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June 9, 2025 β€’ 12 mins

πŸŽ™οΈ

Scott and Jenn dive into the 1946 classic, "Song of the South," and let me tell ya, it's a ride!

Right off the bat, we explore the film's controversial history and why you won’t find it on DVD or streaming platforms today. We reminisce about our childhood memories with Uncle Remus and those catchy tunes, but we also unpack the deeper social issues and stereotypes the film presents. It's a mix of nostalgia and reality as we chat about the film's impact and the legacy of the folk tales it draws from.

So grab your popcorn and join us as we navigate this complicated piece of cinematic history!

πŸŽ₯ Watch the full movie review here

πŸ’¬ Comment on this episode here

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
All right. Good afternoon,good evening, good morning. Whenever
you're. Whenever.
And good night.
And good night whenever you'rewatching us. So. So this is Scott
and Jen from Walk WithHistory, but we are doing something
a little bit different. Andthis is kind of part of our Watch
With History series. This ismore of a podcast, but we're calling
this new video. Let me juststart over here.

(00:24):
Yeah.
I did not start off well.
No.
I'm going to say welcome tosomething new. This is History behind
the Hit.
It's new.
Yeah.
So it's hard.
Okay. Welcome to somethingthat we're trying a little something

(00:44):
a little bit different here onWalk With History. We're calling
this History behind the Hit.This is a free preview of what is
going to be premium membersOnly content going forward. This
video here is going to befree. If you like this and you like
the stuff that we're doinggoing forward, please, we encourage
you to become a member. Butwhat we're going to do here with
History behind the Hit iswe're going to talk about historic

(01:06):
movies, content, stuff that'sout there, mostly largely from places
that we've been to, becausethat's what we do here on Walk With
History. We go to thelocation, we take you there, and
we talk about it. But we'regoing to watch the movie. So we're
going to watch Songs of the South.
Song of the south. With you.
With you. So you guys canwatch along with us. We're going
to talk about history alongthe way, the actors, some of the

(01:28):
history of, like, kind ofwhat's going on, what they're representing
throughout this, this film,and just kind of harken back, you
know, a little bit tosomething that we watched when we
were young.
Sure. Well, the controversyabout it, like, why can't you find
it today on dvd? Why doesn'tDisney stream this? So there's controversy
around this movie, but it isvery much a part of people's childhoods
and growing up. They rememberthis because it came out in 1946.

(01:52):
So it's one of those earlyanimation with actual people movies
that Walt Disney did. And Ihad just. I just visited a place
that's really connected to it.So we decided to do this first.
Yeah. So if you like contentlike this, if you like some of the
movies that we're going to. Todo in the future, because we're going

(02:13):
to. This kind of gives us achance to expand what we're going
to do, potentially Jaws andtalk about history there. Because
Jen's going up To Martha'sVineyard, some stuff in Alaska. Jen's
been to Normandy. So there's awhole swath of movies that we can
talk about because we've beenthere and we're going to talk about
the history and where thosemovies take place. So if that interests

(02:34):
you, this may interest you.And as we build up this content,
this will be again, be thefuture videos will be premium members
only content. So thank you toour members who support us. That
gives us gas money and foodmoney to go out and kind of do these
things that we do so that wecan share them with you and share
them with our audience. Sowelcome to history behind the hit

(02:54):
Here we Go.
I love the classic opening.
It's great.
Life is not. They too busygoing along all mixed up with their

(03:14):
own troubles. Like the timethat Ms. Sally, Mr. John was coming
down to the plantation.
Now, if I remember right, thismovie came out in 1946. 1946, which
was. This was a pretty, prettybig movie back then.

(03:35):
It was very big movie backthen. But it's already problematic
because people don'tunderstand. Is this before the Civil
War or after the Civil War?
So one thing that I'll. I'llremind folks, if you guys want to
skip ahead and kind of seesome of the cartoon sections with
Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby andBear Fox. Yeah. And. And see some

(03:55):
of those. I'll put those timecodes down below. Those will be chapters.
So if you guys want to skipahead to some of those parts, please
feel free.
Yeah. How to McDaniel wins theOscar for portraying an enslaved
woman. Mammy to the good tohave a man o' Hara family. And she
got a lot of criticism forthis, but she said, I could make

(04:18):
$2 a week as a maid or I canmake 200 a week pretending to be
a man. I hope you're a noisy boy.
Counted Hattie McDaniel. Andshe actually said about this movie,
if I had one, if, if I had forone moment considered any part of
the picture degrading orharmful to my people, I would not
have appear. So she actuallysaid that about this particular movie.

(04:39):
And then her co star, JamesBasket, who's Uncle Remus, who we'll
see in just a bit. He said hesupported the film as well. He said,
I believe that certain groupsare doing my race more harm in seeking
to create dissension than canever possibly come out of the Song
of the South. So veryinteresting about this. So just remember
that as we go through this.
Yeah. I think it makes peopleuncomfortable because this is actually

(05:01):
very accurate.
Yeah. So zippity doo dot. Thisis the first place where zippity
doo dot comes from. This is.This is where it originated, was
in this movie.
So this wins the Academy Awardfor best song.
So I was wondering about kindof one of the first times that they

(05:24):
had a person interacting withanimation in a movie. And this, this
is pretty early, but it'sactually not the first. It's. It
actually, you know, as earlyas like the 1920s.
Oh, wow.
They had, they had some inthere. And again, Disney was kind
of close to the forefront of this.
Oh, there's Bear Rabbit forthe first time.

