Originally Posted By gardenrooms I saw "Song of the South" as a child probably 50 years ago, so I don't remember how politically incorrect it would now be. I do remember how I loved it, with the use of real people and animation and the great characters and stories. (I'm the one who stops and reads all the words on the walls in the Splash Mountain line, by the way - sorry.) However, I must say, these are one group of stories that really do need to be "Disneyized" for most children. By this, I mean changed from the originals. (Read the real Bambi - I'm crying right now just thinking of the little rabbit - or a good translation of Pinocchio - I adore Jimminy Cricket, and I'm not truly transported in DL until I hear him singing "When you wish upon a star...", when I become 8 years old again, but he is quite a different character from the one in the story) if you don't know what I mean). While the stories in Song of the South were very memorable, the actual stories as written down are VERY dark and scary. As a new teacher, I wanted to share some of this cultural heritage with my students, especially since they LOVE my Disneyland CD and especially the music from Splash Mountain, but they have no idea who any of the characters are or what kind of trouble Br'er Rabbit gets himself into, but found I really couldn't. Probably like the original fairytales, I imagine these stories helped the slaves cope with some of the terrible things that happened in their own lives so many of the stories treat matter-of-factly some very sad and/or scary happenings. To digress, if you are ever in New Orleans, you can (or could pre-hurricane and hopefully can or will be able to again) both visit the plantation where the slave lived to whom many of these stories are attributed and visit the sites in New Orleans where the plantation owner - a Creole - lived and frequented when not on the plantation (the tour is "Le Monde Creole" - a fascinating tour I would highly recommend - I hope it comes back!). I sure would love to see the movie one more time. Is it really that bad?
Originally Posted By mickey42397 No, it isn't that bad. I love this movie. True, today's society tiptoes around the topic of racism and our ugly history of slavery, but the movie is really good. I can see a huge amount of difficulty though in making it "politically correct" enough for today's audience. The stories of Brer Rabbit and gang are really wonderful though, it would be nice if there was a way to do it
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL Just got a copy of this movie on dvd and truly can't see why it hasn't been released or what the fuss is all about. Slavery is a fact of our history in America, so whats the point of trying to erase it? The rest of the movie treats it as a non issue, in fact its an uplifting message that little Johnny, in his heart, holds Uncle Remus as his best friend. Heck his laughing place is Uncle Remus' house after all.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle The refusal to release this on DVD just shows how ridiculously PC society is today! I can understanding not choosing to *make* this movie today - but are we so unable to view a movie in its historical context that they can't even re-release it? A lot of the classics will be banned in the future if this is the case.
Originally Posted By mowsluver I have heard so much about Song of the South that I finally had to see it. I found a copy at a thrift store (where I have found some GREAT Disney movies!). They are great places to look for those movies that you just can't find anymore...like "A Day at Disneyland"!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think that feature has been on the website for a long time. I vaguely remember doing that (a couple times) a few years ago. It is entirely possible that this is something new, or I am just imagining things, so I signed up again, but I think it is just something to keep both sides happy.
Originally Posted By rader22 Thanks Afros I had only found the site tha day and then came across that. So I thought I'd put it here for everyone to know about. I hope its new and we can get them to finally stand up to all of the PC's out there who'd rather forget history.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad My son recently read the book, "The Adventures of Huck Finn" and I was shocked that it was in his library at school. It has the "N" word throughout! We had to have this huge long talk about it. Why are books like this not "banned" if Song of the South is so bad? Song of the South is nothing in my mind compared to the writings of Mark Twain.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Mark Twain, who by the way, has an attraction named after him, and another named after his writing. But, there is still an attraction themed after Song of the South, so I geuss that isn't a really good gauge.
Originally Posted By bentyrone Take a look at this page from EBAY <a href="http://search.ebay.com/Song-of-the-South_W0QQfromZR40" target="_blank">http://search.ebay.com/Song-of -the-South_W0QQfromZR40</a>
Originally Posted By alexbook >>My son recently read the book, "The Adventures of Huck Finn" and I was shocked that it was in his library at school. It has the "N" word throughout! We had to have this huge long talk about it. Why are books like this not "banned" if Song of the South is so bad? Song of the South is nothing in my mind compared to the writings of Mark Twain.<< Parents should understand that *most* older children's books contain material that we might find offensive today. Have you ever read the original "Cinderella"? How about "Doctor Dolittle"? For that matter, there's a lot to offend contemporary readers in Shakespeare or the King James bible. Personally, I think it's better to read the originals, and have the discussions about how society and language have changed, than to ban the originals and substitute bowdlerized (i.e., cleaned-up) versions. Sadly, there are many people who want to get rid of books they don't like. Here's a list of the books which libraries get the most complaints about: <a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ban nedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm</a> (Huck Finn is #5.)
Originally Posted By alexbook DVC_dad: I just re-read your post and my post and I realized I overreacted. I'm sorry.
Originally Posted By u k fan I couldn't believe that either! I want someone to sit at the back of my funeral dressed as Where's Waldo!!!
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Yeah, a lot of those books get a "huh?" reaction from me. I guess there are things out there to offend everyone!
Originally Posted By FaMulan I wonder if Disney realized how much money they will be losing if they don't release Song of the South. I mean, how many bootleg copies are there out and about, going for who knows what? And the quality on some of these bootlegs is not the best.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Okay thanks to youtube(one of the greatest internet inventions) I saw a piece of Song of the South now it is edited. But tell me which is worse: This: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vry8tegc7VU&search=Song" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =Vry8tegc7VU&search=Song</a>%20of%20the%20South Or this: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3VKDKpRWJ0&search=Coal" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =T3VKDKpRWJ0&search=Coal</a>%20Black Just a warning though it is not my goal to offend anyone here by posting this and if the admin's feel they have to remove then that's fine.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Man, Judy Blume is on that list a LOT! Maybe I just noticed her more because i din't recognise the others, but she has at least 5 on the list. Also, I don't see what people could find so offensive in a Shel Silverstein book that would make it 50. I just geuss I don't think the was some people do.
Originally Posted By miceland One might get this movie on DVD off of Ebay for not too much. I think it will be a while until it released by Disney in the US, but in the meantime it is obtainable.
