Song Of The South, there I said it.

[cyberbro]

I just saw a post that got me thinking "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day"!

How about Disney bring back Song Of The South?

I think this was a great movie with really good characters. I know why they took it into the vault forever, but was anyone really offended at this movie?
Uncle Remus was a nice old guy that I would love to hear a good story from, I see nothing derogatory in that, he was of a different era, color or talked like a lot of people did in his geographic location on the earth. No one is judging him.

I bet there are a lot of young people out there that never saw this movie; they properly have no idea that Splash Mountain is based on this movie. This is not a political statement, this is a good old family movie. Every time I'm on the ride I want to see the movie again, it had probably the best Disney jingle of all time.

I also have seen the movie for sale on ebay from other countries, but I want a fully restored DVD limited edition, not some old garbage copy that someone in a basement made overseas.

You want to talk about offensiveness, has any watch a music video lately?

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I also have seen the movie for sale on ebay from other countries, but I want a fully restored DVD limited edition, not some old garbage copy that someone in a basement made overseas.

I was able to get a version on DVD at a convention. To be honest the transfer was pretty decent. It also had some interesting facts and images. Plus a few radio ads for the movie too.

The chances it will ever actually come out of the Disney Vault would be pretty slim. The whole Tarbaby sequence would have to be changed to make it look like honey rather than tar since it's difference in Splash Mountain. But, before they start the movie all they have to do is put Leonard Maltin at the beginning like they did in the Treasures collections..and leave it with some facts....

 

[natalia1681]

I would love to see Song of the South. I have never seen it before and really would like to watch it. I would also love to hear the history and facts with it:wave:

 

[mharrington]

I regret to say the chances of SOTS ever being released in the USA range from slight to impossible. I'm disappointed it may not ever come out, but I can understand the reasons why; a majority of us supporters are Caucasian. But is there even just one African American person who wants the movie to come out as well? Just wonderin'...

Also, for a while, the whole movie was available for downloading, courtesy of YouTube... until of course, Disney intervened and ordered YouTube the film off the site. Did anyone catch the movie before it was removed? I was fortunate to have done so, and I LOVED the movie! I was almost in tears by the end, it was that superb. Also, you have to remember that this film takes place in the 1880s, at least over a decade after both the Civil War and slavery were over and done with... Just my two cents.

 

[mharrington]

The whole Tarbaby sequence would have to be changed to make it look like honey rather than tar since it's difference in Splash Mountain.

Well, back when the Disney Channel was actually good, they would sometimes show clips of Disney features during the Disney cartoon shorts shows. And believe it or not, one of those clips was "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby"; a truncated sequence from SOTS. The Tar Baby was right there!

 

[Sir Hiss527]

I can actually say I have seen this movie. Finally! Though I had to watch it on the computer on pretty low quality, but it was alright. The movie is pretty good, with the stories and Uncle Remus. Hopefully Disney will possibly someday bring it to DVD.

 

[Maerj]

I went to the Roy Disney signing in NYC on December 5th for the True Life Adventure DVDs. I asked Roy about the possibilty of releasing Song of the South in the new Disney Legacy DVD series. He knocked on the wood panel next to the table and said that he is hoping they let him release it.

 

[goofyfan13]

Song of the South is one of those movies I have wated to see for a long time. Hopefully they release sooner or later, or I can find someone who actually owns it.

 

[BarryH]

If Disney does put out "Song of the South" on DVD, you can be sure there will be a direct-to-video "Song of the South 2."

 

[WDWHeadBanger]

I recently had a chance to see SOTS and let me say this: The hero of the movie is an African American. The white family in the movie is made up of abolishionists. Slavery is seen as being a practice that is wrong, but is not explored in the movie to any great degree. The plot mostly concerns a young boy learning morals FROM UNCLE REMUS. Therefore, I found nothing offensive what so ever about the movie. I've heard a lot of fluff about "the slaves in the movie are walking around happily and singing like they enjoy it". They're walking around and singing beacuse they have a nice family that allows them to stay on their land and come and go as they please. Again, I see nothing wrong with it and I think people that are offended by it should simply not buy the movie and leave the rest of us alone.

 

[mkt]

I own it in multiple formats. I have an official Disney UK PAL VHS Copy, an official Disney Japan Laserdisc (this is the main reason I own a Laserdisc player), an official Disney Hong Kong Laserdisc (this was a gift, and the other reason I own a laserdisc player), and an NTSC copy of my UK PAL Copy. I'm considering copying one of my LD copies onto DVD.

 

[SewIn2Disney]

We had to read the excerpt about the Tar Baby in a college Lit class....that was one of the most interesting lectures on Literature that I ever attended. And, no one brought up anything about Splash Mountain, until I did at the very end of the class. Many people did not know Splash was based on SotS. And this was only 2 years ago, with people in their early 20's. I agree....it should be released.

