Just watched "Song of the South"......

[CandyMandy]

Which goes to show that Disney HAS released it. It's just not released HERE in the US.

Correct, Disney did officially release and market SOTS on home video in the following countries (in various formats; Beta, VHS and laserdisc):

Britain
France
Germany
Italy
Holland
Japan
China (Hong Kong)
Argentina

 

[DisMN]

I'm not for censorship of literature or film, therefore I think this movie deserves to be available.

To those that are against the movie being available I take it then you believe Huck Finn, Gone With The Wind, Amos and Andy and so on and so forth should be banned?

 

[CandyMandy]

I did see one DVD copy on sale over on Amazon; I would imagine someone had a European copy, which they converted to a USA copy (I know it can be done, its just complicated and requires technical bits and pieces) then burned onto a DVD.

Actually, if you google "Buy Song of the South" you will encounter numerous sites offering DVD copies (NTSC ones that play in U.S. players). The quality of copies varies significantly; again, best are ones are sourced from the Asian Laserdics.

 

[Sorsha]

Actually, if you google "Buy Song of the South" you will encounter numerous sites offering DVD copies (NTSC ones that play in U.S. players). The quality of copies varies significantly; again, best are ones are sourced from the Asian Laserdics.

I know. I am just always wary of buying from random websites (been burned a few times) and would prefer to stay with name-brand merchant sites where someone somehow will back me up if something goes wrong or I don't get my item.

Probably irrational of me, as long as I buy using PayPal, I can always file a dispute, but that's a pain in the patootie...

 

[eliza61]

On the other hand, if the one whose buttons are being pushed looks her sister in the eyes, waves a hand dismissively at her, and says "Pffft, you're not worth my time" and walks away, it totally takes the wind out of the other one's sails. The child who was being harassed has reclaimed her power.


THAT was simply the point I was trying to make. Nothing else.

Actually a very good point, many people fell that way. for example lots of folks think we should ignore Westboro baptist church, you know the nut jobs that protest at funerals. people believe that if we ignore them they would probably go away. I'm not one of them. Now you have to take in content that I grew up in segregated south (well spent my summers) so my belief is that evil happens when good people do nothing. Because I've lived the experience of good southern white folks letting the small % of racist and bigots control them simply because they were scared to stand up to them.

I'm not for censorship of literature or film, therefore I think this movie deserves to be available.

To those that are against the movie being available I take it then you believe Huck Finn, Gone With The Wind, Amos and Andy and so on and so forth should be banned?

Look at my description of gone with the wind. I can say that yeah, every time it comes on tv my teeth get tight.

I'm not for cenorship. I'm what you call an consumer that votes with her dollar. I don't shop at walmart because I use to work at walmart and I know how they treat their low level employees, I don't buy BP gas any more because of how I feel they handled the crisis in the gulf of mexico.
Disney has the right to release that movie whenever and where ever they want, it's their movie but as a consumer I then have the right to not purchase their products.

Now I don't know how owns Amos and Andy and I do remember when it was on tv, many in my community (I grew up in Harlem) did boycott the products that brought advertisement time on the show.

Whether or not a company decides to release a product is totally up to them but they also have to live with the fallout.

Example Hank williams Jr and ESPN. perfect example.

Now if they released it, would I not go to disney? a very good possibility (I've got kids so I'd have to take that into account), that by itself may not be enough to push me over but combine that with other issues I have with disney and I could easily spend my dollars else where.

FYI: do not take my ramblings as the "official" African american view on this. I'm simply one mom voicing my views. I'm sure there are many blacks who couldn't care less about the darn thing. as some one mentioned "its a movie".

 

[TanyaS]

I would like to see SOTS released on DVD along with a director's-type commentary that has historians and other experts discussing the origin of the B'rer Rabbit stories, the historical setting, and other information about the movie.

It is disappointing to me that there is no decent means for someone in the US who has never seen this movie to do so. I was discussing the movie with my oldest son prior to a trip to Disney some years back and discovered that there was no easy, legal way for me to purchase or rent the movie in the states to show him.

I can't believe Godwin's law was followed so soon in this thread, but a movie like "Life is Beautiful" illustrated that even a Nazi concentration camp can be the setting of a wonderful story of love and even humor. I also now have the song "Springtime for Hilter and Germany" running through my head.

I understand why Disney has chosen to avoid controversy by not releasing the DVDs in the US, but I wish that they would make the movie available for sale. A quiet release on DVD might be a more appropriate setting than a theatrical re-release, but I do wish that the option to view the film was available to this generation who has never had the opportunity.

