Phineas
Well-Known Member
Exactly. And it's so easy to say "No, no nothing offensive here!" as a Caucasian American male, but really-the internet has built it up to be this horrific, mean-spirited, Pro-White brigade, which is definitely is not. (Again, Birth of a Nation would like a word with you...) And Disney's refusal to just release it only adds fuel to the fire.Indeed. Part of the problem is that one of the critiques of the time claimed it took place during the slavery era instead of the Reconstruction period*, and the person who wrote hadn't even seen the film but instead was working off of notes an assistant took while watching it.
*Not that the Reconstruction Period was all that great, either, but it was certainly better than the period before or the Jim Crow era that came after.
They could handle it properly by releasing it in the same format as the Walt Disney Treasures line-include documentaries/introductions by film critics, putting it in its proper historical context. They did this with a collection of wartime shorts, several of which border on outright propaganda, and there was no outrage or backlash towards the company. It even included the infamous Der Fuehrer's Face, which features Donald Duck having a nightmare about being a Nazi-mustache, armband and all. Surely if Disney felt comfortable releasing that, Song of the South deserves the same treatment.
The very worst term to apply to Song of the South would be "misguided", rather than mean-spirited or hateful.
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