Roy Disney supports Song of the South release - Eisner does not (1 Viewer)

[Ernest Rister]

/
Agreed. It's like watching ice melt.

 

[MarkHastings]

Something smells in here

 

[MarkHastings]

As a White/Heterosexual/American/Male, can I too have the vast amount of movies that portray white/American men as dumb-ass's, jocks, or fat bumbling idiots taken away from the public?

How about "White Men Can't Jump"? Isn't that a racist title?

 

[TonyD]

well it looks like this thread may finally be heading into an area of comments that are not the real issue.

the point should be , release the movie and let people decide for them self if it is no good for kids, or is just a plain stinky movie.

i would like disney to stop protecting me from a movie.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I don't like any Studio trying to protect me from a movie's content. Sounds like the Studio is trying to protect its image. In the best of all world's all Studios would release any film regardless of its content. Unfortunately we live in world that is too in love with PC! :frowning: :frowning:

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I'm no American, but I'm pretty sure this Song of the South thing has gone way out of proportion. I think quite a bit of hyper-sensitivity is needed to see considerable racism in this film. Since it has never seen a US home video release I assume that a lot of people, even HTF'ers, have never seen it. It seems to have gained some sort of mythical status.

I wonder what those who haven't seen it are going to think if it's ever released. Among those who do know it by now, some think it's a great movie while others say it's boring. I'd say the best parts of SotS are the animated segments, that might even be among the best ones from that time period.

If it's up to me, though, it could just as well stay unreleased - so that my laserdisc of this title remains valuable.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Funny how the original intent of my message got lost in the argument. The point I was trying to make was that The Aristocats, which contains a potentially more offensive stereotype than ANYTHING in SotS, HAS been released on DVD, while SotS languishes in PC purgatory. So many of Disney's decisions on the removal of racist stereotypes as well as anything that "might" offend, seem arbitrary. I have no problem with The Aristocats being available on DVD, and my kids rather enjoy it; it's just the arbitrariness of Disney's decisions to "protect" our children.
My personal reaction to the scene was one of offence, because it reminded me of the scene in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story when Bruce and Linda go to see Breakfast at Tiffany's. Did it make me want to ban The Aristocats? No! Instead, I had a nice chat with my kids about stereotypes and attitudes towards minorities in the media. Disney (under Eisner) doesn't see the value of such discussions, I guess.

 

[Robert Anthony]

No, no, white men, really, can't jump. There's a few people who LOOK white that can jump, but trust me, they're not really white. They're ringers. You get em wet and rub on their skin, and the white comes right off.

Turns out they're really from Luxembourg. They grow em springy and pale out there.

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL. That's right, I forgot...it's not racist if it's true.

 

[TommyT]

And they don't want to be thought of as "the guys who released a racist film on DVD". It's ridiculous! Since the whole Aladdin debacle there have been 100s of films released that could be considered racist or in some other way PC offensive. Some of the more prominent ones I can remember being attacked were True Lies (which has an appalling amt of misogyny & was criticized for portraying people of Middle Eastern origin as fanatical terrorists), Very Bad Things (rampant misogyny), Showgirls (ditto). Other films were altered like Aladdin was; supposedly Independence Day couldn't be shown in the Middle East until a few secs depicting a potential peaceful co-existence btwn Jewish & Muslim soldiers was cut out. Yet ALL these films are on DVD.

 

[george kaplan]

I will say that I don't really think Song of the South is a very good movie, but I love the animated portions. Those are probably all I'd watch, but I still think the whole thing needs to be released, so that people have the option to watch it or not.

 

[WillG]

I remember like 15 years ago, when I was in elementary school, during know vacation time such as the Thanksgiving holiday they used to have something on TV called the "Disney Day Off" when a station, I think it was channel 11 where I live (S.W. CT) And this was the venue that I first heard of SOTS in the first place. I remember when I was actually in Elementary school, and the half day before one of the breaks, we all gathered into the auditorium and watched Disney fare for the day. I don't recall exactly what we watched, it was many years ago, but I remember Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit from those films, so was it SOTS, Probably. And if it was, am I a hate monger? hardly! Man how times have changed. In all fairness however, I did see the clip from SOTS on the "Alice in Wonderland" DVD and the cartoon characters did seem to be speaking in a dilect that might be considered borderline stereotypical, but is that really going to ruin society? I think not


Now where in the world would people ever get that idea????

Ok, I know that is not true for everyone, and forgive me if this is perceived as too un-P.C. but the sensitivity is a bit high there for reasons I don't think I have to explain.

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

Part of the reason that the Uncle Remus stories are revered is because Joel Chandler Harris was able to capture the slave dialects on paper. The characters talk like that because that is what Harris wrote down. Get a copy that has not been simplified for a young audience and prepare to be fascinated at how he did this! It's quite satisfactual reading.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"In all fairness however, I did see the clip from SOTS on the "Alice in Wonderland" DVD and the cartoon characters did seem to be speaking in a dilect that might be considered borderline stereotypical, but is that really going to ruin society? I think not."

Especially when people today gripe about Song of the South and "Amos and Andy", and yet these same people hold their sides laughing watching Apu in The Simpsons every week. Seems like every decade has its "safe" ethnic stereotype, the existence of which inexplicably does not prevent people from getting on their soapbox about another generation's humour. Get ready for it, people. One day, your grandchildren are going to be shown examples of today's culture in their schools and be taught how these examples are offensive and how they are examples of cultural insensitivity and ignorace and prejudice at the turn of the 21st Century. Its as sure as the turnin' of the Earth. That's why I get my back up about going after Song of the South or The Aristocats -- as if our modern society was somehow so perfect and so devoid of ethnic stereotypes, we are allowed to judge and condemn.

We're no better than our predescessors on this point.

 

[John Berggren]

Eisner will likely have a strong influence on the company through 2006, which is when I think his contract expires. I was hoping that he'd be completely ousted though.

I really liked Eisner a lot. I think he did a number of really great things for Disney, but he's been there too long and he's making serious mistakes.

2006 will be too late for Pixar, but perhaps we can get SotS on HD-DVD then.

 

[Brian W.]

I recall seeing Song of the South in the theater as a child, and the only thing I recall is Uncle Remus coming out looking like the good guy while all the white adults came off looking like villains.

 

[Ed Vandeweerd]

Well Since Roy is Walt's Brother Micheal Eisner should just opt out of this one and go with Mr Disney's Wishes

 

[Ray_R]

I personally hope dey boot Eisner's ass! Good riddance to bad rubbish!

 

[Eric Paddon]

Roy is Walt's nephew, not his brother. Roy Disney, Sr., Walt's brother, died in 1971.

 

[MarkHastings]

Until the company changes it's name to the "Walt Eisner Company", I would think that Roy should have a better claim on the company.

Oh no, did I just give Eisner a BAD idea????? He needs to start his own company and leave Disney alone.