(05:46):
So another little interestingfact that I looked up about some
of the stuff in this movie. Soif you've ever been to Disneyland
or Disney World, SplashMountain is a big ride inspired by
this movie. Prior Rabbit,prior patch, all that stuff. A lot
of that stuff's actuallychanging now. So I think back in

(06:08):
2023 they're starting tooverhaul it to. I don't know if it's
to get away from this.
Oh, it is for sure. ButDisney's shied away from this.
Yeah, they've shied away fromthis for a decade. Long time. You
can't get this on streamingservices. You can't get this on Disney.
Plus they won't release it ondvd. Like I actually had to download
find this off ofinternetarchive.org and I'll leave

(06:29):
a link for that.
Yeah, and they don't reallytalk about it either when they're
questioned about Song of the South.
Yeah. But they are actuallymaking way for Tiana's Bayou. So
Princess and the Frog.
So they think.
Yes. So they actually filmedthis. I just looked it up in Phoenix,
Arizona. There was aplantation and cotton fields that
were constructed down there.
Oh, so they built.
So they actually built a setdown there and then they filmed the

(06:51):
other part, parts of it at theSamuel Golden Studios in West Hollywood.
So it was in Arizona and instudio lots.
It ain't gonna fool nobody. Itain't got no eyes.
Oh, yes, indeed.
Eyes. I'm glad.
Now you were saying that theway that people misunderstood this

(07:13):
particular cartoon because.
They don't know the story,they don't.
Know the background, that thisis a. A long running kind of multicultural
folktale. Folktale.
And so they think it depictsracism. And when someone says tar
baby, they're being racistabout the color of your skin. An

(07:34):
African American skin. And soit's supposed to be derogatory. And
because they've never heardtar Baby before. That's the only
way that they will decipherit. And so because of that negative
connotation and people don'twant to explain or work against it,
it just gets buried.
It kind of turned into thatpeople became to understand it as

(07:57):
that it equated the two together.
We're still seeing a classdifference. Two barefoot bum with
shoes. He's in front. Right.
So, you know, another thing Iheard about this is they're taking

(08:21):
the song out of Disney parks.
It's too bad.
It really is too bad becausethis, the song is no class, no nothing.
It's. It has no connotation ofthat. It's only associated with the
movie.
Yeah.
And it's such a classic happysong. Just kind of, kind of unfortunate.
At least that's from what Iread online. I don't know if they've
done that or not, but how doyou do?

(08:44):
Oh, hello there. Briar Rabbit.
So now the kids can see Briar Rabbit.
Well, I think the hardest partis like these folk stories have stood
the test of time. These arereal stories that were really passed
down from Africans here inAmerica that inspired their lives
and they deserve to be heardand told. And just because of this

(09:08):
catalyst, it's what's takentelling them is so problematic and
Disney just wants to avoid it.We could learn from this.
Yeah, they could totallyembrace it. And honestly, like if
they just put this on Disneyplus trust the parents to have the
conversation with their kidsabout this. This is a learning tool.

(09:29):
They don't. This is almostlike them banning books. Right. Like
they're banning this becauseit's so problematic that they don't
want you to. They don't. Theywant to be the thought police. And
how you might see this insteadof like, this is negative. They're
showing some negativeconnotations here. Be aware of that.

(09:52):
Look at how it's romanticizingthis. Look at how it's not talking
about this. This is part ofAmerican history. I think Disney.
This is problematic of thetime. And you know, we don't not
show Gone with the Wind.
Yeah, I.
Right. We. I think this shouldstill be something that is seen.
I think these folks tales areso important and historic and I feel

(10:20):
like why when we're afraid ofstuff like this and we just want
to put it away because wedon't know how to talk about it.
I think we need to talk about it.
Yeah. Well, I hope ouraudience. I hope you enjoyed if you
stuck all the way throughthrough with us all the way to the
very end. I would like you tocomment in the comments. Zippity
doo da right. Go ahead. Goahead and drop us a comment if you

(10:43):
stuck with us all the waythrough the very end. Because this
is a long video. This is.We're trying something new, but this
is a way for us to kind of sitdown personally with our audience,
with you, our members, andtalk about the history of some of
our favorite movies and reallyjust kind of like what, Watch it
together. And that's our goalwith this.
Yeah.
And again, if you like this,if you think you would like more

(11:06):
of this in the future. Sothank you for joining us on this
very first ever history behindthe hit.
Yeah.
I would love to know what youthink about Song of the south, about
kind of the history behindthis, if you learned anything new.
And we, we hope you guys kindof join us next time and consider
joining Walk with HistoryCommunity and the membership. There's.

(11:28):
Yeah. The real stories, thereal stories behind this from Laura
Plantation brought over fromAfrica and oral history which is
so vital to the history ofAmerica. They deserve to be told.
They don't deserve to be putaway and shunned or not put out there

(11:48):
because we're so afraid tohave this conversation. Like, let's
have this conversation. Let meknow how you feel about this. If
this brings back memories toyou, if you remember this movie or
you don't, and if you've everheard these folk tales before.
So thank you again and let'swatch some history next time.
Yeah. Thank you.
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