Originally Posted By Darkbeer A good article talking about the failure to re-lease Song of the South... <a href="http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120457&ran=240789" target="_blank">http://content.hamptonroads.co m/story.cfm?story=120457&ran=240789</a> You should read the entire article, but here is the point they make at the end.. >>Brode said he can appreciate the company's worries about the film's reputed racism - "which is not to say I believe it is racist, because I don't." It could be, he said, that as foreign copies of the movie trickle into the United States, people will come to see this "very great film" for its intentions, rather than its flaws. But if that happens, it's years away. For now, Brode said, he's frustrated by what he considers far more troubling images of blacks in film. "I can't believe 'Gone With the Wind' is shown on television today," he said. "I can't watch it. "That people would think 'Song of the South' is racist and would have no problem with 'Gone With the Wind' is just bizarre." <<
Originally Posted By gaston lives I own SotS on DVD...decent quality, too. I believe it was transferred to DVD from the 80's release of the laser disk. Eihter way, I've watched it, and personally, I see nothing wrong with it. Sure it talks about slavery, but it doesn't show it in a negative light...in fact, the hero of the story is a slave, so go figure. Being PC is ruining our society. England prevails!
Originally Posted By DlandDug Uncle Remus is a FORMER slave. Song of the South is set during Reconstruction. Many people do object to Gone with the Wind, both the book and film.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove So will Splash Mountain be re-vamped someday to reflect something else....?
Originally Posted By mrichmondj I think one point that people miss in this discussion is the audience for 99% of the animated DVDs that Disney stocks on the shelves -- pre-school aged children. This audience has a tendency to watch films repeatedly to the point where they have every frame of dialogue memorized. It's one thing to release a film in a limited market, e.g. art house theater, where you have some grasp of how your audience will respond to the film. However, I can understand where Disney would be uncomfortable releasing this film to a mass market where this film might influence young children in a way that was never intended, either through imitation of the dialects performed throughout the film or a misunderstanding of attitudes and stereotypes portrayed there.
Originally Posted By DAR Can anyone honestly say that the stereotypes of African Americans in Song of the South are worse than what you see in the average rap video?
Originally Posted By mrichmondj Rap videos are definitely worse. Rap videos are also not marketed at pre-schoolers. The Disney seal of approval is generally perceived to mean that content is appropriate for all ages. That's the problem with releasing Song of the South.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros But if they release it as part of some other collection, like the Treasures or Legacy, then I doubt many people will even think of showing it to preschoolers. If it's marketed and packaged in a way that clearly is designed for collectors and more mature audiences, I don't think it would cause too many issues. Also, having an introduction about how things change with time wouldn't hurt any either.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj It's just easier to leave it in the vault and avoid the controversy altogether. The Treasures and Legacy collections don't make much money, and it isn't worth all of the negative press. I think there will be an avenue to distribute this film someday, it's just not here yet.
Originally Posted By CrouchingTigger The avenue is there - a guy at work *just* handed me a new DVD version, which is supposed to be better than the version I already have. This new version was supposedly taken from a recent HD BBC broadcast of the movie. The only problem is that it's apparently in PAL, so I'll have to play it in the XBox. The one I have already is, I think, from the Japanese laser disc, but with I pretty nice set of menus.
Originally Posted By hightp If Disney really wanted to release it, they could do so on one of their other lables, like Touchstone. That would get it out of the pre-school market. I really don't think the movie is any more controversial than one like 'Old Yeller', and I would hesitate to show that to a pre-schooler.
Originally Posted By actingforanimators I'd be far more concerned about kids who walk around using gangsta' wanna-be attitudes and dialects, and wielding fake jive that totally degrades people of color, especially when it comes out of the mouths of anglo kids (or adults...) Worse, IMHO, is to have any child regardless of race or ethnicity thinking that the Stepinfetchit slapstick happy-faced treacle on shows like That's So Raven are viable and admirable representations of contemporary African American life. The historical context of "Song of the South" and the over-analyzed dialects of the characters is far less degrading, and highly unlikely to influence even the most impressionable and un-chaperoned video-baby-sat pre-schooler. If kids can watch and imitate "Boondocks" and not risk offending anyone, then frankly they can watch "Song of the South" and be just fine. Again, just my opinion.
