Possible Release of Disney's "Song of the South"? (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

OMG. Creamed corn is now racist?

 

[seanOhara]

Obviously "Jimmy Crack Corn" has a meaning I've never heard of before.

 

[TonyD]

what?

mike was just poking fun at ryan's "sweet niblets" exclamation, i thought.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

And I was just taking the poking fun to the next level, where we see the absurdity of why, in today's supposedly "enlightened" society, I can't walk to my local video store and buy a copy of SOTS.

 

[TonyD]

oh, oops.

 

[BernieV]

That big green guy had better watch his "Ho Ho Ho". You heard what happened to Santa Clause down under? jk

I remember seeing "Song of the South" in the theater and on the Walt Disney Presents show as a youngster. I recognized the stereotypes even then and knew they were a reflection of attitudes and prejudices of the times and not accurate characterizations. Can't we credit today's audiences with the ability to make the same critical judgement?

I say release the movie instead of attempting to suppress it. With today's global communication and distribution methods that isn't possible anyway.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Probably not -- and I'm 100% in favor of this being released.

The complaint about this movie (and some others) is that it implies that black people back then were happy to be subservient and took being inferior for granted. It's a depressing idea, and it was by and large widely accepted. There is a fear that many children will see this movie and that idea will be at least subconsciously planted within their brains and it gives it new life.

Since "Gone With the Wind" has the same depictions of black people in it, I guess the difference here is "Song of the South" will be very popular with children (presumably), so that's why I answer "no" as to whether we can credit today's audiences with the ability to make the same critical judgment.

I still say it should be released, maybe as just part of a two-disc Disney Treasures with some other "questionable" material, and geared more to collectors or adults with all the appropriate disclaimers. In other words, Disney doesn't have to promote it as they would "Pinocchio" or "Bambi" -- they can just sort of sneak it out there.