Have you ever seen Song of the South?

Dalek · Mar 14, 2019

This movie has become kind of notorious because of it's subject matter-and I was talking to my daughter and niece about this tonight. We're going to Disneyland soon and they thought it was weird that the characters on Splash Mountain are from a movie that's basically wiped from existence. (everytime we've been to Disneyland it's been closed)

I remember watching it when I was a kid and can't remember where I saw it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_South

Despite not having a home video release in the United States, audio from the film—both the musical soundtrack and dialogue—were made widely available to the public from the time of the film's debut up through the late 1970s. In particular, many book-and-record sets were released, alternately featuring the animated portions of the film or summaries of the film as a whole.[52] The Walt Disney Company has also allowed key portions of the film to be issued on many VHS and DVD compilations in the U.S., as well as on the long-running Walt Disney anthology television series. Most recently, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and some of the animated portions of the film were issued on the Alice in Wonderland 2-DVD Special Edition set. These segments are part of a 1950 Walt Disney TV special included on the DVD which promoted the then-forthcoming Alice in Wonderland film.

The full-length film has been released in its entirety on VHS tape and LaserDisc in various European and Asian countries. In the UK, it was released on PAL VHS tape first in 1982, then in 1991, and again in 2000. In Japan it appeared on NTSC VHS, and LaserDisc in 1990 with Japanese subtitles during songs (additionally, under Japanese copyright law, the film is now in the public domain).[53] A NTSC DVD was released in Taiwan for the rental market by Intercontinental Video Ltd, which has been the exclusive distributor of Walt Disney Studios since 1989. This release appears to have been created from a PAL videotape, and has a 4% faster running time because of its PAL source.[54][55] While most foreign releases of the film are literal translations of the English title, the German title, Onkel Remus' Wunderland, translates to "Uncle Remus' Wonderland", the Italian title, I Racconti Dello Zio Tom, translates to "The Stories of Uncle Tom",[56] and the Norwegian title Onkel Remus forteller translates to "Storyteller Uncle Remus".[57]

In July 2017 after being inaugurated as a Disney Legend, Whoopi Goldberg expressed a desire for Song of the South to be re-released publicly to American audiences.[58]

On March 7, 2019 Disney CEO Robert Iger announced that The Walt Disney Company would be abolishing the "Disney Vault" and releasing "all" of its classic films and television shows on a new streaming media service called Disney+. Song of the South is among the top request to be included for viewing in the new streaming service's catalog which is set to launch in late September 2019. [59]

OhSatan · Mar 14, 2019

Actually yes but I´m old.

PlanetSmasher · Mar 14, 2019

When I was really little I think I saw part of it, but not the whole movie. When I was a kid, Disney still LOVED Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and played it all the damn time.

Wood Man · Mar 14, 2019

Yes, but not the entire movie, only the cartoon parts with the Brer rabbit. I think I saw it on Disney Channel way back in the day.

Fat4all · Mar 14, 2019

the bull shoulda stomped da boi

TheBeardedOne · Mar 14, 2019

I've heard of it, and been on Splash Mountain, but no.

ZackieChan · Mar 14, 2019

Saw it in the theater when I was a kid. Read books about Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby and all that when I was a kid, too. It was part of those Disney Sing-along Songs VHS series, as well.
Don't remember much of the film, though.

Bjomesphat · Mar 14, 2019

I remember seeing parts of it as a kid.

I also have the 1080p scan of 35mm film print. It looks really good for an amateur transfer. Haven't watched it yet though.

roguesquirrel · Mar 14, 2019

i wound up watching it once as a teen thru a bootleg copy but i dont remember a thing about it

dDASTARDLY · Mar 14, 2019

I definitely remember it, but mostly the brer rabbit cartoon parts.

I think brer rabbit getting rolled and covered in tar is my most vivid memory of it.

Dalek · Mar 14, 2019

dDASTARDLY said:
I definitely remember it, but mostly the brer rabbit cartoon parts.

I think brer rabbit getting rolled and covered in tar is my most vivid memory of it.

same

TheCthultist · Mar 14, 2019

Sure, when I was a kid. It was pretty openly fucked up, but it was also an important thing to see just how hard they tried to rewrite history in it. Just from what little we'd talked about slavery in school by that point, it was all fairly obvious.

Harken Raiser · Mar 14, 2019

Never seen it. As a kid I didn't realize Splash Mountain was based on anything.

Keldroc · Mar 14, 2019

I saw it on the Disney Channel back in the '80s. They made a big deal of it at the time, but I don't remember the live action stuff very clearly.

Koo · Mar 14, 2019

I feel like I've seen it; but it's been so long maybe all I saw were bits and pieces and had books and my mind is filling in the rest of the memories. Who knows. I do know when my mom took me to Disneyworld I was super excited for the Splash Mountain ride because I liked the characters.

