skellorock
12/03/08, 04:11 PM
http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/16/b70-8460
This has been a controversial issue for years, probably since Disney first started releasing their films on home video(at least here in the states, it has been released over seas). While it was a ground breaking film, one of the first to really go forward with the combonation of live action and animation, obviously the film goes into sketchy territory when it comes to political correctness. Its hard to believe film historians(even black film historians) believe that The Birth of a Nation(probably one of the most evil films ever) should be preserved, tho for its technical merits only. I guess I can see why somthing like Song of the South would be diffrent, because no one is gonna show The Birth of a Nation to children, and its understandable to question whether or not it might be impressionable. Song of the South definatly plays into the romanticized "master-slave" relationship, but there are alot of old family films that do, Shirley Temple stuff mainly, which ppl still watch today, and while that aspect is definatly NOT what things were like in reality, I'm sure there are shreds of truth in there as well, I mean somwhere between somthing like this and somthing like Roots lay the many better and worse truths, which either way cannot change the fact that the acting of owning people is evil, and simply can't be defended. But all in all, a film like this was a product of its time, and even more so a product of an even earlier time, which makes it somthing of an educational experience and while I totally think a parent should think twice before allowing a kid to watch it, I'm sure that a modern educated audience could handle it, probably early teens and up(not that it needs a pg13 rating tho haha)
Now you can find bootlegs and even more convenient, you can watch it on Youtube(broken up in like 10 parts) so in that respect the film is available, but the fact remains is this a film that Disney should release on home video alongside their other classic family films. I'm torn personally.
an interesting fact tho, James Baskett, that actor who played Uncle Remus was the first black man to receive any form of Academy Award, which was fantastic, especially back then
I will say this much, from my personal experience. I had some of the disney story book/record combo's(which i'd listen to on the legendary fisher price record player hahaha) as a kid it honestly never occured to me that the characters(b'rer rabbit and all) were supposed to be black and same with watching dumbo(the crows) and a ton of other non-pc stuff, I didnt realize all that until i was older, so from my experience I can't say a whole on the potential harm of this stuff. Also a new animated movie about called The Adventures of Brer Rabbit came out on dvd recently w/Danny Glover, Wanda Sykes, Nick Cannon, D.L. Hugely and others doing the voices, so yeah, thats kinda odd.
so what do y'all the ppl of the AP forum think???
oh, and you almost thought you'd gotten through this without me saying ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH!!! ZIP-A-DEE-AY!!! MY OH MY WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!! PLENTY OF SUNSHINE HEADIN MY WAY, ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH!! ZIP-A-DEE-AY!!!!!!!!!!
This has been a controversial issue for years, probably since Disney first started releasing their films on home video(at least here in the states, it has been released over seas). While it was a ground breaking film, one of the first to really go forward with the combonation of live action and animation, obviously the film goes into sketchy territory when it comes to political correctness. Its hard to believe film historians(even black film historians) believe that The Birth of a Nation(probably one of the most evil films ever) should be preserved, tho for its technical merits only. I guess I can see why somthing like Song of the South would be diffrent, because no one is gonna show The Birth of a Nation to children, and its understandable to question whether or not it might be impressionable. Song of the South definatly plays into the romanticized "master-slave" relationship, but there are alot of old family films that do, Shirley Temple stuff mainly, which ppl still watch today, and while that aspect is definatly NOT what things were like in reality, I'm sure there are shreds of truth in there as well, I mean somwhere between somthing like this and somthing like Roots lay the many better and worse truths, which either way cannot change the fact that the acting of owning people is evil, and simply can't be defended. But all in all, a film like this was a product of its time, and even more so a product of an even earlier time, which makes it somthing of an educational experience and while I totally think a parent should think twice before allowing a kid to watch it, I'm sure that a modern educated audience could handle it, probably early teens and up(not that it needs a pg13 rating tho haha)
Now you can find bootlegs and even more convenient, you can watch it on Youtube(broken up in like 10 parts) so in that respect the film is available, but the fact remains is this a film that Disney should release on home video alongside their other classic family films. I'm torn personally.
an interesting fact tho, James Baskett, that actor who played Uncle Remus was the first black man to receive any form of Academy Award, which was fantastic, especially back then
I will say this much, from my personal experience. I had some of the disney story book/record combo's(which i'd listen to on the legendary fisher price record player hahaha) as a kid it honestly never occured to me that the characters(b'rer rabbit and all) were supposed to be black and same with watching dumbo(the crows) and a ton of other non-pc stuff, I didnt realize all that until i was older, so from my experience I can't say a whole on the potential harm of this stuff. Also a new animated movie about called The Adventures of Brer Rabbit came out on dvd recently w/Danny Glover, Wanda Sykes, Nick Cannon, D.L. Hugely and others doing the voices, so yeah, thats kinda odd.
so what do y'all the ppl of the AP forum think???
oh, and you almost thought you'd gotten through this without me saying ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH!!! ZIP-A-DEE-AY!!! MY OH MY WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!! PLENTY OF SUNSHINE HEADIN MY WAY, ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH!! ZIP-A-DEE-AY!!!!!!!!!!