(no subject)

[derien]

I've actually been pretty busy, lately, though not near as productive as I'd like.

Thought of the day (okay, this actually occured to me yesterday, and may not be a new thought at all, but whatever...)

I've heard that one can't get Disney's "Song of the South" anymore, because it's deemed racist. Now, I haven't seen it in ages, but I recall it featuring a wise old Black man who told stories to a couple of white kids about animal-people who were drawn from African mythology, influenced by the new world the Blacks found themselves in. Seems to me it's a shame to lose this valuable link to our past. Maybe it would be acceptable if they redid it, somehow... Perhaps they could just digitally colorize the kids?

Comments

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/sots.htm

[lapis-lazuli.livejournal.com]

The most striking bit of that entry in Snopes:

Perhaps lost in all the controversy over the film is the fact that James Baskett, a Black man, was the very first live actor ever hired by Disney. Allegedly, though, Baskett was unable to attend the film's premiere in Atlanta because no hotel would give him a room.

[eve-l-incarnata.livejournal.com]

Not being able to find a hotel room to attend the premiere sounds about right.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Fascinating stuff. You do realize I had no particular knowledge of all this when I started out, I was just going for the obvious joke - they could digitally colorize the kids. But it sounds as if the whole movie should be made over, more true to the original book. Or maybe I should just go read the book before I say another thing. I honestly didn't remember anything of the live action between the cartoons - as a kid I didn't care about that stuff, just Brere Rabbit. Or else I might never have seen the movie - I might only have seen the pictures and read the very abbreviated story in my big book of Disney. I was a pretty deprived kid - my parents didn't take me to movies very often, they just gave me books.

--Doe