MSNBC Contributor Michael Ventre has compiled a list of 10 comedies that “really went to the precipice of good taste and decorum in the quest for laughs.” The list includes Blazing Saddles, Airplane!, There’s Something About Mary, Caddyshack, Love and Death, Kentucky Fried Movie, Team America: World Police,Porky’s, Song of the South, and Bad Santa, respectively.
Song of the South seems out of place in this list. While its animated sequences could certainly be considered a comedy at times, the movie was billed as a live-action drama. Ventre aknowledges this in his description:
- This mixture of live action and animation probably doesn’t fit snugly into the category of politically incorrect comedies, simply because it isn’t a straight comedy but more a lighthearted family picture. Also, the depictions of African-Americans here weren’t mean to elicit laughs, but were done in earnest in an attempt to portray life in a particular time period, right after the Civil War. But there’s no doubt this could never be made today the same way. In fact, Disney has refused to even release the film on home video in the United States (although it is available overseas) because the portrayals of African-Americans would create a firestorm today. Uncle Remus, a wise old black man, tells the story of Brer Rabbit and his pals to cheer up little Johnny, a white kid. But most of the black people are shown as subservient to whites. This isn’t exactly “Birth of a Nation,” but in terms of racial stereotypes, it’s in that ballpark. “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Song.
You can read the entire article here. Thanks to Erik W. and Nicole for the news report!