Why Disney Wants You To Forget Song of The South Exists
Summary
- Disney is focused on remaking classic movies, but
Song of the South
is controversial and won’t be included. -
Song of the South
is criticized for its racist portrayal of Black characters, especially Uncle Remus. - Disney won’t include
Song of the South
on Disney+ or new boxsets due to its deeply ingrained problematic content.
WARNING: This article discusses racist depictions of Black people
.
Disney is riding a wave of nostalgia by remaking many of its classic movies — however, Song of the South is one movie that’s guaranteed not to receive the same treatment. The movie studio is keen to keep many of its older animated movies alive as live-action remakes, with classic cartoons such as The Lion King finding new generations of fans, and Snow White, the studio’s first feature-length animation, next in the live-action pipeline. However, not only is Disney not planning to re-release or remake Song of the South, it would more happily have people forget that the movie exists altogether.
Released in 1946, Song of the South won some praise as well as an Oscar for Best Song, as well as later spawning a theme park ride, Splash Mountain, which omits references to the title of the movie that inspired it. Now though, it’s not a movie Disney is keen to revisit. Disney has provided the stories that accompany childhoods for generations, though many of its earlier movies and shows haven’t aged well. Song of the South utilized both animated and live-action elements, but Disney would rather it was scrubbed from its canon of classic children’s fare.
The 10 Most Controversial Animated Disney Movies
Disney is famous for its groundbreaking animated films, but, in recent years, it’s become apparent that some of them haven’t aged well.
Song Of The South’s Controversy Explained
The Disney Movie Was Always Considered Racist
Song of the South is considered by many to be Disney’s most racist movie. It follows a kindly, elderly Black plantation worker named Uncle Remus, as he tells folk stories about Br’er Rabbit to the white children — who presumably descend from the people who owned Remus’s recent ancestors. The movie is set during the Reconstruction era, but its completely uncritical romanticization of plantation life betrays a nostalgia for slavery, portraying the life it depicts as the “good old days.”
The movie, which also features Black sharecropper children portrayed in similarly dehumanizing ways, was not simply a product of its era.
Remus is depicted in a patronizing, infantilizing way. He seems happy and unquestioning about his situation, and is a non-threatening figure who only exists to entertain and give homely advice to his white charges. The movie, which also features Black sharecropper children portrayed in similarly dehumanizing ways, was not simply a product of its era. It was controversial at the time, too. Its release during the Jim Crow era and amid the beginnings of the U.S. Civil Rights movement is shocking in itself, and James Baskett, who played Remus, was not even allowed to attend its premiere in segregated Atlanta.
A favorable Time review praised Remus’s “illiterate, good-natured philosophizing,” inadvertently demonstrating the offensive ways the movie’s makers saw Black men. While the reviewer liked the movie, they recognized many Black viewers would be outraged by the character of Uncle Remus, “who cheerfully ‘knew his place’.”
11 Disney Scandals That Turned Out To Be Fake
The Walt Disney Company has courted plenty of controversy over its 94 years. However not all of these scandals are based on fact.
Disney Won’t Include Song Of The South On Disney+ Or New Boxsets
The House Of Mouse Is Ignoring Song Of The South Completely
Disney has used streaming platform Disney+ to reintroduce audiences to a wider catalog of movies than are usually re-released on TV. Unsurprisingly, Song of the South isn’t on Disney+, though, and it is very unlikely to be in the future. Some of Disney‘s older movies on the platform such as Dumbo now carry warnings about racist stereotypes for viewers — in Dumbo‘s case because of the notorious crow characters, led by “Jim Crow“ — but the problems with Song of the South are simply too baked into the structure of the film itself.
Disney has also taken a deep dive into its back catalog with the Disney Legacy Animated Film Collection. The set of 100 movies on Blu-ray range from 1937 to the current year, and includes niche films such as Make Mine Music and Fantasia: 2000. There is a difference, though, between films that have been forgotten with time and those Disney has hoped to scrub from the pop culture consciousness because of the horrific attitudes they convey — so don’t expect to see Song of the South in a legacy boxset any time soon.
10 Best Disney Movies Shockingly Not On Disney+
Disney+ has one of the most impressive streaming catalogs around, but some of Disney’s best movies are still shockingly absent from the service.
Song Of The South Isn’t Alone As A Controversial Piece Of Disney’s Past
The House Of Mouse Has Had Many Questionable Moments
While Song of the South is among the most infamous and controversial Disney movies, it’s far from alone. Many movies from the earliest decades of Disney are problematic, and it’s not just more obscure releases either (Song of the South is hardly considered a timeless Disney classic, after all). Movies like The Lady and the Tramp and The Aristocats rank among many viewers’ favorite Disney movies, though both have many incredibly offensive moments based on racial stereotypes that landed them with warnings before viewing on Disney+.
1953’s Peter Pan is another example of Disney movies that haven’t aged well. The depictions of Native Americans in Peter Pan is so grossly offensive that it’s not available on child-safety-enabled accounts. Perhaps most shockingly, it’s not only older movies that have received this treatment. 1992’s Aladdin is a relatively modern Disney movie — at least when compared to 1946’s Song of the South — yet it too is screened with a warning about racial stereotypes when viewed on Disney+.
