It's time for Disney to release 'Song of the South' on video
Mike Brantley
Newhouse News Service
Published May 3, 2002
They say you don't mess with the Mouse.
The Walt Disney Co. and its lawyers, I mean.
These folks view in a very unflattering light anyone who violates the Disney copyrights. So, even if you begged, I would not provide you with a video dub of my tattered copy of the lost Disney classic "Song of the South."
I say it's lost not because the original negative and all the film prints are missing, because I'm sure these priceless elements are stored in a vault somewhere. But Disney has all but disowned the film because of perceived racial stereotypes in its characters, particularly Uncle Remus (the late James Baskett, who died only two years after "Song's" 1946 release), and it has not been generally available in this country for years.
The film has never been released on video in the United States, and its last theatrical run was in 1986.
For all intents and purposes, it's lost to most of us.
"Song of the South" is the 55-year-old Disney flick that beautifully combines animation and live action to tell some of the classic "Uncle Remus" stories written by Joel Chandler Harris.
These tales were published as columns in the Atlanta Constitution for a quarter-century beginning in 1879. They were compiled by Harris, who grew up in Georgia during the Civil War and spent a lifetime writing down stories told to him by former slaves.
Many years later, these stories of Brer Rabbit and other fanciful characters became the basis for "Song of the South."
In the film, a little white boy who is upset because his parents don't get along runs away from home and soon winds up in the care of Uncle Remus, a good-natured former slave who entertains the boy (and teaches him a few lessons) with his enthralling fables featuring woodland characters.
As Americans who actually have seen this film get older, "Song of the South" may become erased from the pop-culture consciousness.
At the time of its release, "Song of the South" garnered serious objections from groups such as the NAACP and the National Urban League, although these days the NAACP insists that it has not threatened boycotts, protests or any other actions against Disney if the company decides to release the film now.
Nevertheless, representatives of the organization did take part in protests against a Disneyland attraction with a "Song of the South" theme a few years ago. So it's easy to understand how Disney might fear political-correctness repercussions.
Thing is, Disney will offend people no matter what it does -- so the company might as well do the right thing, which is to release the movie.
Cinebuffs have launched a small but growing Internet campaign to get Disney to put the movie out on DVD.
When fans found out about Disney Web addresses that allow consumers to vote for "Song of the South" in various categories, they jumped at the chance to send a message. One Disney Web page gives Internet surfers a chance to vote for "Song" as a movie they want to see on video.
An unofficial fan-made Web site at
http://www.uncleremuspages.com is host to an online petition seeking a lifting of Disney's self-imposed domestic ban on "Song of the South." So far, there are more than 5,000 signatures.
Enthusiasts who frequent the online Home Theater Forum (
http://www.hometheaterforum.com) have debated the merits of "Song of the South" off and on over the years. They have suggested that film critic and Disney expert Leonard Maltin be recruited to introduce the film to modern audiences and put it into historic perspective.
Sounds like a fine idea to me. Maltin already did the same chore for the recent DVD releases of the Davy Crockett adventures and some of the early Silly Symphonies animated shorts -- which at times fall short of today's standards of political correctness.
I'm not entirely sure this extra layer of care is necessary, but it would placate many of those who think the film is racist.
Can't say I'm among them, however. I can't place "Song of the South" in the same camp as, say, D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent opus, "Birth of a Nation." The latter is a cinematic landmark and helped establish techniques still used by filmmakers today, but it is racist to its core.
Still, Griffith's film is commonly available.
I can understand how another classic film, 1939's "Gone With the Wind," can rankle black Americans who object to the way that movie glorifies the antebellum South. You could come away with the impression that slavery was good for master and slave alike -- which it wasn't.
"Song of the South" is rather benign in this regard.
The film's critics will say the problem is that "Song" is intended to be an entertainment for all ages, and "Gone With the Wind" is for adults.
But I don't think "Song" would send bad messages to today's youth.
Critics of "Song" have claimed that it makes slavery appear pleasant or pretends that slavery didn't exist. Never mind the film is set in the years following the abolition of slavery. I always have thought the movie offers a good, honest representation of the lives that some black Americans lived in a time that really existed.
My copy of "Song of the South" is courtesy of a Japanese laserdisc import purchased many years ago. It features Japanese subtitles over the songs, including the famous "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah."
I'd like to have a pristine new copy on DVD.
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Great Song Of The South Article ! :) 
Thanks for the link Ed. Very informative and to the point. 
