Song of the South on Dvd Discussion & Speculation Thread

[crunkcourt]

They really need to release the Song of the South! I'm so sick of the extreme political correctness; soon even classics like Gone With the Wind are going to be banned!

[Escapay]

soon even classics like Gone With the Wind are going to be banned!

It's too big a movie to be banned, while Song of the South is not very well known outside of us Disney fanatics so its absence on the shelves won't ruffle as many feathers as if they decided to store Gone With The Wind in the vault permanently. What's unsettling for me is that SOTS is much tamer in their portrayal of black people than GWTW and they haven't seen an American release in any format, while GWTW has already seen 4 DVD releases (MGM single-disc, WB single-disc, WB 4-disc, WB 2-disc), and I'm sure countless VHS releases before it.

Escapay

[dhusch]

Do you think the animated scenes can stand on their own. What if Disney cut out all of the Live Action subplot and just kept the animated sections along with intros of Uncle Remus starting to tell the stories?

Call the movie, "Song of the South, Uncle Remus's stories"
Would this concept work, or is the live action part too essential to understanding the animated sequences?

[Karushifa]

Do you think the animated scenes can stand on their own. What if Disney cut out all of the Live Action subplot and just kept the animated sections along with intros of Uncle Remus starting to tell the stories?

Call the movie, "Song of the South, Uncle Remus's stories"
Would this concept work, or is the live action part too essential to understanding the animated sequences?

While I (obviously ) haven't seen the whole film, I have seen snippets of the Brer Rabbit stories and had a storybook with them in their entirety when I was little (and - get this - it had an actual Tar Baby, instead of a glue baby or whatever the PC Police changed it to later on. I shoulda kept that damn book...).

The Brer Rabbit segments, I think, are independent of the live action parts and I would think could be shown/released on their own, except maybe for that Tar Baby part (which, personally, I think is really dumb that people would be offended by it...I mean, there's a lot of tar in the South. So if you wanted to make something big and sticky in the South, tar would be the material of choice, I would think. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes tar is just...tar.)

[eric89]

Maybe Disney could try a little experiement (read on.)

What if Disney would show "Song of the South" late one night (or...er....morning) at midnight, for a one time only showing in the United States. Just to try it out and see how many people actually watch it vs. the number of complaints. (I say midnight so it would be mostly adults watching so that no one could have the room to complain about children viewing this innocent, wholesome, family film for the sake of political correctness.)

I think they would be stunned at how fast everyone would have there VCRs, DVRs, TiVos, etc. set. It would spread through the internet so fast it would be crazy!

[Bebopgroove]

I wonder if TCM is allowed to show Disney films, seeing how they aired "Only Yesterday" (a Ghibli film, but a very contraversial one here in the states). They could have a week where they aired some of Disney's "forgotten and lesser-known classics", and "Song of the South" could be one of them. And yes, they'd have to probably show it around mid-night-ish while the kiddies are asleep.

[Karushifa]

I wonder if TCM is allowed to show Disney films, seeing how they aired "Only Yesterday" (a Ghibli film, but a very contraversial one here in the states). They could have a week where they aired some of Disney's "forgotten and lesser-known classics", and "Song of the South" could be one of them. And yes, they'd have to probably show it around mid-night-ish while the kiddies are asleep.

I really wish someone could explain to me why Only Yesterday is apparently considered verboten for release by Disney. I regret that I didn't get to see all of it when it aired on TCM, but from what I saw the most objectionable thing was an extended sequence on the un-joys of menstruation. Mind you, this was done (or at least subtitled) in a very tame way, with all the cute code words like "period", etc., and is not unlike something an episode of Degrassi Jr. High might tackle. Not a huge deal unless you're really squeamish about that sort of thing (still, it does happen to 52% of the population!) Other than that, I've heard of one instance of what could be construed as child abuse, but nothing too graphic (a father slaps his child out of discipline).

[Spongebob Squarepants]

I never understood this,but why was the tar baby scene was edited in Song of the South. Why was that!?

[Karushifa]

I never understood this,but why was the tar baby scene was edited in Song of the South. Why was that!?

I don't know about the actual film, but in storybooks which had adaptations of the Brer Rabbit stories using the Disney characters, the Tar Baby eventually became a "glue baby" in later editions. From what I understand, this was done primarily because the black tar baby was seen as a symbol offensive to Blacks, and thus was changed into a more innocuous white object.

Personally, I always thought that the tar baby was made of tar because: 1) tar is very, very sticky and thus good for trapping rabbits, and 2) there is an abundance of tar in some parts of the South, where the story came from. At the time it was written (Civil War-ish era) I don't think Elmer's glue or rubber cement were all too popular but I could be wrong about that

Sometimes, I think you just have to leave it that a tar baby is just a tar baby. Perhaps Freud was onto something there...

[Escapay]

The tar baby sequence isn't edited in any way shape or form in the actual movie, but as Karushifa pointed out, it's edited/changed in later prints of the Disney version of the story (book on tape, etc.). But I've got an old record of Song of the South, one of those read-along ones, and it uses the tar baby. Then again, that was from the mid-80s, so maybe after the 1986 theatrical re-release they changed it to the glue baby and/or the bee's nest (see below).

At Splash Mountain (any version), instead of having the tar baby capture Br'er Rabbit, they've got a bee's nest covered in honey, which may be fine for the ride, but doesn't make much sense storywise (why would a rabbit be picking fights with a bee's nest?).

