"Frog" inspires writers to examine Disney's racial history

[Wilt Dasney]

Best title I could come up with to tie together two similar editorials.

My own paper ran this one over the weekend, where author/professor Douglas Brode uses the opening of the Princess and the Frog to examine Song of the South and argue that the long-time ban on that film is unjustified:

http://rocnow.com/article/opinion-syndicated-columns/2009912110359

A few weeks ago, Disney biographer Neal Gabler used the film's limited opening to examine Walt Disney's personal record of portraying minority groups. He argues that Walt was ahead of his time on diversity:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-disneyrace22-2009nov22,0,978597.story

The pieces don't line up entirely, but they both conclude that Walt Disney was a progressive on these issues by the standards of the early-mid 20th century, and deserves better than history has given him on this front. SotS comes in for scrutiny in both pieces.

Obviously it's preaching to the choir a bit to post these here, but I think it's interesting to get a pseudo-historical take on this.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

This might be the most interesting snippet of either piece, from Douglas Brode:

If those aforementioned films do occasionally show up on cable-movie outlets such as Turner Classics, Disney’s “Song” has remained buried for more than two decades.In some quarters, indeed, “Song of the South” is considered the last of Hollywood’s old-fashioned racist films, perceived as the final bookend of an odious tradition that began with D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” (1915). That ideologically abhorrent movie portrayed a “righteous” Ku Klux Klan violently putting down former slaves who attempted to exercise their new right to vote.

Incredibly, though, “Gone With the Wind” (1939) continues to be openly showcased, despite the fact that at one point Clark Gable sets off for some post-Civil War night-riding. Any history buff can tell you that while off-screen, “heroic” Rhett Butler dons white sheets and carries a burning cross.

In truth, “Gone With the Wind,” not “Song of the South,” represents the last of Hollywood’s offensive odes to a class structure set by race. Likewise, anyone able to locate a copy of the Disney movie, and then watch it with an open mind, will witness a dramatic breakdown of all such ugly, outdated thinking.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Just saw Frog, and it was fantastic. It had it's moment where it acknowledged the History "A woman of YOUR background", and was pleased to see that t hey did address it.


That said....SotS did the same thing. Can we have that back, please?:hammer:

 

[Bairstow]

Disney has bigger skeletons in its closet than just Song of the South.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enn5JrIGFbg&feature=related

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Disney has bigger skeletons in its closet than just Song of the South.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enn5JrIGFbg&feature=related

I'm sorry, but what was so bad about that? It was a caricature of Uncle Tom's Cabin.:shrug:

 

[Skip]

Where's that clip of Fantasia when you need it? That's an example of skeletons in your closet. Song of the South sure isn't.

 

[Bairstow]

I'm sorry, but what was so bad about that? It was a caricature of Uncle Tom's Cabin.:shrug:

In context, nothing at all, and I don't think Disney intended any sort of racial statement in this cartoon.

The problem is that it shows characters in engaging in blackface, and no matter what kind of play they were putting on the depiction of blackface is potentially offensive to a lot of people.

Never mind how silly it is for a mouse who already is, literally, black in color trying to make himself more black (which may have been part of the joke).

I don't think we'll be seeing Leonard Maltin introducing this one on a DVD anytime soon.

 

[Bairstow]

Where's that clip of Fantasia when you need it? That's an example of skeletons in your closet. Song of the South sure isn't.

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ua04wiOwY
And I agree, these scenes are a lot harder to defend.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

In context, nothing at all, and I don't think Disney intended any sort of racial statement in this cartoon.

The problem is that it shows characters in engaging in blackface, and no matter what kind of play they were putting on the depiction of blackface is potentially offensive to a lot of people.

Never mind how silly it is for a mouse who already is, literally, black in color trying to make himself more black (which may have been part of the joke).

I don't think we'll be seeing Leonard Maltin introducing this one on a DVD anytime soon.

True...That's what I was thinking.

Though controversial, Blackface is part of entertainment History. Why we sanitize fact is beyond me.

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ua04wiOwY
And I agree, these scenes are a lot harder to defend.

Yeah, can't get around that.:dazzle: