It's interesting that if you type "Song of the South DVD" in Google, you get
3 sponsored links for companies that are selling the DVD. At least one of
these companies makes it clear that they took a laserdisc and remastered it.
I find it very Twilight Zonish that these companies have not been put out of
business by Disney. I thought Disney sued practically everyone. In this
case, maybe Disney actually likes the fact that people can watch the film.
After all, they did just release several 60th anniversary collectibles, so
they need prospective buyers. (The anniversary is on Nov. 12.)
In related news, here's a statement from Disney's CEO, which I borrowed from
www.songofthesouth.net:
Disney CEO Robert Iger: No Song of the South Yet
During the question and answer session at Disney's 2006 Annual Meeting of
Shareholders in Anaheim, CA, the question was raised by a Disney shareholder
why Song of the South has not been released. Here is a transcript:
"My name is Howard Cromer. I live in Cypress, I'm a Disney shareholder.
I'm actually delivering a message from my son, 10. He wants to know in
recent years, in the midst of all your re-releases of your videos, why you
haven't released Song of the South on your Disney Classics?" [Applause]
"And, he wonders why. Frank Wells told me many years ago that it would be
coming out. Well obviously Frank Wells isn't around anymore, so we still
wonder why. And by the way, Mr. Iger, he thinks it was a very good choice
when they made you CEO of Disney." [Applause]
Iger: "Thank you very much. You may change your mind when I answer your
question, though. Um... we've discussed this a lot. We believe it's actually
an opportunity from a financial perspective to put Song of the South out. I
screened it fairly recently because I hadn't seen it since I was a child,
and I have to tell you after I watched it, even considering the context that
it was made, I had some concerns about it because of what it depicted. And
thought it's quite possible that people wouldn't consider it in the context
that it was made, and there were some... [long pause] depictions that I
mentioned earlier in the film that I think would be bothersome to a lot of
people. And so, owing to the sensitivity that exists in our culture,
balancing it with the desire to, uh, maybe increase our earnings a bit, but
never putting that in front of what we thought were our ethics and our
integrity, we made the decision not to re-release it. Not a decision that is
made forever, I imagine this is gonna continue to come up, but for now we
simply don't have plans to bring it back because of the sensitivities that I
mentioned. Sorry."
-roger
> From: David Kusumoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: David Kusumoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 02:55:18 -0700
> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
> Subject: [MOPO] Song of the South
>
> ** One last thing -- I believe Walt Disney's "Song of the South," a late
> 1940s "fanciful distillation of live-action and animation based on the tales
> of Uncle Remus" -- will NEVER be released in mass market form. The film
> that brought us the song, "Zip-De-Dee-Do-Dah" -- was last available on VHS
> overseas in the 1990s. No more. Ask yourself whether today's black
> community would accept the notion -- as presented as filmed entertainment --
> that slavery was all fun and games and some plantations had a wise old slave
> somwhere imparting wisdom to kids. Despite the positive wisdom and goodness
> represented by "Uncle Remus," some believe it's better to regard "Song of
> the South" as an historical document of attitudes, and not entertainment to
> be sold for profit today.
>
> ** I'd like to see it released and I can safely say I would regard it
> entertaining without falling for the things others would perhaps rightly
> find offensive about it today. Even in "Gone With the Wind," people still
> rail about its depiction of slaves, and of course, Butterfly McQueen was
> quoted as hating the role. I think intelligent people can accept the film
> on its terms based on the attitudes of America or Hollywood in 1939. You
> just couldn't make a film like this or release "Song of the South" today
> without pissing somebody off.
>
> -koose.
>
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