Disney Would Very Much Like You to Forget That ‘Song of the South’ Ever Existed

If you have been anywhere near the Walt Disney Parks or on Disney+ in the past several months, you have noticed the extensive advertisements for Disney’s 100th Anniversary. The celebration wrapped up in 2023, commemorating the 100th year since Walt and Roy Disney opened their animation studio, starting the brand and its connection to all of us.

Disney decided to pull out all the stops in the Parks and its films to celebrate.

At Disney Parks, Mickey and Minnie received new outfits. There were new statues commemorating the occasion throughout the Parks.

And there is, of course, the merchandise that fans devoured. There is always the merchandise. Disney released a massive box set of its most significant movies, costing $1,500. The company also re-released some of its most famous animated and Pixar films in theaters for a limited time.

But in all this hoopla and celebration, the Walt Disney Company has made a conscious effort to keep one film in its vaults: Song of the South (1946). 

The combination of live-action/animated films has stirred up controversy, but why? Let’s deeply dive into the film, the controversy, and Splash Mountain.

What is ‘Song of the South?’

Coming out of World War II, the Walt Disney Animation Studios were struggling. The international markets that helped to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) a hit were no longer available.

The Disney Studios spent most of the war years making propaganda films and training videos for the government. It was steady work but not lucrative. Disney’s first release in the post-war years was Make Mine Music (1946), which was not a huge success, at least not compared to Disney’s previous animated films.

Disney was looking for a hit and thought he found it in Song of the South. Before the war, Disney purchased the rights to the Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus storybook from his family for $10,000. Walt claimed he had heard the stories as a child and wanted to turn them into movies.

Throughout the war years, the Disney Animation Studios continued to develop ideas for the movie, initially pitching it as an entirely animated film. But other more pressing projects got in the way during the war years.

But Walt could turn his attention to the film once the war ended. The film is set during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era on a plantation in Georgia. Seven-year-old Johnny stays at his Grandparents’ plantation, where he learns that his parents will be living apart.

Johnny runs away, where he comes across Uncle Remus, an African American working on his grandmother’s plantation. Uncle Remus tells stories of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, and Br’er Bear. He convinces Johnny to return to his family, but later in the story, Johnny is attacked by a bull while trying to get back to Uncle Remus.

As he battles for his life, Johnny asks for Uncle Remus, who returns to tell the boy the stories of Br’er Rabbit, and the boy survives.

The movie debuted in Atlanta near the end of 1946. Walt Disney was present but did not stay for the film. He was concerned about how the audience would receive the film. James Baskett, who played Uncle Remus, was not allowed in the theater due to Atlanta’s Jim Crow Laws at the time.

The film was a box-office success for the Walt Disney Company. It would be re-released four times and gross more than $65 million over those releases.

The critical reception to the movie was mixed. The New York Times panned the film and said that Disney Animation lost some of its magic by including live-action characters.

But Time Magazine said:

Technically, the blending of two movie mediums is pure Disney wizardry. The cartooning is top-notch Disney—and delightful. While playing fast & loose with the well-known personalities of Brer Fox & Friends, the animators have kept a faint flavor of the old Frost-Conde-Verbeck illustrations. Ideologically, the picture is certain to land its maker in hot water. Tattered ol’ Uncle Remus, who cheerfully “knew his place” in the easygoing world of late 19th.

This final line would heed the warning of things to come for the Walt Disney Company and Song of the South.

At the Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Score and won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.” James Baskett won a Special Academy Award for his portrayal of Uncle Remus.

In 1986, Song of the South was re-released into theaters to celebrate its 40th Anniversary, but Disney also had more significant ideas for the movie. Then Disney CEO Michael Eisner used the movie as a test balloon for Disneyland’s upcoming ride, Splash Mountain.

The movie opened just before Thanksgiving and had a strong showing at the box office. Eisner used this to show that Splash Mountain could succeed despite the film’s controversies. The attraction opened at Disneyland in California in 1989 and at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida in 1992. But this wouldn’t be the last we’d hear from Splash Mountain.