Fat4all · Mar 14, 2019

STOMP THAT BRAT

petethepanda · Mar 14, 2019

I saw at least some of it when I was a kid (early/mid 90s? born 86) but I have absolutely no idea how or where. I used to think I had only seen clips, but when I went and watched it as an adult I remembered a surprising amount of it.

They should release it with a Warner-style disclaimer -

IzzyRX · Mar 14, 2019

I had no ideia that it existed.

Stouffers · Mar 14, 2019

Not since I was a kid

Chanser · Mar 14, 2019

Yes, I have the VHS version somewhere.

Downhome · Mar 14, 2019

I was born in 80, I saw the film a million times growing up. It is still a classic even with the controversy looking back. The theme song is one of the most iconic songs in a film ever, maybe the most iconic Disney song, at least top five.

Border · Mar 14, 2019

My mom made me go see it, because she was tired of me asking to go to repeated viewings of Return of the Jedi. At some point she said I was not allowed to watch Return of the Jedi again until I had seen something different first.

This was back when many theatres only had 1-2 screens, so we saw Song of the South since that was what was running on the other screen. I don't much remember it, beyond the famous tar baby sequence. Most of what's considered offensive about the film is the live-action stuff, I believe.

Despite all the bans and restricted releases, it's arguably still the most iconic and recognizable adaptation of African American folklore.

low-G · Mar 14, 2019

Yeah also born in the 80's. My parents took me to see it in a reshowing in a theater in the 80's...

Zippedpinhead · Mar 14, 2019

Yes I did, made it a point in the early 00s to torrent a copy of the one VHS media release that someone converted to digital.

The Brer rabbit sections (outside of zipadeedodah) have issues. Especially the tar baby. Yes it's the most famous of the Brer Rabbit stories, but it's a tar baby. Complete with really offensive drawing.

Zipadeedodah is classic, practically inoffensive (when taken out of context) and is still catchy.

The live action scenes are worse than the prewar sections of gone with the wind. gone with the wind makes it a point to showcase the fall of society surrounding th upper elite of the old south due to the civil war. It's incredibly problematic and has issues. But despite the subject matter it still gets its point across that we really shouldn't give a damn about her.

Song of the south has non of that. Complete with overdubbing the African American chorus with obviously white singers. It's offensive, put bluntly. The main story isn't even about uncle Remus. It's about the son and father of the house that uncle Remus "attends" to. He is essentially only there to sing zipadeedodah and introduce the animated sections. The timing is awkward in that it could be reconstruction, it could be prewar. It still puts a silver veneer on a terrible thing in American history.

From what I'm to understand even back in the day progressive cities (I.e. coastal cities) had issues with the live action scenes.

This movie is literally the one thing I am expecting that Disney will NOT include in Disney+

wenis · Mar 14, 2019

Yea, watched it once on a bootleg VHS and a few times after that for a Film History class in college. It's not that good of a movie, racist shit aside, but it's a very interesting historical point for what is now a massive fucking company.

Radiophonic · Mar 14, 2019

When I was a kid in the 70s I vaguely recall seeing it. I find it hard to believe Disney will ever let it out of the vault.

Slayven · Mar 14, 2019

I actually saw it in theaters.....it was a rerelease with bambi in the 80s

FarronFox · Mar 14, 2019

Yeah, I like it, and how it shows the animated animals mixed with live footage which would have been quite impressive for the time. Kinda sad how you can't properly see the film these days that features Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.

mantidor · Mar 14, 2019

petethepanda said:
I saw at least some of it when I was a kid (early/mid 90s? born 86) but I have absolutely no idea how or where. I used to think I had only seen clips, but when I went and watched it as an adult I remembered a surprising amount of it.

They should release it with a Warner-style disclaimer -

Disney did this with their propaganda war films, they should really release the movie.

lexible · Mar 14, 2019

Slayven said:
I actually saw it in theaters.....it was a rerelease with bambi in the 80s

You can't fool me, I know you're actually 130 years old.

Josh5890 · Mar 14, 2019

petethepanda said:
I saw at least some of it when I was a kid (early/mid 90s? born 86) but I have absolutely no idea how or where. I used to think I had only seen clips, but when I went and watched it as an adult I remembered a surprising amount of it.

They should release it with a Warner-style disclaimer -

I am fine with this, but it should definitely be released again

Z-Beat · Mar 14, 2019

Yeah. When I was a kid I was really interested in knowing what the plot of Splash Mountain actually was because the ride seemed a bit all over the place, so I did some digging and found out it was based on a movie that was apparently forbidden. Managed to find a copy and watch it. For the most part I thought it was pretty boring, then when I got older I saw the rest of the problems for what they were. Then I did even more digging and found even more problems stemming from the source material itself.

It's pretty insane how Disney attempted to effectively drain all traces of the live action bits from it so they could continue to use the rest without raising any concern, and how they seem to have succeeded.