Through an odd occurrence, my children did end up viewing a poor quality copy of the movie a few year ago and they found the live action parts of the movie pretty boring, but that might have been affected by the poor quality of the DVD they were viewing. I think the movie would largely appeal to adults, not children, at this point.

 

[disneymom2evie]

http://bluray.ign.com/articles/119/1199725p1.html

An article my husband showed me a few minutes ago. If you're against SOTS being released, then you may as well skip the article. If you're for SOTS being released, then you'll reread most of the points that were made here. Looks like we're not alone in the release SOTS train =)

 

[disneymom2evie]

I hope it's alright to post a link to an article. I didn't exactly READ the terms of agreement when I signed up forever ago... so it could very well be against a rule. If it is, then I offer my sincere apologies. =)

 

[Sorsha]

http://bluray.ign.com/articles/119/1199725p1.html

An article my husband showed me a few minutes ago. If you're against SOTS being released, then you may as well skip the article. If you're for SOTS being released, then you'll reread most of the points that were made here. Looks like we're not alone in the release SOTS train =)

I wish we could take articles like this as hopeful proof that it will be re-released someday, but its just another opinion piece. Someone writes one about every 6 months. Good find, though, we can keep hoping! Nicely written article!

 

[robinb]

Its available online at Youtube. Broken into several parts. Loads well, good quility. Worth watching.

That's where I saw it. It's interesting how some things from the movie are part of our national discourse. Just a few weeks ago a politician got into trouble for saying "It is like touching a tar baby and you get it — you're stuck". The story of the tar baby is in the movie.

 

[Carl]

Well, I finally got to see it. I had the book when I was a child, so I knew about tar baby, the briar patch, and the laughing place, but I'd never seen the film. Actually, I thought there were other Brer Rabbit stories, but evidently not.
What I did to see the movie was download the 10 parts from youtube and import them into iMovie and combine them. I watched the show on my HD TV. It was not good quality and had Japanese subtitles, but at least I got to finally see it.
Uncle Remus was certainly not a slave, because he was about to leave when the boy got hurt by the bull. He was a kindhearted man. Even though he had an accent it was not nearly as pronounced as the Ebonics you often hear defended. The black and white children freely played with each other with no sign of prejudice. I see no reason for anyone to object to the film, except those that feel that blacks should never be in a film where they are not the action hero, a doctor, or the President.

 

[DizBelle]

Well, I finally got to see it. I had the book when I was a child, so I knew about tar baby, the briar patch, and the laughing place, but I'd never seen the film. Actually, I thought there were other Brer Rabbit stories, but evidently not.
What I did to see the movie was download the 10 parts from youtube and import them into iMovie and combine them. I watched the show on my HD TV. It was not good quality and had Japanese subtitles, but at least I got to finally see it.
Uncle Remus was certainly not a slave, because he was about to leave when the boy got hurt by the bull. He was a kindhearted man. Even though he had an accent it was not nearly as pronounced as the Ebonics you often hear defended. The black and white children freely played with each other with no sign of prejudice. I see no reason for anyone to object to the film, except those that feel that blacks should never be in a film where they are not the action hero, a doctor, or the President.

I think you hit the nail squarely on the head.

I'm still waiting to hear what specific scenes or dialogue are offensive.

 

[goofyernmost]

What's the possibility that the person(s) offended by it have never seen it and are just going by what "someone" said? High, I think.

 

[DizBelle]

What's the possibility that the person(s) offended by it have never seen it and are just going by what "someone" said? High, I think.

I'm wondering this too since I haven't gotten a response to my question about what scenes or dialogue are offensive.

 

[pat fan]

I'm wondering this too since I haven't gotten a response to my question about what scenes or dialogue are offensive.

Not sure if I can really help you, as I did not find it offensive, but I am guessing that one thing would be the speech patterns of the former slaves. It has the "yes suh, yes ma'am" quality to it.
Maybe another thing is the way the mother forbids Uncle Remus from telling stories to her son, I guess showing that a white woman had "power" over him. As for the actual animated story parts
By the tone of voice, Brer Fox & Bear come across as white rednecks compared to the smarter Brer Rabbit (no offense to rednecks ). Not sure how any of it is offensive. Even the tar baby. Do people think that it's supposed to represent a colored child? It's TAR for a trap as far as I can tell. Not sure how that is offensive either.

I think it is a cute story (especially the animated bits) that was made to be set in a certain time period and is portrayed as such. Should we not have any movies set in that time period?