‘Song of the South’ Controversy

Long before any ride opened at a Disney park, there was controversy surrounding the film.

Song of the South is accused of using racial stereotypes, especially in the character of Uncle Remus. But Disney knew that the film would cause controversy when it was in production.

Disney hired African-American writer Clarence Muse as a screenplay consultant, hoping he could tamper down some of the racial issues in the writing. But Muse quit after his suggestions to portray African Americans with dignity and not to feed into racial stereotypes were ignored.

This would not be the last time the film would be accused of glossing over the lives of African Americans in the post-Civil War South. The movie romanticizes the “good old days,” which for characters like Uncle Remus and the sharecropper children would mean the days of slavery in the South.

Disney tried to reassure the public that the film took place in the 1870s, after slavery ended in Georgia, but did not make that clear in the movie itself. Instead, on the eve of the American Civil Rights movement, Walt Disney Studios released a film that reinforced racial stereotypes.

Many in the African-American press panned the film, and protests were set up around the country at theaters showing the film. Even the review in Time said that Disney’s Uncle Remus “knew his place,” pointing out that the character was being used to promote Disney’s vision of racial inequality.

Song of the South is Disney’s most racist film, and it would make sense that the company would try to bury it. The movie cannot be found on Disney Plus, nor will it be released as a part of Disney’s box set. Then why would Disney use this movie as a backdrop for one of Disney Park’s most popular rides in the first place?

Splash Mountain

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests over the killing of George Floyd, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would be retheming Splash Mountain. Instead of using Song of the South, Disney Imagineers would turn the ride into a Princess and the Frog-themed ride starring Disney’s first African-American princess, Tiana.

And cue the internet outrage. After Disney announced Splash Mountain’s closure, the company faced immediate backlash. Fans took to Twitter (now X) to express their anger at the closure of one of Disney World and Disneyland’s most popular rides. The most common accusation was that Disney had given in to the “woke mob” and closed the beloved ride.

Despite closing Splash Mountain during the George Floyd Protests, Disney Imagineers later admitted that they had been thinking about changing the theme of Splash Mountain for five years.

According to an article in the New York Times, Disney wanted to move as far away from Song of the South and its racist history as possible. And by turning the attraction into a Tiana-themed would give Disney parks their first ride based on their only African-American princess.

But even the switch caused controversy within Disney.

While Disney’s American theme parks were making the switch to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Tokyo Disneyland was planning on keeping Splash Mountain and its controversial ties to Song of the South. Perhaps Disney CEO Bob Iger thought that no one would notice that Disney’s Japanese flagship park did not make the switch.

While work continues on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, scheduled to open in late 2024, Disney fans are incredibly divided over the ride and the movie that inspired it.

Some fans have said it was like “watching your grandfather die,” while others have not been quite that extreme. Some even took to selling water from the ride and drinking it to remain close to their beloved ride. It is, however, hazardous and stupid to even consider drinking that water.

But whether Disney has gone “woke” or not, at least in Disney’s American parks, Splash Mountain is gone. And soon enough, Disney fans will have a new ride to fall in love with. 

Disney Wants You to Forget

The Walt Disney Company would like you to forget that Song of the South exists.

Iger has said that Disney will never release the movie on DVD or Disney Plus. Iger believes that it is “not in the best interest” of Disney and Disney shareholders for the film ever to see the light of day again. If you are desperate to see the movie, you can purchase it on VHS on eBay, or some websites online are still streaming it.

But it’s important to remember that this is Disney’s most racist film, and there are no excuses. Disney will continue to try and hide their past, even as it tries to celebrate nearly everything Walt Disney has ever done in the past 100 years. This happened, and Disney needs to own that and consider apologizing for this dark moment in the company’s history.

Until that happens, Disney won’t be able to hide from this controversy, and it will remain a scar on Walt Disney’s legacy.

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