Br’er Rabbit is a tale that has existed for hundreds of years, dating back to West Africa and through oral tradition of generations in the bonds of slavery. It was a tale rooted in empowerment and hope for getting by, it was about a sly rabbit outwitting authority figures and those that wished him harm. It may be unfortunate to be incorporated in Song of the South, but it exists independently of that movie and the ride makes no mention of the problematic aspects. The Br’er Rabbit tales predate Disney by hundreds of years and has continued to be used outside of Disney (there was a Nick Cannon movie in 2006). Cancelling this important story because contemporary Twitter mobs can’t separate it from another part that hasn’t been seen in decades is doing a disservice and burying an important part of history and African-American storytelling tradition. Condemning traditional African folklore for sharing the screen with Song of the South would be like condemning Sleepy Hollow if America turned on Mr. Toad.
So, now that we are cancelling African folklore, what are we replacing it with? A European fairytale with races switched and an element where the African Americans are tormented by voodoo and witch doctors. That sounds more questionable to me and, on top of everything, this will likely be a cheap overlay rather than a new, innovative ride that many believe Princess and the Frog deserves.
Perhaps a better option would be to save the money of an overlay and add an exhibit to the queue of Splash Mountain about the roots of traditional African American storytelling and its importance. Turn it empowering and free the narrative from the connection to Song of the South. Br’er Rabbit remains a tale that needs telling.
Yeah. The idea to do away with an African American folklore tale in favour of a European tale is rather troubling. We went from one story with black roots to none. Granted, it was a whitewashing not the tale. Which is why I believe steps should have been taken to bring the ride closer to its roots than outright change it.
Change the music. Change the voice cast to a black cast. Change the script. There’s a lot of things that needed to change. But this argument will come back to bite Disney eventually, unless they start putting all of their effort to creating tons of stories created by and about black people, as well as of people of other colours and nationalities (which they could be doing as we speak).
PatF works on a surface level, because now you have a character, clearly black, with a major attraction to represent people. While that’s great, you’re replacing an African American Tale with a “white” lead with a European tale that has a black lead. Obviously there was a problem with the first one, but it wasn’t unfixable. Not sure why Brer Rabbit wasn’t played by a black actor in the ride considering he was in the movie (I’m pretty sure?), but that could’ve been fixed.
There shouldn’t be one “token black story” in the parks. There should be more than two, although two would’ve been a start. They could’ve co-existed. But Disney never cared about this. They wanted Splash gone. They didn’t want to hear SotS being asked about at the investor meetings anymore. They didn’t want to maintain a fluke with 100 animatronics. They didn’t want to make the effort to write the wrongs of SotS.
They want to pretend like it never happened. And so far, it’s working. This has bought them a lot of good press right now. But people who think critically are going to start comparing notes. And people who can think critically are the people that go far. The people that rise to power to hold others accountable, and influence others as well.
Splash Mountain needed changes, but it needed changes within the folklore it was based on. Disney needs more than just one black centred story, and it’s going to need some that aren’t just modified European fairytales written by white dudes.