 

[eliza61]

What's the possibility that the person(s) offended by it have never seen it and are just going by what "someone" said? High, I think.

nope I saw it. It's been almost 45 years ago when I was younger. I actually was trying to see it again this weekend to see if maybe my thoughts were some how crazy because when I viewed it I was in segregated south. with "for colored only" signs all around me so I was trying to see if perhaps the environment might have contributed to my absolute hate of it.

Ok, so let me start with a few things.

1) first black and white children rarely were able to "play" freely at that time. period. with no signs of prejudice!!! LMAO. in 1880 GEORGIA!!!! there was a distinct line drawn even when you were allowed to play together in 1963 when I was a child. white children knew it, black children knew it.

2) ebonics is fine if you can freely chose to use it. free or not, not using correct phrasing in speech could have and did get a black child beaten within an inch of his life, let alone a black man. Emmitt Till was brutally murdered fully 10 years after t his movie for simply "flirting" with a white women

3) tar baby is an offensive term. Now with most language the offensivity (is that a word) comes from the common usage of the word. Sure the innocuous meaning would be the story told by Uncle remus but that is not how the term is used. LOL. ask Rep Lamborn who found himself in hot water after using the term in assocation with the President. He later sent a letter of apolgy to the President.
The general usage of the word "tar baby" means some one who is so black they are to be like "tar" it's sort of on par with calling some one a "spook". not good. The common usage of the word was depicted in ads with "pickininny" babies.

I'll get back with exact scenes and lines in a few.

And yes, I can say the "happy darkie" theme is offensive.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I have seen Song of the South, and I let my son see it as well. If we hide from our children how things used to be, we lose the chance to talk with them about why those things have changed.

I also find it odd that the film is considered so awful, but an attraction based on the film is just fine.

But I guess I can understand Disney avoiding the potential backlash of re-releasing it. - They probably stand to lose more money than they'll gain.

I do think it's a shame, though. The combination of live action and animation was really groundbreaking for it's time, and I think at least film students should get to see it.

 

[DizBelle]

Not sure if I can really help you, as I did not find it offensive, but I am guessing that one thing would be the speech patterns of the former slaves. It has the "yes suh, yes ma'am" quality to it.
Maybe another thing is the way the mother forbids Uncle Remus from telling stories to her son, I guess showing that a white woman had "power" over him. As for the actual animated story parts
By the tone of voice, Brer Fox & Bear come across as white rednecks compared to the smarter Brer Rabbit (no offense to rednecks ). Not sure how any of it is offensive. Even the tar baby. Do people think that it's supposed to represent a colored child? It's TAR for a trap as far as I can tell. Not sure how that is offensive either.

I think it is a cute story (especially the animated bits) that was made to be set in a certain time period and is portrayed as such. Should we not have any movies set in that time period?

Is it equallly offensive if TODAY you tell someone in your employ (same or different race as yourself) to not discuss certain topics with your child? I thought that was just being a parent and maintaining control over what is exposed to your child?

Example, the company you hired to take care of your yard sends some guys out to tend to your yard. While they are there, they are telling your child about their hunting last weekend. Hunting is not something that you want your child exposed to (for whatever reason). If you tell them not to talk about hunting to your child, is that offensive? To who? To yard guys? To hunters? To whatever ethnicity the yard guys happen to be? What if they are the same ethnicity as you?

 

[eliza61]

I have seen Song of the South, and I let my son see it as well. If we hide from our children how things used to be, we lose the chance to talk with them about why those things have changed.

I also find it odd that the film is considered so awful, but an attraction based on the film is just fine.

But I guess I can understand Disney avoiding the potential backlash of re-releasing it. - They probably stand to lose more money than they'll gain.
I do think it's a shame, though. The combination of live action and animation was really groundbreaking for it's time, and I think at least film students should get to see it.

This is all I'm saying.

For a large group of blacks it's an offensive movie. I glad you all enjoyed it

and you can explain "tar" baby and "kind" old man until the cows come home, you (white folks in general) have that option of taking the story out of the time contect.

 

[The Orchid]

Eliza, I will be honest. When I started reading this thread, I was very much for the re-release. I liked the movie and love the ride. Now I'm torn. I think your points and arguments are excellent and I see what you are saying. If I were African American, I think I would be offended as well. It's easy, from the perspective of a white woman, to say, "Oh hey, the characters are nice, the animation is great, and it has a fun storyline." But I can absolutely see your side. It's not a realistic depiction of what really went on back then. I can see how you would be insulted. It's not cool to make light of what was a horrendous and insulting and degrading time for African Americans. The movie should not have been made. The problem is, it was made and a lot of people like it. I have no idea what the answer to this problem is, I just wanted to tell you that I see your side and support what you are saying. Thank you for offering a different perspective.