released Song of the South for exactly the reasons the stated. And I further agree that it'll be a cold day in mythical flaming underworlds of punishment and fire when they do release it. Considering that it would be like chum in the water for all the Jesse Jackson types who see Disney as a big cash cow. They will feed the frenzy of their own making then they'll have their hands out and expect a substantial cash payout to finally shut up. To release the movie would be a lose lose situation for Disney because they'd have to pay more than they would make on the release. Unless Disney bean counters and lawyers think they can come out ahead financially.

Now I completely disagree with you that the issue is one of 'sentimental kids' versus everyone else. The issue is a movie that I would like to legally purchase versus your right to keep me from having a copy. Now, I don't think you have that right. I think your reasoning that I shouldn't be allowed to purchase this movie because a Disney movie based on the Uncle Remus cycle of folk stories by Joel Chandler Harris shows those people entirely too happy isn't sufficient reason for you being allowed to 'protect us' all. I think it's patronizing for you to think you can determine what I should be allowed to purchase as well. It's the PC tyranny of the well intentioned people who think they know better than everyone else.

And if we allowed movies to not be released based on whether or not they offend some group of people well then differing points of view will be silenced and freedom of expression will be gone. Heck, if we couldn't see movies that offended James Rocchi and Chris Ullrich (a couple of well written critics here) then 300 and Apocalypto would have been put in that big bonfire to righteousness.

And Triumph of the Will is distributed by Synapse Video, it's the 1,107th best seller and also available in a box set from another distributor. And Mein Kampf is also available. And now every time I go to Amazon.com for the next month I'll get nazi stuff on the front page. I hope you appreciate the research I do for you. :-)

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The issue is a movie that I would like to legally purchase versus your right to keep me from having a copy.

Disney is well within their rights to release the movie, only a dolt with say otherwise. As for the eternal boogeyman of Jesse Jackson, he's a washed up old man.

If Disney releases this movie to DVD they will be boycotted all to hell as well.

Collectors who want it so bad, go find a film print.

And yes, I'm waiting for the Warner Brothers deluxe Reifenstahl retrospective set. I shall commence holding my breath now.

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