 

[Southern Lady]

Song of the South

Yes, I saw the movie. It was very good, and I still sing zip a do Dah when I am happy. The story was based in a historical time when it was not so "racist" that has become extreme now.I had asked when I was purchasing my picture after riding Splash Mountain if they ever would make the movie public. The CM said they were hoping to that summer. I see it did not make it. I also came from an era that my Mother would not let me go see "Gone With the Wind" because it had a "bad" word at the end. She finally let me go if I would leave before the end. (of course I did not leave). As you can see, I was born in the deep South, and there are lots of things I could say, but won't.

 

[sbkline]

But, before they start the movie all they have to do is put Leonard Maltin at the beginning like they did in the Treasures collections..and leave it with some facts....

Those Leonard Maltin spiels are a joke. The wife and I just chuckle and roll are eyes every time he gets on there to give his little spiel prior to the cartoon showing. We roll our eyes at the hyper sensitive PC culture which considers harmless caricatures "racist" and "offensive" and requires either chopping such cartoons out altogether or prefacing them with some cheesy spiel. I grew up watching such cartoons and I never considered them racist, or learned to be racist as a result. I suppose I shouldn't complain, I guess, because at least they are actually showing these cartoons, as opposed to Warner Brothers, who seem to have permanately cut the WWII era "racist" Looney Tunes cartoons. And, although I'm not totally sure, since I haven't seen Speedy Gonzales for a long time, I suspect they considered him "racist" as well and have pulled him from the air. Puh-leeze.:lookaroun :brick:

Not only do I find this hyper-sensitive PC culture disgusting, I also find the double standard equally or more disgusting. Case in point: the wife and I were watching the Mickey Mouse Treasures the other night. Leonard Maltin did his opening spiel to a particular cartoon. This particular one is one in which, if I remember correctly, someone ended up with an arrangement around his head resembling a Native American head dress, and began acting the part accompanied by the background music. Again, I've never seen anything racist or offensive about this type of thing which was very common in cartoons of that era. Yet, they apparently found it "offensive" enough to require that cheesy spiel prior to the cartoon. Yet, in the very next cartoon (which did NOT have the spiel by Maltin before showing), one of the characters was dressed like a Scotsman and began doing a scottish style dance accompanied by scottish style music in the background. Exactly the same type of caricature/stereotype as in the previous cartoon. Yet, for some reason, in this hyper-sensitive PC culture, it is perfectly okay to stereotype peoples of white European background, but people scream bloody murder if you do the same with Indians, blacks, orientals, etc. This is the pathetic double standard of which I speak. Not that I was offended by the Scotch caricature by any means, but I WAS "offended" (if that is the proper word) that the jackbooted thugs of the politically correct apparently don't find references to European cultures to be worthy of the same "sensitivity" of which traditional minorities are worthy.

To make a long story short, as most of you can probably surmise by the above rant, I see nothing racist or offensive about Song of the South. I'm not sure if I would enjoy the movie or not, but I would very much like to have the chance to view it and find out if I like it or not. But I see nothing racist about portraying a black character, or any other character for that matter, the way he would have talked and acted in a particular time period.

 

[doop]

I have never seen Song of the South, but I was aware that Splash Mountain was based on it. And knowing that, I would definitely like to see it released, or maybe a local library has it.

 

[ISTCrew20]

I know an upcoming release for the 60th anniversary has been looked at, so I guess there is still a slim possibility.

 

[lilclerk]

I see I'm in the minority here, but I really did not enjoy SotS. I wasn't offended by it by any means, I just didn't enjoy the movie as a whole. I do love some of the songs (Zip a dee doo dah and How Do You Do? are classics,) but the movie itself was just... too weird for me.

Anyway, I wouldn't be upset if Disney ever released the movie by any means. In fact, I think they should, I never really understood why it's still banned.
I'm just saying I was disappointed in the film.

 

[culturenthrills]

There was actually a serious effort to release it started a couple of years ago but after Iger took over he stopped it. And when asked at the last shareholders meeting if they were going to release the movie he said not at this time. So for right now it is dead in the water. You would be surprised that most people do not know that Splash Mt. is based on SOTS. Also, a mistake many people make is that SOTS takes place during Reconstruction after the civil war not when slavery was legal.

 

[maelstrom]

The big problem: people want to pretend that slavery didn't exist. It did. That is a fact. Not saying it was good, or that it should ever happen again, but it happened at one point. Did Uncle Remus and the other black people sing and smile? Yup. Did the real slaves sing and smile? Yup. They made the best of their circumstances. Now that slavery has been abolished and we know that we cannot keep another person as a slave against their will, can't we just watch SotS and take it for what it is, and not make it into a racial or politcal issue. It's a movie. MOVIES ARE NOT REAL LIFE. I don't think any of us who want SotS released on DVD want to watch it because we hate black people or want to reinstate slavery. No, we want it because it's a good movie.

 

[cupanudles]

By the way, Roy E. Disney said he is trying to get "Song of the South" released on the new Disney Legacy line