Escapay

[Disney Princess Ariellen]

At Splash Mountain (any version), instead of having the tar baby capture Br'er Rabbit, they've got a bee's nest covered in honey, which may be fine for the ride, but doesn't make much sense storywise (why would a rabbit be picking fights with a bee's nest?).

Escapay

I don't remember the specifics of Disneyland's "Capture of Br'er Rabbit" scene, but I think WDW's makes sense...since you see Br'er Fox sneak up (well, hover, anyway) behind Br'er Rabbit with a bee hive while Br'er Rabbit is laughing at Br'er Bear ("I didn't say it was YOUR laughin' place..."), and it looks like Br'er Fox is ready to bring it down on Br'er Rabbit's head, and the next scene is Br'er Rabbit physically trapped IN the hive because Br'er Fox has slammed it down on his head. I never thought it looked like Br'er Rabbit had picked a fight with a bee's nest. Br'er Rabbit's just too cocky to be attentive.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

I don't remember the specifics of Disneyland's "Capture of Br'er Rabbit"....

Basically the same thing as Walt Disney World, except they cut don't have the scene where Brer' Rabbit is surrendering to Brer' Fox just before Brer' Fox puts the bee hive on Brer' Rabbit. One of the reasons why the one at WDW has a better constructed story IMO. Making it a better ride!

Plus WDW has better logs!

As for the Tar Baby scene, it's still in the original movie, but if it's true that it's cut out from stuff like books, then I think that's pretty ridiculous! I mean after all, who cares whether it's a tar baby. It's a story about a talking rabbit for crying out loud!

[Karushifa]

As for the Tar Baby scene, it's still in the original movie, but if it's true that it's cut out from stuff like books, then I think that's pretty ridiculous! I mean after all, who cares whether it's a tar baby. It's a story about a talking rabbit for crying out loud!

Reminds me of the time in history class when we were watching the movie Glory (a GREAT movie, by the way), and when the scene comes up where Matt Broderick is riding around slicing watermelons in half with his sword, our teacher tells us it's supposed to symbolize the brutalization of Black Americans or something. Ummm, okay, Teach, we just thought he was cutting up watermelons for practice...didn't even remotely think about any sort of symbolism there.

I mean, I like watermelons. I really do. They're red and juicy and delicious. They even have these ones now with no seeds in them, they're awesome. But why do they still have to be connected with some sort of racist undertone? I mean, my generation was all ready to move on, but oh no. We still have to look for watemelon imagery in the popular media and think, is this derogatory in any way?

[Disney Princess Ariellen]

One of the reasons why the one at WDW has a better constructed story IMO. Making it a better ride!

I agree that the WDW version has the clearer storyline; I think Disneyland's logs go through the interior way too quickly. Plus...WDW has Br'er Soap! I definitely got more drenched at Disneyland, though, and it was a day where that felt really good.

Plus WDW has better logs!

More comfy and slower moving. Though last time I was in DL, I was just excited to ride Splash Mountain one behind the other and Space side-by-side. (This was exciting to me, since I live on the east coast and have been to WDW many more times than DL. )

As for the Tar Baby scene, it's still in the original movie, but if it's true that it's cut out from stuff like books, then I think that's pretty ridiculous! I mean after all, who cares whether it's a tar baby. It's a story about a talking rabbit for crying out loud!

I agree with you completely. I think they were selling a few storybook versions of some of the Uncle Remus tales at the Briar Patch gift shop while I was working in WDW, and I'm pretty sure I saw 'glue baby.'

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I mean, my generation was all ready to move on, but oh no. We still have to look for watemelon imagery in the popular media and think, is this derogatory in any way?

Those who seek will find sooner or later - if they want it bad enough...

[Thad Komorowski]

The line in Peter Pan was "We're off to fight the injuns," nothing about killing. Disney has always been iffy over the entire film's release due to the Indians ever since its reissue in 1989. I don't think it's ever aired completely on the Disney Channel (aside from clips).

As for Song of the South, I think it's painfully ironic this decision was announced after that stupid SNL parody.

[Karushifa]

As for Song of the South, I think it's painfully ironic this decision was announced after that stupid SNL parody.

Was this a recent parody? I think there was some SNL skit from the '70s, with Garrett Morris as Uncle Remus, where a hot shot Hollywood director wanted to "update" the Brer Rabbit stories with lots of violence, killing, etc., much to Uncle Remus' dismay and shock. I read a script of it, and it looked like it was pretty funny

[Luke]

As for Song of the South, I think it's painfully ironic this decision was announced after that stupid SNL parody.

Actually, the SNL parody aired this past Saturday and this thread was started over a month ago, so while irony can be applied in a number of ways to the situation, this is not one of them.

[Thad Komorowski]

As for Song of the South, I think it's painfully ironic this decision was announced after that stupid SNL parody.

Actually, the SNL parody aired this past Saturday and this thread was started over a month ago, so while irony can be applied in a number of ways to the situation, this is not one of them.

My mistake. I thought the decision was made recently for some reason. Must have misremembered because Earl Kress said this weekend it was originally planned as a Disney Treasure but isn't any more.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

I feel stupid! I don't think I've ever seen clips of Song of the South except for clips like on the DVD games. Wow I feel stupid!