MousePlanet staff writer Jim Corkis (a.k.a. Wade Sampson) has written another excellent article covering Song of the South, this time stemming from the recent shareholder meeting, in which Disney CEO Robert Iger once again shot down any hope for a release of this movie.
“Obviously, the Disney stockholders were not asked whether they would like to see the film released.” My thoughts exactly, Jim. Iger has proven by his remarks that he and some of the Disney executives are making a personal decision to withhold this movie from the public. What does this have to say about the power of the shareholders? Clearly from hearing the applause this question elicits every year, there are many other shareholders that would like to see this movie released as well.
Without any more ado, here is Jim Corkis’ excellent article. I highly encourage you all to read it! http://www.mouseplanet.com/9602/The_Sad_Song_of_the_South
Special thanks to Joey for informing me of this article, and to Jim for writing it.
I am 68 years old. I rode freedom buses into the south in 1964; I marched in Washington. I believe Song of the South should be re-released in DVD. End of story. I also believe the reason it isn’t is that Disney is waiting for the demand to be so great they can put the price up so high that profits sore.
option one: Run a poll to the general public and ask if they would be ready for S.OT.S.
Option two: Run S.O.T.S. for a limited-time re-release in theaters. Watch the profits roll right in.
Option three: Have Leonard Maltin put out one more ‘Walt Disney Treasure’ exclusively on S.O.T.S. Have him do a documentary on the history of race in cinema on disc two.
Option four: sell park-exclusive dvd’s at the Splash Mountain gift shops, keeping the demand high and the public release narrow, and may even slightly raise park ticket sales.
These are just a few suggestions I have for Disney to circumvent the whole ‘the public’s not ready’ excuse. The only reason I can deduce from Iger’s attitude is that he just doesn’t flat-out like the movie.
thoughts, anyone? what do you suggest? Does anything I say sound valid at all?
Option 1 – I’m sure would go over huge, but Disney would come back and state the poll was biased due to Pro SOTS groups pushing it more than any possible “anti” SOTS groups would.
Option 2 – I’d love to see, but that’s truly doubtful.
Option 3 – You might have a real winner there.
Option 4 – You know what’s sad. I’d make a separate weekend trip down to Florida JUST to get this movie. We’re holding off on going down for a couple years, because the baby is just too small to truly enjoy it, but I’d make a separate trip solely for this. I’d be there THIS weekend.
Someone should tell Iger ”You can’t run away from trouble…they ain’t no place that far”…OH, THAT’S RIGHT!…
This is baffling; the American public is refused the opportunity to see a harmless film like “Song of the South,” yet they can readily purchase “Holiday Inn” which has one of the most racist scenes in film history – Bing Crosby in blackface singing, “Abraham.” My family was kind enough to give me a bootlegged copy of the film years ago. I watched it for the first time with much apprehension, expecting to see offensive images of blacks under the collective thumb of whites. The only thing I saw in “Song of the South” were an old African American man educating a young caucasion boy. Did I miss something?
you forget we live in a day and age where people said of Princess and the Frogue as follows: her lips are too big. she must be named Tiana because Maddie too much of a low-class name. she can’t be a chambermaid because that’s too much like being a slave. you can’t call it The Frog Princess because that implies black people are ugly like frogs. by having the prince not be black as well implies that she’s trading up. the fenner brothers were racists. and yeah, Disney did finally a movie starring black people…and they took their damn sweet time getting around to it.
These are all REAL arguments I had heard during and after production of Princess and the Frog. Is it any wonder why Disney chooses to be so careful in this restrictive PC culture? I don’t understand and I hope I never will.
Can we start getting Peter Pan pulled of the shelves for its racist stereotypes of Native Americans.
THANK YOU! I know a lot of people who sneer at Pocahontas because it was inaccurate. Yet these same people pore over Peter Pan, completely ignoring the song What Makes the Red Man Red? Can anyone theorize why this is so? What does Disney see that we don’t? Which movie would you rather show your kids? What does James Baskett do wrong that Candy Candido (the Chief) does right? And exactly why does the red man say ugh?
Honestly, Peter Pan is not one of my preferred Disney movies. For several reasons, though none have to do with race. But this baffles me. Why are complaints on this part of the film so few and far between?