What exactly was in “Song of the South” that was so racist?"
I heard Ebert say it’s not available because of that, but I just recall a few of the black folk calling each other shiftless, something that happens on WB sitcoms every day of the week.(Not to mention clasics still available on cable, like Sanford and Son, based on a British sitcom where white junk dealers called each other shiftless and worse.)
Is it like Amos and Andy, which got a bad rap in the 70’s and is now OK again?
(Also, Ebert said it’s OK for “film students” to watch but not the general public. Where do the film students get their videos? I want to see this one for myself, PC be damned.)
The lead black character is portrayed as loving his protected life on the plantation and being quite miserable when he has to leave it because of all this “emancipation” stuff. He later returns to the plantation and all is well.
The plot is just murky enough that this theme doesn’t stand out, and there is a lot of lost continuity, (the film was obviously created simply to showcase the various songs and short skits), but the theme is still pretty evident.
The film is availible in DVD (and maybe VHS) in Japan, in English with Japanese subtitles, as of a few months ago. There was an article about it in the Wall Street Journal within the last year, if I recall.
I started a thread on this topic months ago (you might want to do a search to read the various comments). I remembered Song of the South fondly from seeing it as a child and knew I couldn’t get it in the U.S. Someone in that other thread told me it was available in the U.K. I found a U.K. video site (Black Star) and ordered it. It was wrong format and I had to get it converted. I was mainly interested in the animated parts of the film (Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox), but also curious about the racial thing too. The film shows all the slaves singing, subservient and, apparently, happy with their lot in life. It also shows the old slave Uncle Remus as caring and very wise. I can see why blacks would be unhappy with it, but it still bugs me. Americans of Italian descent complain about mafia films too but they don’t get taken off the market.
Hijack alert: How do you get a video converted? I want to get a copy of “The Railway Children” but it’s only available in PAL (I think that’s the acronym). I’d like to see that film again–I remember it as very good.
P.S. Song of the South was pretty much like the apologists for the South would like you to think of slavery days–and might actually have been for a very small number of people.
IMHO, this PC thing has gotten out of hand. Is it wrong to think that some slaves might been happy? Did they all have to be unhappy? That is utter nonsense. Most people manage to lead happy lives whatever their conditions. I have seen happy people in countries like Cuba where conditions are miserable. They may wish they were better off (don’t we all?) but that does not make them unhappy. The fact that you or I would not be happy under those circumstances does not mean other people cannot be.
I have no doubt that most slaves were happy because that is human nature. Many did stay on with their masters. To say all owners were cruel and all slaves unhappy is just trying to simplify things to the point were they are nonsense.
To judge what happened 150 -200 years ago by todays standards is just meaningless. Just hope that 200 years from now they judge us by today’s standards and not by theirs because we would come up terribly short
They cover this pretty well over at snopes. Disney seems to have been somewhat embarassed by it and has declined to release it in the U.S. They really don’t seem to have been pressured to do so by anyone. It’s just probably not worth it to them to deal with the criticism they’d get. It probably wouldn’t sell well enough to make up for the bad publicity.
The Japanese laserdisc should be compatible with U.S. players. The European video cassettes are not compatible, and a conversion costing about $20 would be needed. A quick look at internet auction sites relveals that the Japanese laserdiscs sell for about $200 and the European cassettes for about $80, plus shipping.
One misconception that needs to be exploded: The movie does not show happy slaves. The movie takes place during Reconstruction, not during slave times. They should have been (relatively) happy considering what a living hell slavery and the post-Reconstruction era were like. Reconstruction was probably the best time to be black until at least the 1940s.
The deep irony of Song of the South is that it turns a tradition of trickster figure stories which go all the way back to africa, and which take on special significance when allegorically applied to making fools white slave owners, and turns them into fables that help the white kid overcome his problems. The voice of the oppressed becomes the tool of the oppressor.
Smilingjaws - I simply looked in the yellow pages (under video) and found a place that converts - the yellow pages ads all mentioned conversion capabilities for the varous formats.
Yue Han - it’s been months since I watched it,but I don’t recall a mention of the time period. I assumed they were slaves; I could be wrong. I’ll have to check it out.
There’s a discussion at www.snopes.com of the UL that the NAACP has threatened a boycott of Disney if SOTS is ever released. I would point you to the specific UL but when I tried earlier today my computer crashed, so you’re on your own.
I know nothing about this movie and my earlier comment was based on what I understood from this thread…
Regarding DVD I believe there are two different issues. One is that the encoding on the DVD disk is universal except that there is a code so those bought in one part of the world cannot be played in a player bought in another part of the world. The movie companies insisted on this to have greater control of individual markets. This feature (I imagine) shouldnot be too dificult to override for someone who knows.
A different issue is the output format and you can expect that a machine will output a signal of whatever system is used in the country where it is sold (NTSC in US, PAL in UK etc)
As for VCRs there are multisystem VCRs that will paly different formats and translate the signal to whatever system you have. I have an AIWA that will play different formats and output NTSC
Psst: if you run out to your Circuit City right now you might still be able to find the Apex AD-600A, which not only allows you to convert between PAL and NTSC, but also has a secret setting for disabling the Macrovision copyright protection so that you can record to VCR. It also has the advantage of being one of the cheapest DVD players on the market. http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/conel/apex600a/apex600a.htm
Don’t ask me how to disable the Macrovision; I’ve lost the printout of the instructions and they’ve been ruthlessly exterminated on the 'Net. This particular device has recently come under the scrutiny of the big boys, so I don’t expect it will be around much longer, if it is now.
I loved Song of the South as a kid, but even then I sensed that there was something a little off-color about it. Probably further proof that some people are born with bleeding hearts.
I bought the laserdisc about 8 years ago while it was still available from an American distributor. Cost $90 plus shipping, but it was worth it. Best part? Listening to the characters speaking in Japanese on the LD alternate audio track!
BTW, laserdiscs, IIRC, cannot be encoded with Macrovision.