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Let ‘Song of the South’ sing again
You know the words: “Zip-a-dee doo-da, zip-a-dee-ay, My, oh. my what a wonderful day,” but do you know the movie they’re from?
That would be Song of the South, and a news story this week stated that Disney just might release the 1946 movie, which has been a sore spot among some people in the the African-American community for decades because of its supposed racial stereotypes that depict blacks as “happy slaves,” if you will.
I say “supposed” because I haven’t seen the movie. It’s been out of circulation since 1986, the last time it played theaters. Since then, Disney has kept it under wraps in this ultra-PC age when most big corporations are terrified of offending activist groups. Should Disney finally put it on shelves?
I say yes, absolutely - not only because the movie’s reputation is actually very good, despite its characterizations, but because this is a chance to meet history head on.
Neither Disney nor anyone else should stash history in the attic and “forget” that it exists. How exactly is that enlightening? What do we learn from purposefully hiding the past? Nothing positive, I say.
Warner Home Video plans to release a DVD box set of Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney musicals, two of which have cringe-inducing blackface numbers. Should Warners snip those out of the prints and pretend they never happened? Of course not.
Warners will almost certainly do what they’ve done with their Looney Tunes collections that have racist caricatures: include a statement or disclaimer to give the proper historical perspective. That’s what Disney should do with Song of the South, only on a larger scale.
I say put it out as a special edition DVD on either the Treasures or Legacy line with documentaries and/or commentaries that speak to both sides of the debate. Let its supporters praise it as in important animated movie, and let its detractors decry it for its racial insensitivity.
Besides, is Song of the South really that much more “offensive” than Gone with the Wind, which includes some pretty broad black characters no one ever seems to complain about? Or how about another Disney film, Dumbo, in which the crows are very obviously black caricatures, albeit positive ones? That movie has been issued and reissued again and again, and no one seems to have a problem with it.
The bottom line is this: I don’t want Disney, the NAACP or anyone else declaring what I should or should not see. I would like to see it for myself and decide if it’s offensive or not. Even if it is (and I have my doubts), I think I will have learned something from it. This is a movie where “plenty of sunshine” would do a lot of good - in more ways than one.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Coming Attractions
Comments
By Buford
March 29, 2007 6:14 PM | Link to this
I go back to the days when this movie first came out. Movies cost 12 cents back in those days and down there in the South. My mother took me to see it, along with my older brother. Back in those days, we looked at a movie as entertainment and a change from listening to the various radio programs on the old console tube-type radio. There was no TV. I loved the movie because it was in technicolor, had wonderful, memorable songs, and delightful animation. I could see “Uncle Remos” on the screen, and Be’er Bear, Be’er Fox, and Be’er Rabbit in action. I did not think about black and white people beyond the roles that were played out on the screen ahead of me. I would take my grandkids to see it today. I would buy the DVD to keep. There are likely to be some who will get hung up on the characterizations portrayed perhaps - but release the movie anyway. The story line is known. If a person feels they would be offended by the movie, don’t go.