Song of the South [1946]

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a b Gevinson, Alan (1997). Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. California: University of California Press. p.956. ISBN 978-0-520-20964-0.

Disney song compilations have the luxury of extracting Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah from that introduction, leaving a cheery little number about carefree days of sunshine and bluebirds and the other pleasures of communing with nature. Yet the rotten heart of Song of the South is the implication that such carefree days were easier to come by in the idealized world of the pre-civil war south. Things are better for everyone, the film suggests, when men like Uncle Remus accept their subservience and benefit from the largesse of white plantation owners, even when they’re ostensibly free to leave at any time.Song of the South": Written by Sam Coslow and Arthur Johnston; performed by the Disney Studio Choir I really enjoyed watching it again, it made me cry with the nostalgia, it's such a beautiful film.. Song of the South is a feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions, released on November 12, 1946 by RKO Radio Pictures and based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. It was one of Walt Disney's earliest feature films to combine live action footage with animation and was the first Disney feature film in which live actors were hired for lead roles. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the adventures of Br'er Rabbit and his friends. These anthropomorphic animal characters appear in animation.

On May 10, 1944, the title was changed from Uncle Remus to Song of the South. [10] Production Casting As had been done earlier with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney produced a Sunday strip titled Uncle Remus & His Tales of Br'er Rabbit to give the film pre-release publicity. The strip was launched by King Features on October 14, 1945, more than a year before the film was released. Unlike the Snow White comic strip, which only adapted the film, Uncle Remus ran for decades, telling one story after another about the characters, some based on the legends and others new, until it ended on December 31, 1972. Apart from the newspaper strips, Disney Br'er Rabbit comics were also produced for comic books; the first such stories appeared in late 1946. Produced both by Western Publishing and European publishers such as Egmont, they continue to appear to this day. Thomas, Bob (1994) [1976]. Walt Disney: An American Original. New York: Hyperion Books. p. 205. ISBN 0-7868-6027-8.Br'er Rabbit's Laughing Place: about 5 minutes and the only segment that doesn't use Uncle Remus as an intro to its main story, including the song "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place".

Masters, Dorothy (November 28, 1946). "Disney Treat Screens Gospel of Uncle Remus". New York Daily News. p.C16 . Retrieved August 25, 2022– via Newspapers.com. Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear also appeared in the 2011 Xbox 360 video game Kinect: Disneyland Adventures. The game is a virtual recreation of Disneyland and it features a mini-game based on the Splash Mountain attraction. Br'er Rabbit helps guide the player character through that game, while Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear serve as antagonists. The three Br'ers also appear as meet-and-greet characters in the game, outside Splash Mountain in Critter Country. In the game, Jess Harnell reprises his roles from the attraction as Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox, while Br'er Bear is now voiced by James Avery, who previously voiced Br'er Bear and Br'er Frog in the Walt Disney World version of Splash Mountain. This is the Br'ers' first appearance in a video game, as well as their first appearance as computer-generated characters. Paradoxically, however, the film also saw widespread acclaim upon release. Song of the South includes a myriad of famous songs (also had in the Disney theme parks), such as “How Do You Do” and “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” the latter of which won the A cademy Award for best original Song. A special academy award was also given to James Baskett “for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend, and storyteller to the children of the world in Walt Disney’s Song of the South.” In a October 15, 1946 article in the Atlanta Constitution, columnist Harold Martin noted that to bring Baskett to Atlanta, where he would not have been allowed to participate in any of the festivities, "would cause him many embarrassments, for his feelings are the same as any man's". Grater, Tom (March 11, 2020). "Bob Iger Confirms 'Song Of The South' Won't Be Added To Disney+, Even With Disclaimer". Deadline . Retrieved March 11, 2020.The film has sparked significant controversy for its handling of race. [74] [75] Cultural historian Jason Sperb describes the film as "one of Hollywood's most resiliently offensive racist texts". [76] Sperb, Neal Gabler, and other critics have noted the film's release as being in the wake of the Double V campaign, a propaganda campaign in the United States during World War II to promote victory over racism in the United States and its armed forces, and victory over fascism abroad. [77] Early in the film's production, there was concern that the material would encounter controversy. Disney publicist Vern Caldwell wrote to producer Perce Pearce that "the negro situation is a dangerous one. Between the negro haters and the negro lovers there are many chances to run afoul of situations that could run the gamut all the way from the nasty to the controversial." [13] As early as October 1945, a newspaper strip called Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit appeared in the United States, and this production continued until 1972. There have also been episodes for the series produced for the Disney comic books worldwide, in the U.S., Denmark and the Netherlands, from the 1940s up to 2012. [84] Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear also appeared frequently in Disney's Big Bad Wolf stories, although here, Br'er Bear was usually cast as an honest farmer and family man, instead of an antagonist in his original appearances. The Brave Little Toaster (1987) • Valiant (2005) • The Wild (2006) • A Christmas Carol (2009) • Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) • Mars Needs Moms (2011) • Strange Magic (2015) • The Lion King (2019) The 2019 season of film historian Karina Longworth’s must-hear podcast series “You Must Remember This” took listeners on a deep dive into the saga of Disney’s most controversial movie, “Song of the South.” (As a testament to Longworth’s range, this season, she’s set to explore the erotic thrillers of the 1980s and ’90s.) As Walt Disney Studios continues to roll out its vast library of titles on the Disney+ streaming service, one of them is missing, and it’s the 1946 Uncle Remus adaptation with confused racial optics. Brer Rabbit's Laughing place; about 5 minutes and the only segment that doesn't use Uncle Remus as an intro to its main story.

Top 100 Animated Features of All Time. Online Film Critics Society. Archived from the original on 2003-04-24. Retrieved on 2007-01-18. Disney chief Bob Iger has said that “Song of the South”“wouldn’t necessarily sit right or feel right to a number of people today,” but others have called for Disney+ to host the movie as an historic artifact. Song of the South was re-released in theaters several times after its original premiere, each time through Buena Vista Pictures: in 1956 for the 10th anniversary; in 1972 for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney Productions; in 1973 as the second half of a double bill with The Aristocats; in 1980 for the 100th anniversary of Harris's classic stories; and in 1986 for the film's own 40th anniversary and in promotion of the upcoming Splash Mountain attraction at Disneyland. Johnny • Uncle Remus • Ginny Favers • Toby • Sally • Grandmother Doshy • Aunt Tempy • John • Mrs. Favers • Chloe • Pearl • Ned • Jake and Joe Favers • Bull • Teenchy • Br'er Rabbit • Br'er Fox • Br'er Bear • Br'er Terrapin • Miss Possum • Mr. Bluebird • Sis Moles • Hummingbird Trio • Br'er Frog • The Bees • Butterflies • Br'er Raccoon • Skunky • Sis Porcupines • The Fishes Pallotta, Frank (June 25, 2020). "Splash Mountain, a Disney ride based on a controversial film, will be 'completely reimagined' ". CNN . Retrieved June 25, 2020.

The Film’s Cast Stood Behind the Movie

Although the film has been re-released several times (most recently in 1986), the Disney corporation has avoided making it directly available on home video or DVD in the United States because the frame story was deemed too controversial by studio management. Film critic Roger Ebert has supported this position, claiming that most Disney films become a part of the consciousness of American children, who take films more literally than do adults. [15] In the U.S., only excerpts from the animated segments have ever appeared in Disney's DVDs (such as the 2004 two-disc release of Alice in Wonderland (1951)), television shows, and the popular log-flume attraction Splash Mountain is based upon the same animated portions.