Whoopi wants Song of the South released

[tlmadden73]

They should just release the Brer Rabbit shorts standalone.

Sure the characters speech and accents are a bit stereotypical, but the stories themselves are fun. My son loves Brer Rabbit, just being introduced to him from books and audio versions of the stories.

 

[dreiwhit]

But, hopefully, the lyrics will change a bit to make them less stereotypical, no "I be done seen about everything", maybe ""I thought I've seen almost everything"

Living in Alabama, there are people here that still speak like that, both white and black.

 

[Lvsdisney]

I believe what Whoopi wants people to realize is that while you may call the lyrics stereotypical, it is historically accurate. Why hide from the past when you can learn from its mistakes?

I agree with that. That's why I wouldn't want the original to get altered. But if you're making a new one,the is no reason to revert to old stereotypes. Does that make sense?

 

[Lvsdisney]

Living in Alabama, there are people here that still speak like that, both white and black.

I'm sure there are, but not everyone speaks like that, correct?

 

[bladiator]

Here's one more thing about SotS -- it's terrible. Far and away the worst Disney movie ever made.

I see your SotS and raise you The Black Cauldron.

 

[jknezek]

I see your SotS and raise you The Black Cauldron.

I'm going to have to say the iconic music of SotS prevents it from being the worst ever made.

 

[bladiator]

I'm going to have to say the iconic music of SotS prevents it from being the worst ever made.

I agree. No matter how bad, it was the movie with "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" so it gets mega-points right there. How about the original Fox and the Hound? Ay yi yi, I used to watch that as a kid, and I don't know why I did that to myself. That one really sad song by the owl still haunts me. Gimme some Zipadee any day.

 

[dreiwhit]

I'm sure there are, but not everyone speaks like that, correct?

Not every one does speak like that, but there are still many people who do, especially in more rural areas.

 

[loves to dive]

My son grew up on Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, to this day he'll throw a "please don't throw me in the briar patch" out when I say silly things like you are going to have to go to WDW with me. We own SoTS on VHS, of course don't have a VHS player any more but I refuse to throw away the movie. I found an old book in the book store on Jekyll Island that actually had a collection of the original stories in it, got that too.

 

[wareagle57]

They should just release the Brer Rabbit shorts standalone.

Sure the characters speech and accents are a bit stereotypical, but the stories themselves are fun. My son loves Brer Rabbit, just being introduced to him from books and audio versions of the stories.

We stereotype plenty of cultures in film still today. It doesn't make it racist. Zootopia is filled with giving animals stereotypical accents and behaviors to mimic a certain subculture or nationality. I'm of the opinion that we can come to terms that our history is less than crystal clean, without trying to wash it from existence. America has a lot to be proud of in regards to how we handled slavery and racism. America is the most diverse country by far, it's not even close. We have to deal with a lot more acceptance of diversity than any other country in the world, and it's just human nature to have problems with people that are different. We aren't perfect, but we have come a long way. We were the first country to actually make slavery illegal. We realized we were doing something wrong, we admitted it to ourselves, and we fixed it. I think it's important to see our past and how things have changed. I understand the sensitivities with Song of the South, but I do not believe anything about it was intentionally racist.

The best argument I've heard for it is that it makes it seem like slaves were happy to be slaves, thus making people think slavery wasn't that bad. (Is there even proof Remus was a slave?) I can see that, but I think it's a huge stretch to assume people are going to come to that conclusion in 2017. The other argument is that they set it up cinematically where the while characters are elevated above the black characters. True, and as a result you watch the movie and dislike the white people because they are treating their fellow humans poorly, and you root for and like Uncle Remus (and the children, who treat him just like anyone else, unlike their parents.)

 

[disneyseniors]

Any thoughts? It seems she wants to use this and the Dumbo crows as teaching tools. I understand her reasoning, however I don't see Disney letting Song out of the vault. Ever.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/whoopi...sation-controversial-1946-film-154030256.html

Just one question, just how did She get made a VIP with Disney???? What? I don't believe this. Frankly, I'm not interested in anything she says or does.

 

[jknezek]

Just one question, just how did She get made a VIP with Disney???? What? I don't believe this. Frankly, I'm not interested in anything she says or does.

You don't have to be interested in anything she does or says, but she has a long history with Disney and her status as a new "Legend" is not that surprising. Here is a list of her roles:

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg

 

[danielocha30]

Amazingly the ride is successful and the main theme is pretty much the first song you hear at Magic Kingdom every morning. It's very present and my kids will never see the movie where this storyline comes from

 

[adelaster]

Amazingly the ride is successful and the main theme is pretty much the first song you hear at Magic Kingdom every morning. It's very present and my kids will never see the movie where this storyline comes from

Where there's a will there's a way... and google.

 

[Capang]

Amazingly the ride is successful and the main theme is pretty much the first song you hear at Magic Kingdom every morning. It's very present and my kids will never see the movie where this storyline comes from

The storyline isn't from the movie. It goes back much farther than that. The music is from the movie but the stories are not original to Disney. They were traditional African folktales that spread through the south via slaves who passed them down from generation to generation. There are several books, still being sold today, that contain these stories. The stories themselves aren't necessarily racist.

 

[Geoff_M]

The best argument I've heard for it is that it makes it seem like slaves were happy to be slaves, thus making people think slavery wasn't that bad. (Is there even proof Remus was a slave?) I can see that, but I think it's a huge stretch to assume people are going to come to that conclusion in 2017. The other argument is that they set it up cinematically where the while characters are elevated above the black characters. True, and as a result you watch the movie and dislike the white people because they are treating their fellow humans poorly, and you root for and like Uncle Remus (and the children, who treat him just like anyone else, unlike their parents.)

The film is set during Reconstruction. The African-American characters are field hands and not slaves. The fact that Remus picks Atlanta as the place to "run away" to in the film should set any notions that he was a "slave" to rest.

 

[TsWade2]

You know, I remember seeing this movie on youtube, and I don't think the movie is racist at all. It's a little bit sensitive, but I don't think it's that bad. I know Disney trying to learn their mistakes, but I think hiding Song of the South is ahuge mistake IMO. I'm glad Whoopi is on our side and I hope one day Disney will release the film again, even though there will be some doubts that'll happen. Maybe we might see it again with a new ceo in 2019, I hope.

 

[Shanti]

Any thoughts? It seems she wants to use this and the Dumbo crows as teaching tools. I understand her reasoning, however I don't see Disney letting Song out of the vault. Ever.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/whoopi...sation-controversial-1946-film-154030256.html

I agree with Whoopi. "Song of the South" is a great film, and Uncle Remus is a heroic character. The film is set during Reconstruction, after slavery was over. The film is not racist. It brings to life a lot of the beauty of the good side of the old South: the spirituals, the folktales, the close-knit African-American community. I'm a Southerner and part African-American, btw. I got a DVD copy from Europe to show to my son, and he loves it, too. I think most of the people who want this film suppressed have never even seen it.

 

[Planogirl]

Not every one does speak like that, but there are still many people who do, especially in more rural areas.

There are in Texas too. I see it as a way of talking rather than anything bad about the person.

I've read rumors that Disney is considering cleaning up some films. Peter Pan and Dumbo were mentioned. I hope that it's untrue but I finally ordered Dumbo since I wanted it anyway.

 

[LadyD]

Several years ago I saw VHS copies of this movie being sold at a local county fair. It was quite the unexpected place to find it. I've seen bits and pieces of the film here and there, and it really is just not that watchable of a Disney film, but many of the live-action animated films from that era are not very watchable by today's standards either (Fun and Fancy Free as well as So Dear to My Heart come to mind).