However, with that said, my entire essay revolves around the importance of these stories. As some other people have expressed, Song of the South was a classic viewing back in my childhood. I remember the classic songs like "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" and the fantastic cartoons revolving around Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear. The character of Uncle Remus is a great, Uncle Tom's Cabin-type grandfather figure. In fact, every time I've been to Disney World, I always make it a habit to ride Splash Mountain, as it is themed around these characters and stories.
As most people might know now, Song of the South has been banned, apparently for its "racist view of African Americans". I do not understand this. I get that there are some stereotypical attributes applied to certain characters, but this stems from the source material. These Brer Rabbit stories are told stylistically in the vein of 1800s African American dialect. A common example would be when someone is talking, the words following the statement are "sez Brer Rabbit, sezee". This can make the reading confusing, but it so perfectly captures the culture of the individuals telling the stories.
The morals and the concept of outwitting the bad guys transcends African myth and folklore and can be applied universally. However, I think it is incredibly important to keep that intact, despite whatever political correctness suggests, because this is history, this is culture, and this is what can help unlock the mysteries of various societies that we may not know a whole lot about.
The Brer Rabbit Collection
Like I said on your previous post, I am so glad you like the Brer Rabbit stories, Chase! I wish Disney had just made the film about Brer Rabbit. The problem, though, is that the film also contained live action stuff that has nothing to do with Brer Rabbit, and that's the part that is a problem. The book Uncle Tom's Cabin was written to protest slavery, but the way Uncle Remus is shown in that film makes it seems like everything is hunky-dory... is he a slave? is he free? does it matter? You can't really even tell if Uncle Remus in that movie is a free man or a slave because the movie wants to pretend that the question doesn't matter... but of course it does matter, a lot. I keep thinking that Disney might release the film with JUST the cartoon parts... and maybe they will someday. That's why I left out the Uncle Remus parts of the stories, too. Brer Rabbit is what really matters; Uncle Remus just came from Harris's imagination, not from the folklore itself, not from the African-American storytellers. It's very sad for me that so many people think there is something racist of Brer Rabbit because of the mess Disney made of that movie. And even better: maybe somebody someday will make a truly great film of the Brer Rabbit stories, even better than the old Disney cartoon versions. That's what I would love to see! And heck, if I win the lottery and become a multimillionaire, maybe I will produce it myself, ha ha. :-)
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