Song of the South

[old lady]

Maybe Uncle Remus in the book does say Honey to the children or that was acceptable in the time when the books was published to refer to children as honey like in Mark Twain times.

 

[yitbos96bb]

Where is the real drama with Song of the South? Is it racial or sexual? Or is it both? I watched it a while back (bootleg from Europe) and I didn't get it. The movie didn't really hold my attention very well. I had heard rumors of a racial issue. Did I miss it? Could somebody please explain this part? I can't find my copy of the movie.

One thing I did notice that may be considered inappropriate was Uncle Remus referring to children as "Honey." That seemed kind of wierd to me and it was the only negative thing that I took away from it. Maybe people will think Uncle Remus was a pervert. Especially when he called the boys "Honey."

Some feel that the movie shows an inaccurate portrayal of reconstruction south (you will here inaccurate portrayal of slaves but those are people who have not seen the movie and don't know what they are talking about as the film doesn't take place in that time period) with all african americans being uneducated and happy go lucky all the time... basically a one dimensional character and not a true depiction. And that is true... of course it was true of Gone With the Wind which is shown in the Great Movie Ride as well as most of the other films of the day... Blacks were cast and told to act in one type of role... the ministral type role of stereotypes. This offends some people.

On the other hand, this is the first film to ever cast a black man as the leading role. It is an important piece of film history, even if some of the portrayals are insensitive. Further more, they have released Dumbo on numerous occasions which has some scenes and portrayals FAR FAR worse than SOTS... the circus hands, the crows, etc.

Ultimately, to me, this is too much an important piece of history to not be released. History happened and we can't change it... it is our duty to understand why it did and to avoid it happening again. But they need to be respectful of it. I like the treatment of the world war II cartoons (which were offensive to japanese people) which included placing the time period and the material in the proper historical perspective. An indepth documentary on theis Subject for SOTS, an introduction by a prominent black actor... James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington, Forrest Whitaker, Will Smith, etc, and respectful treatment by the studio will diffuse any potential situation.

SOTS is the most requested Disney film not released and has been for years. It will sell a lot. THis si a disservice to history and to stock holders not to release it.