Originally Posted By FiveBearRugs Steppin Fetchit makes a cameo in a Donald Duck cartoon... the one where he's in Hollywood. I've seen the film, and I enjoyed, and my friends have agreed that there was nothing wrong it. I have seen Gone With the Wind once, although I don't remember too much about the interaction with Mammy and Prissy. I agree with A4A: SOTS is fairly calm when comparing it to today's hip-hop music, or even shows like The Boondocks, Chappelle's Show (which I am a fan of), movies, BET's ComicView, South Park, Family Guy and others. I personally felt that the live-action sequences dragged on, and my friends and I MST3K'ed those scenes, but we all enjoyed the animated sequences ("BRAHPATCH!"). One of them even did the "Ahhhh, I get it now" when he recognized the scenarios in Splash Mountain. I'm curious to see why no one made a fuss over Universal's direct-to-video version of Brer Rabbit last year, with NICK CANNON as Brer Rabbit, D.L. Hughley as Brer Fox and Wanda Sykes as Sister Moon. And how come everyone made a fuss over UPN's short-lived "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer", a sitcom that took place during the Civil War, but praised "Hogan's Heroes", a sitcom that took place in a Nazi concentration camp? Wouldn't the latter have been more offensive?
Originally Posted By mrichmondj << I'm curious to see why no one made a fuss over Universal's direct-to-video version of Brer Rabbit last year, with NICK CANNON as Brer Rabbit, D.L. Hughley as Brer Fox and Wanda Sykes as Sister Moon. >> Perhaps because it didn't have the Disney logo on it.
Originally Posted By hightp 5BR, the Hogan's Heros creators always made the distinction that Stalag 13 a Luftwaffe Prison Camp, not a Concentration camp. The show never made allusions to the concentration camps, at all. As a matter of fact, Robert Clary (LeBeau) was actually a concentration camp survivor, and Werner Klemperer, Leon Askin and John Banner were German Jews who escaped Germany during the war. Werner Klemperer stated that he would not have done the show if it ever showed the Nazis in a good light. That's why Klink never 'won' an argument or triumphed over Hogan.
Originally Posted By DlandDug For what it's worth, Hogans Heroes was criticized in its initial run. The distinctions mentioned above were sufficient answer to the critics. Gone with the Wind has much to offend students of civil rights. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of both the book and film is that Mammy, Pork, Big Sam, and other Africans make it clear that their lives were much better under slavery. The film also perpetuates various stereotypes about African-Americans. Uncle Peter, for example, a dignified character in the book, is played for broad laughs in the film. Song of the South avoids most of these issues. Unfortunately, its reputation is based almost entirely on heresay.
Originally Posted By FiveBearRugs LOL... if it was made in the 70s, Brer Fox would be Sister Fox and would be burning her "brahs". I personally found that line funny in the film. Brer Fox slowly utters "Briar patch?" as the camera pans to the ultra-sharp briars and extreme brambles, then it cuts to a super-hyphy Brer Fox shouting "BRAHPATCH!" It's funny how those three are usually depicted as friends at the theme parks, especially Brer Bear. Speaking of which, Kira has a new picture of her and Brer Fox on her MySpace page. The new Brer Fox looks more like his animated and Splash Mountain version. He's also happy as usual, which confused me; I thought someone in the DL thread said that new BF mascot was going to be frowning. Oh well. Remus Power!
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan It seems to me that a well done intro piece on a Song of the South DVD, which frankly addresses and discusses the concerns about the film, while also setting it in the proper context, would suffice. Include a panel discussion as a special feature, too, where people -- even critics of the film -- are given voice. Then, release the movie with a "boutique" kind of label in limited quantities. Leonard Maltin always did a good job of doing those sorts of things on the Treasures DVDs, and whatever controversy there was was avoided by and large. I think it's important that people realize that over time, the way various races are portrayed in films change as a reflection of the time in which they are made. What seems okay and respectful in one generation may be offensive in another. Better to keep all these things in the light so that we grow and learn from them as we discuss them, not hide them away and pretend they were never made.