Slayven said:
I actually saw it in theaters.....it was a rerelease with bambi in the 80s

Probably ahead of time for the ride.

Teh_Lurv · Mar 14, 2019

I saw it in theaters when I was really young. Only thing I remember was the song. Disney should let this one stay in the vault; anyone who wants to see it for film study or curiosity can dig up a bootleg copy.

Quiksaver · Mar 15, 2019

First of all, if there is anyone in your party afraid of puppets you better make sure they know they are in for a wild ride. The fall is irrelevant when it comes to the weirdness in the path of the Splash Mountain.

I think there is plenty of controversy regarding the Song of the South

Z-Beat said:
Probably ahead of time for the ride.

Congratulations, you just turned this thread into gold

Kasai · Mar 15, 2019

I've seen a good amount of it, but this was like when I was 7

Note, I'm 23. The only reason I even know it exists is because my asshole father made sure I knew about it. And for some reason at the age of 7.

Deleted member 1086 · Mar 15, 2019

Yes, it's on the internet, not really hard to find. The animation is decent but aside from it being racist it's just dreadfully boring. The main kid literally watches a clock for entertainment at one point.

also that bully kid that wants to kill the other kid's puppy, wanted to smack that kid

Deleted member 9399 · Mar 15, 2019

petethepanda said:
I saw at least some of it when I was a kid (early/mid 90s? born 86) but I have absolutely no idea how or where. I used to think I had only seen clips, but when I went and watched it as an adult I remembered a surprising amount of it.

They should release it with a Warner-style disclaimer -

I never really understood why they don't just do this and be done with it. For as protective of their image as they are it's strange to me that they wouldn't want the chance to own the messaging around it rather than people hunting down bootlegs and coming to their own conclusions

GrimGrinningGuy · Mar 15, 2019

It's so weird how one of the biggest attractions at DL and WDW are based on this yet Disney trues ti pretend the movie doesn't exist

Jesse_and_the_rippers · Mar 15, 2019

petethepanda said:
I saw at least some of it when I was a kid (early/mid 90s? born 86) but I have absolutely no idea how or where. I used to think I had only seen clips, but when I went and watched it as an adult I remembered a surprising amount of it.

They should release it with a Warner-style disclaimer -

On the Disney Treasures, they have Leonard Maltin talk before the cartoons that have elements of racism. He'd have to do an 80 minute keynote before Song of the South.

I somehow saw it as a kid. And tried to rewatch a few years ago on Youtube. It's bad. Real bad.

Kevers · Mar 15, 2019

Only Zip-a-dee-doo-dah which was on one of those Disney Sing-a-long tapes I had as a kid.

Deleted member 1086 · Mar 15, 2019

also somewhat related, a really good video about the pre Splash Mountain attraction based on the Song of the South characters

OwOtacon · Mar 15, 2019

When I was 14, I realised I was only 10 films away from finishing watching all the Disney films, so I watched this. Full disclaimer re: my opinion - I'm white. Anyway... it wasn't that good. Like the 2D animation with live action is technically impressive and there's some good songs, but it's mostly boring. I felt uncomfortable with the racism, but my knowledge of race in America wasn't nuanced enough to really know why I felt like that.

B4mv · Mar 15, 2019

a. I had no idea what Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah was from
b. I had no idea splash mountain was based off anything
c. I've never seen the movie.

I'm almost 30.. Feeling dumb over here

Deleted member 1086 · Mar 15, 2019

B4mv said:
a. I had no idea what Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah was from
b. I had no idea splash mountain was based off anything
c. I've never seen the movie.

I'm almost 30.. Feeling dumb over here

I mean aside from the song and some of the animated clips Disney has tried to sweep the movie under the rug since 1986, so there's no reason to feel dumb.

stressboy · Mar 15, 2019

80s kid here. I saw it during a theatrical run back in the mid 80s. I remember a little bit of it.

zoku88 · Mar 15, 2019

I've heard the song before but didn't know it was from this movie. Pretty sure I haven't seen it

B4mv · Mar 15, 2019

Dishwalla said:
I mean aside from the song and some of the animated clips Disney has tried to sweep the movie under the rug since 1986, so there's no reason to feel dumb.

I guess they're doing a pretty good job then. If it's racist, then good on them for not wanting to be associated I guess. I've probably only ever seen 2 movies made before 1960, so I don't feel so bad now. Not a movie person

jstevenson · Mar 15, 2019

one of my Disney Park predictions is Splash Mountain gets rethemed to Moana sometime during the next 11 years.

Armouredpriest · Mar 15, 2019

I've seen it a couple times back in the 80s.

Deleted member 1086 · Mar 15, 2019

jstevenson said:
one of my Disney Park predictions is Splash Mountain gets rethemed to Moana sometime during the next 11 years.

Disney/theme park fans would have a conniption if that happened. Splash Mountain is one of the most popular Disney attractions, despite it's inspiration.

Have you ever seen Song of the South?

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