Song of the South (film)

• Release Date: 1946
• Director(s): Harve Foster; Wilfred Jackson
• Writer(s): Morton Grant; Maurice Rapf; Dalton S. Reymond
• Principal Actors and Roles: James Baskett (Uncle Remus); Bobby Driscoll (Johnny); Ruth Warrick (Sally); Glenn Leedy (Toby); Luana Patten (Ginny)
• Book / Story Film Based On: Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris

Walt Disney believed Song of the South would be his masterpiece. Instead, it is one of the most controversial films Disney Studios ever produced, so much so that since 1986 it has not be seen commercially in its entirety anywhere.

The 1946 musical film combines live action and animation to present three of the Uncle Remus stories that were collected by Southern folklorist and writer Joel Chandler Harris in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Song of the South is the first time Disney hired live actors, who create a frame story to surround the animation. The lead actor, James Baskett, did several of the voices in the animation in addition to playing the role of Uncle Remus, a putative former slave who tells the tales to rapt children. The stories come to animated life and feature musical numbers.

Plot

The storyline of Song of the South weaves back and forth between live action with actors and animation. The plot is the frame story that involves live characters. Each of the three Br’er Rabbit stories is animated.

Johnny is seven years old and excited to be visiting his grandmother at her Georgia plantation with his parents, John Sr. and Sally. His excitement sours when he learns that his parents are separating. Johnny and his mother will stay with his grandmother while his father returns to Atlanta. In reaction, Johnny sneaks away that night, planning to make his way to Atlanta himself.

As he creeps away, Johnny’s attention is captured by Uncle Remus who is sitting with a group of people and telling stories about a character named Br’er Rabbit. Johnny hides behind a tree to listen.

By now, servants have been sent from the plantation to find the missing boy. They ask Uncle Remus if he has seen Johnny, and the old man replies that the boy is with him. Uncle Remus then finds Johnny crying on a log and befriends the distraught child.

While Uncle Remus cooks in his cabin, Johnny asks for more stories about Br’er Rabbit. Uncle Remus tells a story about Br’er Rabbit trying to run away, even though Uncle Remus has warned him trouble will always follow. Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear catch Br’er Rabbit and plan to eat him. But Br’er Rabbit outwits them and goes home to his briar patch. Likewise, Johnny goes home with Toby, a young black servant who is supposed to care for the boy. This story features the famous song, "Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah."

But Sally blames Uncle Remus of Johnny’s attempt to leave. She later requires Johnny to wear a suit with a lace collar, which makes the boy miserable. He meets Ginny Favers, a poor white neighbor. Her two older brothers, Joe and Jake, taunt Johnny and threaten to drown Ginny’s puppy. Johnny takes the puppy away at Ginny’s request, but Sally orders him to return it. Instead, he gives the dog to Uncle Remus.

The next day, Joe and Jake threaten Johnny to make him return the puppy. Uncle Remus tells the frightened boy about how Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear tried to trap Br’er Rabbit with a tar baby. Br’er Rabbit survived by using reverse psychology on his enemies, begging them not to throw him in the briar patch, whatever else they might do. Johnny uses the technique on Joe and Jake, who receive a whipping from their mother as a result.

Once again Sally insists that Uncle Remus leave Johnny alone. The puppy is returned, and Uncle Remus tells Johnny to stay away. Later, Sally relents somewhat and allows Johnny to invite Ginny to his birthday party. However, her brothers mess up her only good dress. Johnny fights them and becomes a mess himself. In an effort to comfort the children, Uncle Remus tells a third story about how Br’er Rabbit escaped Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear by leading them to his "laughing place."

Ginny and Johnny run off to find their own laughing place. Furious, Sally insists that Uncle Remus have no contact with Johnny at all. As Uncle Remus is leaving, Johnny cuts across a field to stop him. A bull injures Johnny, and nothing, not even his father’s hasty arrival from Atlanta, revives the boy. Johnny calls out for Uncle Remus. The old man holds Johnny’s hand and tells him another story, and the boy recovers.

John and Sally decide they must work out their problems for Johnny’s sake, and they stay at the plantation. In the end, Uncle Remus watches as Johnny, Ginny, and Toby play with the puppy. To the old man’s astonishment, Br’er Rabbit and other denizens of his stories join them. Then Uncle Remus runs after them and also becomes part of their happy animated world. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" is reprised in the closing scene.

Significance

Song of the South was a "milestone" film for Walt Disney Productions in a number of ways. It was the first time live-action actors appeared in a Disney feature film. Bobby Driscoll, who played Johnny, was the first actor to be placed under personal contract with Disney studio.

The movie was financially successful, although barely so, but it inspired spinoffs that have also made money. For example, the three animated segments in the film became children’s television cartoons, and the characters all appear in the Disneyland attraction Splash Mountain. The film was also re-released multiple times, the last time in 1986.

More importantly, Song of the South immediately became part of a long-running discussion of racial issues in America. Because of the ways plantation life and the circumstances of African American former slaves are shown in the movie, critics in 1946 and ever since have decried it as racist. One bitter irony associated with its premier in Atlanta is that its star, Baskett, could not be present at the opening; the segregationist laws of the time prevented his attendance. The folk tales told by Uncle Remus can be seen as echoing that sort of racism.

The song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" won the 1947 Academy Award for the Best Song. In 1948, thanks to intensive campaigning by Disney himself, Baskett was given an honorary Oscar for his performance as Uncle Remus.

Awards and nominations

Won

• Academy Award (1946) Best Original Song

Nominated

• Academy Award (1946) Best Score

Bibliography

Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffin. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2001. Print, electronic.

Canemaker, John. Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation. New York: Disney, 2001. Print.

Hahn, Don. The Alchemy of Animation: Making an Animated Film in the Modern Age. Glendale: Disney, 2008. Print.

Korkis, Jim. Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South? and Other Forbidden Disney Stories. New York: Theme Park, 2012. Electronic, Print.

Langman, Larry and David Ebner. Hollywood’s Image of the South: A Century of Southern Films. Westport: Greenwood, 2001. Electronic, print.

Sperb, Jason. Disney’s Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South. Austin: U of Texas P, 2013. Electronic, print.