You know, we haven’t seen Go Go Gophers turn up yet on the Cartoon Network, have we?
I just spoke with a friend by phone about this because she is a paralegal and clearance administrator at the Disney Company. She gets requests every week for either a copy of Song of the South or permission to get it copied. I’m just going to tell you what she said:
She tells the letter writers two things: 1. Due to the “negative racial stereotypes,” Disney does not want to make the tape available; 2. Getting it converted from PAL to another format is a copyright violation because it involves making a copy without Disney’s permission (which they won’t give).
Off the record, she said that Disney fears the wrath of various political groups or other organizations if they ever do re-release the movie. All she can do is carry out her bosses’ orders. She doesn’t seem to think it will ever change, but we’ll see.
Jes a note:
If you want to see the original “Fantasia” (with the “pickaninny” centaur) you will need a film version cut pre-1968.
The version Disney gave the Smithsonium is cut.
SotS: There are NTSC Laserdiscs release in Japan (dual audio, but with Japanese subtitles over the songs) and PAL VHS released in UK. Depending on which version on the US copyright law is in effect, you may or may not be able to legally convert a program you own into another format.
(I have NTCS tapes from PAL and from film - last I heard, as long as I owned the original, the copy was legal)
CN - I have heard that many “objectional” Speedies are back in rotation, now if they loosen up on “Mississippi Hare”, “Horse Hare”, “Herr Meets Hare”, etc.
Don’t expect to see “Coal Blacks and De Sebben Dwarfs”
(unless you can snag it online)
These particular Bugs Bunny cartoons were released on laser disc in North America in collector’s editions so I imagine they still show up in places like ebay.**
The irony here is that Coal Black… was considered quite a breakthrough at the time of release. A cartoon with an all-black cast of characters and some excellent “colored” music was pretty radical in the early 40s.
<nit>
Of the 11 'toons that CN pulled from the 2001 “June Bugs”, “Bushy Hare” and “Horse Hair” were not on any LD’s (they came after 1948, and the LD’s were all prior to 1948 (9/1/48, if I remember dorrectly)
CB&DSD: there’s always ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1581397555
I’m suprised that Disney based ‘Splash Mountain’ at WDW on Song of the South.
But I must say that I’m offended by Song of the South because all the white people are idiots. The clothes that boy wears! The the fool goes walking right in front of a bull. Don’t show that movie!
sheesh
I’m disappointed that Disney has put Song of the South out of circulation.
Some may argue that it is the right of the company to do so, since they own the copyright. But by doing so, they destroy the work of everyone involved in that movie. The soul, the essence of the collective work of everyone who collaberated on making Song of the South gone from the enjoyment of the public for good, only accessible to someone who can fork over $150 for a tape on ebay, or find an underground tape somewhere. This is sadder and more offensive to me than any perceived racism in this movie.
I’ve been to Splash Mountain many times. It’s my favorite ride at Disneyland. I’d like to be able to give those characters I saw at that attraction some depth. If I wanted to do so, I may have to become a criminal to obtain a copy.
I saw SotS on what was probably its last US release, back in 1982. I can see why people would be upset by it, and why Disney is cautious. I think it ought to be released, but Disney holding backj their own prduct isn’t “censrship”. I wsh they’d release “Der Fuhrer’s Face”, too, but they’re not going to – it’s clearly a case of Disney avoiding giing insult to people, not a racial thing. DFF won an cademy award, too, and was a sigmnificant film in cinemati history. But try to watch it today. It was even excluded from an AMC special specifically on wartime cartoons.
By the way, I’ve seen "Herr Meets Hare recently on AMC or TCM. It’s not banned by any means, although I don’t think you’ll find it on kid’s programming.
And, IIRC, “Speedy Gonzalez” was pretty clearly ost-Avery.
I picked up a copy at a comic book convention about 4 months ago for 10 bucks. In case anyone was going to pay $230 to see what all the fuss is about, well, don’t. It can be found much cheaper.
Frankly, there’s a compromise that would work pretty well: release the three Br’er Rabbit cartoons contained in the movie. The movie, by any standard, is dreaful, and the kid actor may be the single worst actor I’ve ever seen, including Tor Johnson.
However, if a crapectomey was performed on the live-action scenes and you started the first cartoon with Uncle Remus saying “It was one o’ dem Zip-a-dee-doo-da mornin’s” (he then bursts into song) and just show the other two cartoons in a vacuum, there’s nothing that any rational person could be offended by and frankly you’d improve the cartoons by cutting away the dreadful life-action stuff. Having to wade through 20-30 minutes of the kid whining about whatever the hell he’s whining about this time just to get to the cartoons is painful.*
And the cartoons are wonderful.
Fenris
*The plot of the movie: There’s this whiny kid who’s dropped off at a plantation who pouts and snivells and throws tantrums and runs away and bursts into tears at the drop of a hat. Eventually Uncle Remus tells him a story to shut him the hell up. When Uncle Reums tells a story, we see a cartoon, which shuts the kid up…for a the legnth of the cartoon. Then he starts again. He meets a whiny little girl and eventually Uncle Remus tells her a story to shut her the hell up.
Actually, there are fairly well placed rumors that say that it’s going to be released as a part of a DVD set of wartime cartoons sometime late next year.