Consumer
Well-Known Member
Not relevant, but my own comment made me think about Clueless so I spent tonight watching it. Good movie. Comfy 90's LA fun.
Weird how the college age Josh ends up with his 16 year old stepsister, though.
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure: Disneyland Watch & Discussion
- Thread starter Californian Elitist
- Start date
BrerFoxesBayouAdventure
Well-Known Member
As we know, the film's release was extensively picketed and protested by members of the National Negro Congress, among other groups.
If anyone is interested in reading some criticism about SotS, photos of pages taken from my own copy of The Annotated African American Folktales:
Ghost93
Well-Known Member
I agree that it's disingenuous to call the movie Song of the South based on African folklore, as that would imply that people of African descent were directly involved in making the movie when that clearly isn't the case.
There is a connection between the film's Brer Rabbit stories and African folklore, but it's a very distant one. It's more akin to a game of telephone than a direct adaptation.
You had the original African stories (which may have derived from the Anansi the Spider stories) which got passed on to people being taken captive as slaves. The enslaved people passed the stories down to their children, who told the stories to Joel Chandler Harris, who then appropriated them and created the character of Uncle Remus as the narrator. Then Walt Disney takes the Chandler Harris/Uncle Remus versions of the story to make his own Song of the South.
Another little section here:
BrerFoxesBayouAdventure
Well-Known Member
I really like the animation on the dog and the bird in Fletch Lives.
I never denied any connection. But the Tales didn’t solely come from Harris’ memory. Harris put an ad in a paper asking people for “Negro fables and legends,” and even sent out his own children to collect stories from people. There are 263 of these tales, and about half of them are confirmed to have African roots. What about the other half? And, as stated already, the stories have similar origins in other parts of the country. This is another reason why claiming the film is based on African folklore because it’s based on The Uncle Remus Tales is disingenuous.
Last edited:
Consumer
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate reading a well structured and thorough explanation on why people find the film troublesome.
Great point, though it doesn't just apply to Song of the South. This is an unfortunate consequence of technological advancement. I wrote a paper back in college about how the invention of the record killed folk music. Folks used to gather at their neighbor's house to write songs that related to their community - stories about their struggles, people they knew, the landscape. Those kind of songs generally don't appeal to people beyond one's own community, however, and so, in order to sell records, the songs must be made more accessible to the masses. Same sentiment applies here with folk stories and the motion picture.
Last edited:
You’re welcome. And I feel the same in terms of criticism and analysis in general.
There is a nod to this and the Disney connection in general in the original Monsters Sound Show when Chase leaves his business card with the smooshed Martin Short at the mansion.
Old Hollywood Studios attraction(MGM)
A lot of the cast. Does that not count?
A Walt Disney Company employee traveling to the South attempting to make the film authentic?
So, those Imagineers and their trip to NOLA for TBA.... it's exactly what Walt would have wanted.
Read that again, not just any employee.
We can't even get Bob Iger to meet with a director of a 150 million plus budgeted film set in the works of his own country.
That's the joke.
BrerFoxesBayouAdventure
Well-Known Member
Time is a flat circle.
AdventureHasAName
Well-Known Member
There's an argument to be made that Sandler is the smartest man in the entertainment industry. Every year, the dude picks a place where he wants to vacation, invites all his friends, and gets a movie studio to pay for it.
Yep. That is why I thought to them. Imagineering would have its perks.
Like Conventions for businesses choosing fun towns and trying to cram a few fun places while they are there, but on a much larger and better scale.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
For
I'm always a bit more willing to forgive ignorance from days of yore over ignorance from a few years ago.
And what's funny is that most of the criticism of the 1946 film can and were also said about Princess in the Frog.
I'm always a bit more willing to forgive ignorance from days of yore over ignorance from a few years ago.