DISQUS

Jette · 2 months ago

I have to disagree with RobertFure. Both this film and "Birth of a Nation" were considered racist when they were released, and many groups protested the films. They were not considered the normal products of their time. Having said that, I do think that this movie should be accessible to people because there are a lot of people who saw it as kids and retain a fond nostalgia for the film, claiming "it's not all that bad." I was one of them. When I got my hands on a copy, I lasted no more than 15 minutes -- it's full of awful racial stereotyping that completely eradicated my childhood nostalgia.

RobertFure · 2 months ago

Criticizing movies from time periods like this for being racist is kind of stupid. It'd be like saying you can't appreciate Gothic literature because its too dark and depressing. Or you're not a fan of Shakespearean tragedy because its too sad or you don't like the romantic period because love is over-rated.

When you go into a movie like Song of the South or the other prime example, Birth of a Nation, you go in knowing that it was made at a time when racist policy or thought was not only normal, but accepted. If you can't get past the idea that this is going to paint slavery as something awesome (because at the time period, that's how lots of people thought), you won't appreciate the movie. But if you can suspend disbelief...

It's like Hitler as a painter. Sure, Hitler is among the Top 10 worst people to ever live, but he wasn't a bad painter. He was a far better painter than me. His paintings aren't worse because he's a genocidal maniac with a humorous mustache.

Christopher_M · 2 months ago

it's film and animation history...good or bad it needs to be kept to show what that period was like...it's like ignoring all the racist propaganda that was added to the Looney Toon/Disney shorts involving Germans and the Japanese during WW2...many of these episodes and films have been banned only because they look bad nowadays...granted they are awful examples of intolerance but ignoring that it happened only helps the next generations repeat the mistakes...racism is large part of American history, ignoring it almost is like trying to rewrite it...

ladyofthelake · 2 months ago

You make a good point. But those Looney Toon/Disney shorts that are banned today about Germans and the Japanese are really propaganda films of the time. I don't totaly agree about banning them because we don't ban all those hollywood movies that had the same themes. The mindset back then, with WW2, I can't even imagine. As for The Song of the South, it's toaly racist. I thought so as a kid and felt really uncomfortable watching it. I don't think I've ever seen the uncut version though. But then again, there are some old hollywood films that are truly racist, a product of the time they were made in, are not banned.

Peter Donohue · 2 months ago

Did you know that at the premiere in Atlanta, they wouldn't let the actor who played Uncle Remus into the movies because of Jim Crow laws? Zip-a-dee do-da indeed.

Cole_Abaius · 2 months ago

I was also not allowed into the premiere because I hadn't been born yet. Calumny!

djjeffhall · 2 months ago

Well, once again Robert Fure beat me to it. I was going to make an analogy between Soug Of The South and Birth Of A Nation. Both films are products of their time and what was accepted in America during those times. (You could also toss Triumph Of The Will into that catagory if you want to stretch the anaolgy to culture in general instead of limiting it to the U.S..)

I've seen both films (And Triumph Of The Will) and while I can't imagine watching them for entertainment, they were in their own ways landmarks and should be acknowledged as such. No matter how painful that acknowledgement is.

Oh, if you want to talk about racist films don't forget Gone With The Wind. I saw the 50th anniversary reissue and by the third time Clark Gable used the term "darkie" I was ready to jump out of my seat and smack the crap out of him. lol

ladyofthelake · 1 month ago

I kinda forgive GWTW for that, it's one of the greatest films ever made. First it was made in 1939, but it was a story set in the south during the civil war, that's how it was during the civil war in the south, that's how the book is. Certain movies that are made today and are period films don't make sense because they try to make them to pc. It's unrealistic. Watching GWTW, even though Rhett uses the term darkie, I never felt like Rhett Butler was a raciest. GWTW is my second favorite book, and I didn't feel that when when I read it either. Does it have raciest moments, yes, but so do alot of other films made in 1939, before 1939 and after. Intresting topic.

Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabbadoo · 2 months ago

I've recently watched this film, also. My reaction was "wow, this is not as bad as everyone has made it out to be." What I mean by that is that I was expecting Uncle Remus to be running around wide-eyed yelling 'Massah, massah!' but he is the more charming of all the characters. Imagine if the character, instead of a slave was simply some poor white trash, same dialogue, same delivery, etc. Would there really be this much discussion about it? No way. This movie, by the simple fact that it takes place after the Civil War, has become a sensitized issue unto itself and mostly by people who've never seen the movie. Would this movie be made, today? Who knows. If it was and Morgan Freeman was in the role of Uncle Remus, would the character really be played that different?

As far as racist portrayals of blacks (Bay's Autobots has already been mentioned), I think that people like Chris Tucker and Martin Lawrence do an equal amount of damage to perceptions of blacks as Birth of a Nation ever could. They're not the serial rapists like Griffith had, but isn't playing the wise-cracking fool just as detrimental?