Song of the South

[zcasper]

I just saw Song of the South yesterday and just don't get what the controversy is. I can definitely see the stereotypes, but the movie is over 50 years old and the setting is 125 years ago. Things were different then and it's pretty apparent in the film.

With all the recent discussion about the movie I thought I would have to go see for myself. I hadn't seen it since 1986.

Zach

 

[prberk]

How and where did you get to see it?

And, by the way, I completely agree with your assessment of the overall situation. We cannot simply erase the past. We do more harm than good.

Paul

 

[zcasper]

I got the LaserDisc rip off of BitTorrent. I think it's probably against the forum rules to tell you how to get it but you can find it on BitTorrent search sites. My download was 3.8GB and contained a bunch of .VOB files. I burned this to DVD and it looked perfect.

Zach

 

[prberk]

Obviously they just need to release the thing on DVD, even if they would feel the need to have "extras" on it to discuss the timeperiod, the storytelling method, etc.

Either way, it would be a great DVD. It is a testament to how powerful it is, just to know that its songs and characters are still popular today... even though the movie has been unavailable officially for so long.

Paul

 

[SteveUK]

I can understand why some things may be a bit sensitive for some people. I may not be offended, but that doesn't mean that somebody else won't be. I think that is just too much of a risk for such a 'friendly' company.

I do however have an issue with denying the past. I think it is insulting to just pretend awful things didn't happen. I think it is more responsible for society to openly admit mistakes were made, and learn from them. Don't deny previous mistakes - these things affected millions of lives and continue to do so today, they should not be forgotten, but learnt from.

 

[prberk]

Well, personally I find the movie very uplifting.

There was a 1990s TV series once, called "I'll Fly Away," that took place in 1960 and had a black lady who played a maid and mother. The actress in an interview said that when she first saw the premise, she said, "absolutely not": she was not going to play a black maid.

But then she saw that the character was realistic for the time, and that she had a grace and dignity in a difficult situation. She also remembered that her own mother had been a maid. And it caused her to think that her first thoughts could actually have been seen as disrespectful to her own mother.

She took the role and the series was a wonderful (though low-rated) demonstration of the real lives behind the popular view of the civil rights struggle.

So, I think that we are short-sighted not to see the wonderful contribution to our culture that this movie and its portrayals (not to mention its Uncle Remus stories) gave us -- as imperfect as they were.

Paul