Song of the South may get released

[Kristamouse]

YES! Finally something I can answer!! I have been lurking for 3 years and just joined to say, YES I have the book about the Laughing Place. Brer Fox and Bear are trying to catch Brer Rabbit and use a Tar Baby to do so. I do not have the cassette any more but I have the book. I would think that Tar Baby could be offensive to some but if the book came with a cassette then it had to have been made in the late 1970's -1980's correct? I will look when I get home.
Yeah my first post!!!!

 

[ToTBellHop]

YES! Finally something I can answer!! I have been lurking for 3 years and just joined to say, YES I have the book about the Laughing Place. Brer Fox and Bear are trying to catch Brer Rabbit and use a Tar Baby to do so. I do not have the cassette any more but I have the book. I would think that Tar Baby could be offensive to some but if the book came with a cassette then it had to have been made in the late 1970's -1980's correct? I will look when I get home.
Yeah my first post!!!!

There is a reason they replaced the tar baby scene in the movie with Brer Rabbit getting covered with sticky honey in Splash Mountain...they really changed a lot from movie to ride (including the character's voices...some of them aren't even close).

 

[sbkline]

There is a reason they replaced the tar baby scene in the movie with Brer Rabbit getting covered with sticky honey in Splash Mountain...they really changed a lot from movie to ride (including the character's voices...some of them aren't even close).

First of all, I must correct myself on something I said in my last post. The movie did not take place in the "Old South", as I remembered that they were driving automobiles in this movie. I guess I should say the original stories took place in the old south and Disney (in 1946) put them in a more modern setting.

As for the above quote, I saw nothing wrong with the tar baby scene. So Brer Fox and Brer Bear made a baby out of a sticky substance (in this case, tar) in order to trap Brer Rabbit. Big freakin' deal. Just another example of hyper-sensitive people just looking anywhere they can to cry racism over and, frankly, I'm sick and bloody tired of it.

And just to add to my previous point about Uncle Remus being "subservient". Like I said, I really saw nothing in this movie to indicate him being "subservient". Quite the opposite. I noticed that he seemed to be quite highly respected, not just by the black maid lady, but also the child's father and mother, as well as his Grandmother. I got the impression that he was somewhat revered and very much respected and was able to "get away" with things that others might not get away with in regards to the boy. This is evidenced by his statement to the other boys to just tell the mother and grandmother that the boy is "with me", as if he knew that he was respected enough that this should be okay. Then, after the Grandmother basically told him to "butt out" (my words not hers) at one point, in regards to the way they deal with the boy, as Uncle Remus left he asked if she was mad at him and she replied something to the extent of "of course not". The only "subservience" I saw was him, as a non-family member, knowing that he has to back off and respect the wishes of the mother and the grandmother in regards to what kind of things he teaches the boy. If one of them told him not to do something where the boy was concerned, he replied "Yes mam" and honored their wishes. This isn't black man being subservient to white person, it is one person respecting the parental rights of another over a child.

If people would stop looking for every excuse in the world to cry racism, this sure would be a much better place to live. :brick:

 

[WelshBatman]

There are no automobiles in Song of the South... and from what I can gather it takes place a few years after the Civil War, it's definitely post Civil-War but how many years is questionable.

 

[ToTBellHop]

If people would stop looking for every excuse in the world to cry racism, this sure would be a much better place to live. :brick:

Do you really want to start a discussion of racism in America? It would surely lead to name-calling. Disney tries to be tasteful with its attractions, and someone clearly decided it was apropos to change the plot from that of a tar baby (which some would consider derogatory) to a honey-filled beehive (which few would be offended by). As a white male, I don't really consider myself in any position to tell people how to feel about something that they may find racially demeaning. Disney (smartly) decides to avoid these issues altogether.

 

[unkadug]

... If people would stop looking for every excuse in the world to cry racism, this sure would be a much better place to live. :brick:

Welcome to the "New South" :wave:

 

[sbkline]

There are no automobiles in Song of the South... and from what I can gather it takes place a few years after the Civil War, it's definitely post Civil-War but how many years is questionable.

I just watched it Wednesday night, and already I'm forgetting things about it?!?! :ROFLOL:

In the opening scene where the parents are taking the boy to his Grandmother's, I was thinking they were in an old 1930's model car. Maybe it was a horse and buggy, then, and I was right the first time.

I must really be showing signs of old age to have such a fuzzy memory of a movie I just saw less than a week ago!

 

[sbkline]

As a white male, I don't really consider myself in any position to tell people how to feel about something that they may find racially demeaning. Disney (smartly) decides to avoid these issues altogether.

Maybe you don't, but I must admit that I do, and I think people need to just suck it the heck up, get over it and shut up already because I'm sick and tired of the darn whining. But that's just me. :brick:

 

[Spring Breeze]

I want to see this film. Bad or not,I still think the banning of the film was a bad move. i am not sure of why exactly it was banned when surley enough movies with more racist behavior still grace shelves and are considered complete classics

 

[kramicart]

Good point. And let's not forget "The Jazz Singer."

Or the less well known, Gone With The Wind.

 

[arielbabe]

i recorded it about 8 years ago when it was on british tv but i cant remember what i did with the tape

 

[unkadug]

Or the less well known, Gone With The Wind.

Are you serious ? :shrug:

I would venture that more people have see GWTW than The Jazz Singer

 

[animay]

Replacing the tar baby with a honey bee hive probably has a bit to do with fears of racism, but more than that I think it allowed them to merge the tar baby story (Brer Rabbit gets caught and thrown in the briar patch) with the laughing place story (Brer Rabbit tricks them into getting stung by bees). It's combining what was originally two separate stories into one. I think this was a very good decision. Setting up the tar baby plot and having it make sense in the setting of the ride would have been a bigger storytelling challenge.

 

[BrerMichael]

I tend to agree. It also would have been a little harder to properly create the images of Brer Rabbit getting trapped inside Tar Baby with the animatronics while moving boats through the scenes. I like the ride the way it is, although I would have preferred Uncle Remus make an appearance!

Hopefully all of the talk about the film finally being released will do some good. Whoever asked the question at the New Orleans meeting should be applauded for the eloquent way of presenting it to Bob Iger. I can't think of a smarter, more intelligent way to have requested the film's DVD release. Certainly Disney could be a tremendous job using extras and introductions to look at time in American history, sociologically and culturally.

Michael