Song of the South/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Adaptation Displacement: The tales of Br'er Rabbit which the book on which the movie was written got preserved, were original African-American folktales. With the suppression of Song Of The South, these folk tales (which would have been lost to time) have also been suppressed.
    • Though the Br'er Rabbit tales themselves can be found in some older Disney "collection" books, usually ones dealing with "Tales From America".
  • Broken Base: Opinions are split whether it is genuinely offensive or Political Correctness Gone Mad. The film has a cult following, but the cult following is bitterly divided between African Americans who remember it for the folktales and one of the first prominent casting of a black man on film, thirtysomething hipsters who want to watch it due to its mix of notoriety and nostalgia (sound like anyone you know?), and older White Southerners who fondly recall its "Uncle Tom"-like aspects and Rose-Tinted Narrative of happy blacks living in the Old South. This obviously has not given Disney much incentive to re-market the film...
  • Fair for Its Day: And arguably not only fair, but brave. This applied to the cast as well. Walt Disney absolutely loved how well James Baskett played the part of Uncle Remus. Originally, the actor was only going to voice an animated animal until Disney gave him the lead. To top it off, Disney put a lot of effort into seeing that Baskett got an honorary Oscar for his performance, making him the first African American man to get any sort of Oscar[1].
  • Heartwarming Moments: When all the farm workers are gathered at the door of the plantation, holding a vigil for Johnny (recently injured by the bull).
  • Macekre: Disney has occasionally circulated a cut-down version featuring only the animated segments; this still got Bowdlerized a bit for Splash Mountain in particular, Brer Rabbit is caught in a Beehive rather than a Tar Baby.
  • Moment of Awesome: Seeing Ginny's older brothers get what they deserve.
  • Older Than They Think: This movie did not invent B'rer Rabbit.
  • Tear Jerker: Several...
    • When Uncle Remus tells Johnny about the dog, who one could only assume was drowned, though at the end when the animated characters show up in the real world, the puppy is shown to be just fine, averting What Happened to the Mouse?.
    • When Johnny runs to Uncle Remus's cabin only to find that he's gone.
    • Seeing Johnny in bed.
  • Toy Ship: Johnny and Ginny.
  • Unfortunate Implications: *looks up* *looks down* Any questions?
  • Values Dissonance: The reason this film isn't shown in America anymore.
  1. ↑ His co-star Hattie McDaniel (Aunt Tempe) was, of course, the first African American woman to win an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress for the part of "Mammy" in 1939's Gone with the Wind
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