'South' deserves a fresh look

Of the dozens of feature-length animated films produced by the Walt Disney Studios since the 1930s, only one has never been released on home video in the United States: "Song of the South."

Based on stories by Joel Chandler Harris first published in 1876, "Song of the South" was Disney's first animated film to also use live actors. The 1946 release won a best song Academy Award for its signature tune, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," and actor James Baskett received an honorary Oscar for what the academy called his "able and heartwarming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and storyteller to the children of the world."

Yet "Song of the South" is never mentioned alongside such beloved animated Disney films as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Pinocchio," or "The Lion King." Even on the official Disney website, the film is not listed on the "animated classics checklist," or under "other animated movies." The only way to access any information about the film on the site is through a specific name search.

That's because "Song of the South" remains Disney's most vexing and controversial film. At the height of the 1960s civil rights era, the NAACP condemned the film for what the organization called "the impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship." And in all likelihood, it's the movie's depiction of its black characters as singing former slaves still happily working for white folks on Southern plantations that has kept the film out of circulation for nearly 20 years. The last theatrical release was to commemorate its 40th anniversary in 1986.

Now, there's a petition drive encouraging Disney to release the film on home video. Songofthesouth.net and Uncleremuspages.com, websites dedicated to all things related to the film and the original Uncle Remus stories, have collected more than 60,000 names encouraging Disney to make the film available again.

Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook has said that no Disney film has received more customer requests than "Song of the South," and that its DVD release is possible. Despite rumors to the contrary, there's never been an official ban of the film, although, if its web pages are any indication, Disney has tried to keep the film consigned to its vaults.

And that's a mistake.

I saw the film once, and I won't hesitate to say I'm not a fan. I wasn't deeply offended by the portrayals of African-American characters, but I do recall they made me uncomfortable in ways that, as a kid, I couldn't quite define. Still, I think the film should be made available on home video, probably for the very reasons it initially bothered me.

Walt Disney was a great admirer of the "Uncle Remus" stories, which Harris, a white Southerner, first heard from slaves while growing up in Georgia before and during the Civil War. To a great extent, the depictions of black characters in "Song of the South," isn't that much different from those in "Gone With the Wind," which was released just seven years earlier. In this adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's sweeping novel, its "slaves" are just as culturally troubling and compliant as their emancipated, but still subservient counterparts in the Disney film.

Some might argue that "Song of the South" may be even more insidious since it's a film for children that reinforces racial stereotypes. But in releasing the film, Disney could turn its sheepishness about the film into some kind of positive action. Any DVD of the film would have to include among its extras supplemental material examining the film's difficult history, and why it has been kept from the public for so long. Like many images in our culture, the film is weighed with a racial subtext, yet keeping the film out of view because of it is just as ignorant as are those who refuse to understand the fuss. The only proper thing for Disney to do is confront directly the film's images, as well as its cultural resonance.

This isn't kowtowing to political correctness, as some may maintain, but an opportunity to deal with issues that most of us would rather not think about. It could be similar to what Disney did when it released "Walt Disney Treasures -- On the Front Lines," a collection of its animated shorts from the World War II era. With its ethnic stereotypes of the Japanese, the multi-disc set also included commentary from film historian Leonard Maltin, discussing the films within the social context of their times.

Important discussions about still-relevant issues can be fueled by "Song of the South," but only if it's released. Too often in this country, our way of dealing with shameful aspects of our history is to try to pretend they never existed, and that seems to be the case with this methodically forgotten film. Keeping Uncle Remus out of circulation doesn't so much protect the present as it sanitizes the past.

Renée Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe .com