Stupid Guest Tricks

Zazu wrote:OW!!!

SWMBO just slapped me upside the head and told me that not everyone would get that reference. Explanation on request.

Sheesh, did you have to smack me that hard?

When Disney was testing the waters for a re-release with the JEJ prologue, she came out saying that she'd support a boycott of the film.

As to the slap upside the head from SWMBO by now I thought you'd be used to it. :p:

The issues surrounding Song of the South are complicated. A big problem with it is how life on a plantation was depicted; all the black characters in it are slaves, full stop, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from just watching the movie. It isn't just rich folks/poor folks; it's white people exploiting black people, and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous and cruel. That's why the movie is problematic.

I do think they should release SotS, but with commentary and perspective from scholars of African American history. That way, you get the context around the movie, and you can understand the issues that surround it. If they just released it as is, it would be confusing to people who might not have the background to understand what it's all about, and why people object to it.

Amphigorey wrote:The issues surrounding Song of the South are complicated. A big problem with it is how life on a plantation was depicted; all the black characters in it are slaves, full stop, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from just watching the movie. It isn't just rich folks/poor folks; it's white people exploiting black people, and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous and cruel. That's why the movie is problematic.

I do think they should release SotS, but with commentary and perspective from scholars of African American history. That way, you get the context around the movie, and you can understand the issues that surround it. If they just released it as is, it would be confusing to people who might not have the background to understand what it's all about, and why people object to it.

if someone really wants to freak out people ask warner bros to release
Coal Black and de sebben dwarfs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiRU7l4EL94

or even Tin Pan Alley Cats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wI6DmtF ... re=related

We have a copy of SotS, and the parts I watched made it look like a loveable Uncle Remus who preferred fishing and chatting with animated talking animals to working around the plantation. He had a special relationship with the little boy, and told him stories about Brer Rabbit, et al. When the boy is injured and Uncle Remus is sent away, the boy calls for him, Uncle Remus is brought back, and the boy is healed, in a way, from listening to Uncle Remus' stories. The plantation owner and his family realize that Uncle Remus' casual way of approaching life has benefits--going to their laughing place beats being down in the mouth and worrying. Been a while since I last saw it, but that's what I got out of seeing it.

Joel Chandler Harris grew up around slaves and slave owners, and based his stories on an old slave who told him stories as a child. This is where he got the whole thing with Uncle Remus.

Ms. Matterhorn wrote:I studied linguistics in college. My professor played clips of Song of the South. The African American speech portrayed in the movie has a strong resemblance to a dialect called Gullah that is to this day spoken on an island off the coast of South Carolina. SotS was not just "making fun" of the way the black people spoke. :brerrabb:

Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Brer Rabbit stories, was a careful student of language. He made many visits to visit former slaves living in rural Georgia to record their dialect and preserve it for future study before they all died off. He thought the dialect was not just curious or amusing, but that it shed constructive light on the culture and traditions of the slave community, and by reflection, the white community as well. He may have listed his employment as journalist, but I think sociologist would have been more apt. More online....

TdcOgre wrote:As to the slap upside the head from SWMBO by now I thought you'd be used to it. :p:

I'm *used* to Stupid Guests, too, but it doesn't mean I like them! :clubb:

One of the things that get me about Disney and Song of the South is that we have Splash Mountain, based on a movie never released on video in the US and we use a number of songs from the movie too, primarily Zip-a-dee-do-dah.

I say release it. A long while back I signed an online petition for the release of the movie.

Amphigorey wrote:The issues surrounding Song of the South are complicated. A big problem with it is how life on a plantation was depicted; all the black characters in it are slaves, full stop, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from just watching the movie.

It would be pretty hard, seeing as the movie was set in the 1880s, long after slavery had been abolished.

Remember when Uncle Remus was told to leave? Had he been a slave he would instead have been beaten or sold. No, the blacks and poor whites in the film were not slaves.

It isn't just rich folks/poor folks; it's white people exploiting black people, and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous and cruel. That's why the movie is problematic.

No, this sort of misunderstanding of either the date of the film or the date slavery ended is the big challenge for this film. I'd really appreciate it if you would see it again with this new understanding and tell us how that changes your take on it.

I do think they should release SotS, but with commentary and perspective from scholars of African American history. That way, you get the context around the movie, and you can understand the issues that surround it. If they just released it as is, it would be confusing to people who might not have the background to understand what it's all about, and why people object to it.

Exactly! As your (not at all uncommon) misunderstanding of it demonstrates, the film has not been understood.

Sadly, those who will take to the streets in protest to a release won't watch the film or even hear those explanations first.

Zazu wrote:Sadly, those who will take to the streets in protest to a release won't watch the film or even hear those explanations first.

There was a great interview with Mel Gibson when he was out flogging Pocahontas to the press. He was told the movie wasn't historically accurate and he replied, "Historically accurate?!?! We've got talking raccoons!!"

hobie16 wrote:There was a great interview with Mel Gibson when he was out flogging Pocahontas to the press. He was told the movie wasn't historically accurate and he replied, "Historically accurate?!?! We've got talking raccoons!!"

Which I find hilarious, seeing as the film *doesn't* have talking raccoons! :hysteria: