luvsJack
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2007
- Messages
- 20,362
First of all, allow me to make one thing clear. I worship nobody. Just because Mr Disney is Mr Disney does not mean he is infallible! He was not a God, he was a person. He did great things, but he was still human.
Second, I do believe that Eliza has repeatedly explained the shortcomings of the film and the reasons why it is offensive. I see absolutely no reason to be redundant.
Third, good luck in figuring out anything about Mr Disney's intellectual flaws. Last I knew he was dead. One thing is crystal clear. He was a privileged, white, male who did not see the movie from the perspective of an African American. So yes, that does make him uneducated on that particular subject.
What if Disney created a movie from, say the 1990s, that implied that gay and lesbian people in the military had it great? Don't you think it would show a strong lack of understanding if he created a movie showing gays and lesbians happily and openly serving, singing and having a high old time when in fact they were being discriminated against, harassed and kicked out? I guess the obvious question to ask would be, what is the point of such a movie? The same is true of SOTS. There was no need to take a subject that was painful and negative and turn it into a sing song happily ever after movie. It could have simply not been made, just like they are obviously not going to make a movie depicting gays in the military as singing and having a fantastic time. What would have been wrong with just leaving the subject alone and not making a Disney film of it at all?
Actually no one as answered the question as to what exactly it is that is offensive.
A bit has been said about Uncle Remus and the "happy darky" theory and a bit has been said about the term "tar baby" but whether either of those things are exactly what is offensive or if there are other things in the movie that are offensive.
You know, a lot of movies and cartoons and shows are made that make someone look a bit different than they really are. Men or women are shown to be idiots (depending on the show) while the other sex is portrayed much smarter, Native Americans as savages, Russians as all mean and evil, Middle Easterners as all American haters and the list goes on and on. That doesn't mean that everyone thinks that its true.
Am I supposed to get all up in arms everytime a woman is made to look dumb? Or maybe ds's Native American friend should go a picket Disney over some movies? Or maybe parents should be boycotting Disney for the shows that make parents look bad?
What the real African Americans went through during the setting of SOTS is abhorrable. And most people know that. They know Uncle Remus is a CHARACTER in a movie and in no way believe that its a true representation of his race at that time in history.