Song of the South (1 Viewer)

[David Norman]

Ok I'll ask -- news from what source and official according to who?

 

[Mysto]

Ok I'll ask -- news from what source and official according to who?

Was broadcast on the 5 o'clock ABC news - you know, the one owned by Disney.

 

[David Norman]

Who are they citing as a source other than the report from the blogger that's been circulating for a week?
Did they say they had confirmed with Disney Home Video or give the name of a person/department?

Not dismissing that they said it or that you heard it, but since the news and entertainment sections don't always operate as if they're related.

 

[Mysto]

Who are they citing as a source other than the report from the blogger that's been circulating for a week?
Did they say they had confirmed with Disney Home Video or give the name of a person/department?

Not dismissing that they said it or that you heard it, but since the news and entertainment sections don't always operate as if they're related.

Go as you will. I will make the logical assumption that as it is being reported on ABC and since they are Disney that this news has been "passed". We will await their retraction together.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I've long thought that Disney should do a documentary (a la "Walt and El Grupo") on the production of the film. Explore the origins of the source material and how Joel Chandler Harris was involved. Explain how this material was influential on the culture of the period and how Walt Disney became interested in it. Talk about the film's production and release. Of course, you also discuss the controversy which has accompanied the film since its 1946 release. Interview people like Floyd Norman and Whoopi Goldberg. Bring in scholars like Henry Louis Gates and let them speak frankly. Let's hear a series of diverging and informed opinions ranging from "I love it" to "I hate it" and everything in between. The film is marked by both virtues and flaws so explain them to us. Give the generation that has never seen the movie and only knows it as "that racist Disney movie" a more balanced and nuanced view. Of course, the DVD and blu-ray would include the original film with the documentary, and Disney should take care in releasing it. In other words, don't market it as you would "Frozen," and keep it from easy access of the Walmart soccer moms who use Disney films as electronic forms of babysitting. Sadly, I don't think Disney would consider doing this, and it's a shame.

My thought on a license to Criterion is that would be a good forum for documentary material about the issues in the film. It could be marketed to adults without the use of animation on the cover. That would be a good compromise.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Disney may be in a difficult situation. If a spokesperson refutes the rumor, then the twitter outrage mob will hyperventilate (HOW DARE THEY PUT OUT THAT HORRENDOUSLY RACIST FILM! WHAT YEAR DO THEY THINK THIS IS? 2011?). If the rumor is confirmed, they will receive flack for censoring art and history. They might be thinking that they can ride out this "storm" and that the matter will be largely forgotten in a few weeks when some new shiny controversy will be the outrage du jour.

 

[Matt Hough]

"Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee" was performed in Babes on Broadway, not Strike Up the Band. There is a minstrel show in Babes in Arms, too, though it's not as famous as the one in Babes on Broadway.

 

[Dick]

Well we just watched the news and the "official" word is that the Crow Scene will be cut. This scares the crap out of me and it should you as well. The precedent it sets is chilling.

I want to go on a rant about streaming and the ability of studios to decide what past movies we see and what content they contain but I won't. I'm just glad the studios can't get to my library.

Well, you can't get accurate climate information anymore. You can't get...well...a lot of stuff we once took for granted even a few years ago. You're right. It is scary. Buckle up...it's going to be a bumpy future.

 

[Dick]

Disney may be in a difficult situation. If a spokesperson refutes the rumor, then the twitter outrage mob will hyperventilate (HOW DARE THEY PUT OUT THAT HORRENDOUSLY RACIST FILM! WHAT YEAR DO THEY THINK THIS IS? 2011?). If the rumor is confirmed, they will receive flack for censoring art and history. They might be thinking that they can ride out this "storm" and that the matter will be largely forgotten in a few weeks when some new shiny controversy will be the outrage du jour.

The only way to make progress with anything like this is to keep hammering away at it and not grow complacent, regardless of how many new "controversies" arise threatening to bury it...and there will be plenty of those, I fear.

 

[Dick]

Was broadcast on the 5 o'clock ABC news - you know, the one owned by Disney.

I wonder if this means that future releases of DUMBO on video will be absent the crow sequence. If so, that'll bring the running time down to about 58 minutes!

 

[Lord Dalek]

How are they supposed to explain where Dumbo gets the magic feather if they cut the crows out?

 

[Edwin-S]

They'll erase the feather and the crows. Dumbo will be seen stirring up a cloud of dust and then he will, magically be flying. No explanation will be offered other than "will power, Dumbo. Will power."

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Song of the South and Porgy and Bess, two integral pieces of cinematic history in their own ways now banned from view. Poor Orwell was just thirty some years away from his prediction it seems.

 

[darkrock17]

I'm surprise Dumbo doesn't end being locked up in the vault for good not just for the crows but that it's a circus movie and we all know how people feel about them.

 

[Worth]

They'll erase the feather and the crows. Dumbo will be seen stirring up a cloud of dust and then he will, magically be flying. No explanation will be offered other than "will power, Dumbo. Will power."

It worked for Captain Marvel.

 

[SAhmed]

If “The Birth of A Nation” can be released with its controversial content then why can’t “Song of The South” ?

And if they cut out the crows sequence from “Dumbo” then that is utterly ridiculous as it’s critical part of this wonderful movie which is already lean and mean. Looking at the situation as glass half full we could get the release of the movie if Disney cut out everything after the opening credits until the start of the end credits .

Full disclosure in that I’ve actually never seen “Song of The South” but that is not the point.

Regards

 

[darkrock17]

If Song Of The South is so controversial, how has Splash Mountain been allowed to stay at the Disney parks for all these years?

 

[Edwin-S]

The criticism that "Song of the South" is racist is overblown. It borders on bizarre. The film is a period piece set at a time when plantations existed and Blacks worked on them. I mean, are people going to try to deny that Blacks ever worked on or were forced to work on Plantations? One of the biggest criticisms that could be leveled at the film is that it shows Blacks to be happy working on a Plantation, when the reality was very different; however, none of Disney's output could ever be accused of displaying actual reality.

 

[Edwin-S]

If Song Of The South is so controversial, how has Splash Mountain been allowed to stay at the Disney parks for all these years?

Most people now wouldn't be able associate the "Splash Mountain" ride with "Song of the South". I've been around for a long time and even I didn't know that the ride was inspired by "Song of the South", until now.

 

[darkrock17]

Most people now wouldn't be able associate the "Splash Mountain" ride with "Song of the South". I've been around for a long time and even I didn't know that the ride was inspired by "Song of the South", until now.

You're telling me you never knew that the song Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah came from this movie? Did you never have or watch those Disney Sing-Along VHS from the 80's and 90's?