MovieChat Forums > Song of the South (1946) Discussion > Does this film deserve a home release?

Does this film deserve a home release?

posted 7 years ago by jcbsessions
8 replies | jump to latest

I looked through the message boards, and (I may have missed one but) I did not find a title that asked this explicit question without sounding biased. I suppose the message boards on whether or not it is racist or good are similar, but you can still argue that it is racist and deserves a release, or maybe even that it is not racist but still doesn't deserve a release, and the same goes for it being any good. Should it be released? If yes, then back at the theaters, DVD, blu-ray? General or limited release? With a warning on the cover? If no, then should Splash Mountain be rethemed? Should they try to honor its memory in some other way? Should they take steps from letting t ever reach the public domain in less than 40 years? And whether your answer is yes or no, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on its quality, level of racism, or opinion on the bootleg copies as well! And I'm sure these are just a few of the aspects on Song of the South and other related Disney films that I'd like to see in this message board!

[–] EdgarST 7 years ago

I cannot answer all your questions, but for the main one I say yes, because I believe we should have access to all works of art, no matter its ideology. We should also have some kind of "aide-memoires" --audiovisual in this case-- of the way we were in the past, to know where we came from and where we are going. Besides this work help us to reconstruct memory of how racism manifested in American cinema in the late 1940s, even if it was not the norm it was done by a major studio (and one specialized in family-oriented products), just as "Triumph of the Will", "The Deer Hunter" or "The Panama Deception", for example, are testimonies of mankind's capacity for genocide.
I think "Song of the South" is a good film: my opinion of its quality is based on the memory I have of the day when I saw it as a pre-teen in the city of Panamá, in my country, in Central America. I liked it very much then, and I have never forgotten it for the effect it had on me.
I believe that the racist arguments by those who want (or have) the film banished should be directed to present-day racism. "Song of the South" is the past, not the racism we still have today, as strong as ever.
I vote for general release, on DVDs or Bluray for home, school or film societies consumption. No warning on the cover, but a debate after the projection. If "Song of the South" is going to be kept hidden (as many Nazi films are still unavailable), then I would apply the same measure to horrible Disney products as "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros", which in the end do to Latin Americans with its cultural mockery, what "Song of the South" does to African-Americans.
I hope this can help, sorry for my English.

[–] liscarkat (16524) 6 years ago

The "ideology" of this movie is that a nice old man (who's not a slave) befriends two kids and tells them stories. That's it. Intelligent people, regardless of race, find no reason to be offended by it. The less-intelligent who are offended will recover.

[–] LetThemEatCake (2717) 6 years ago

why not? far more offensive films are readily available.

[–] liscarkat (16524) 5 years ago

This is one of the most misinterpreted movies of all time. Yes, it deserves a release, because it's a good movie with good songs and a great performance by its lead actor, James Baskett. It's ridiculous that this black actor's finest role should be censored because of the foolishness of the type of people who think they have black people's best interest in mind. The movie is not about slavery. It's not racist. It's about a nice black man who becomes friends with two nice white kids. Nothing could be more benign, and you'd have to go a long way to find a better example and message for children to see.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Whether the film is worthy or racist is irrelevant, because it's not going to get a release any time soon. And that's because there's now a shit-ton of people out there who are trying to make attacking trivial things for being "racist" into an industry.

And this from an old Leftie! The oceans are dying, democracy is under threat, and people who call themselves "activists" spend their time picking apart old movies for racist content.

[–] PaladinNJ (20310) 5 years ago

Not even close to "a shit-ton" of people. Most of these attacks are being made by a few people with VERY BIG mouths. And in most cases the people complaining the most aren't even members of the minority who are supposedly being offended.

[–] strntz (10812) 5 years ago

I don't know the percentages, so I can't comment on whether it's a few people, a shit-ton of people, or a metric shit-ton (like a regular shit-ton but about 10% more).

What is definitely a shit-ton in numbers is the amount of people who just shrug and do or say nothing about the whiners who insist on finding racism in everything and letting these big mouthed complainers go by and large unchallenged.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Yes, but do it as a special "archival" type release like the "Walt Disney Treasures" DVD collections that featured some of the really old cartoons.
And do like they did with some of the older Warner Brothers animated shorts, with an educational introduction featuring Leonard Maltin with furrowed brow talking about how ignorant people were back in those days with their backwards attitudes, and how the only reason we should watch this movie today is for educational purposes and not to actually be entertained by it.