Disney ERASES Song of the South from Disney World

Theme Parks

Disney has removed the last known reference to Song of the South from Walt Disney World at Walt Disney Presents in Disney Hollywood Studios – and in doing so, removed a part of Walt’s legacy as well. Walt Disney Presents is a gallery that chronicles Walt’s life from youth to adulthood, with his greatest achievements at his studio and Disneyland Park.

This is a reaction from those inside Disney that also re-themed Splash Mountain, the popular attraction based on Song of the South, because of “problematic racial issues.” That ride has been renamed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, loosely based on the animated film The Princess and the Frog (2009).

Among Walt Disney’s achievements was Song of the South (1946), the studio’s first live-action film, which would use the first integration of animated segments with live-action actors on-screen. Song of the South is based on the folklore stories of Bre’r Rabbit told by Uncle Remus, adapted by Joel Chandler Harris, a journalist in the post-Reconstruction era. Uncle Remus is like the Yoda of this tale, where the kids in the movie search him out when they’re in trouble. Walt loved reading these folktales as a kid, and he bought the rights from the Harris family and set out to make his first live-action film for the studio.

Walt also championed James Baskett to star as Uncle Remus in the film. Baskett ended up winning an honorary Oscar for his role in Song of the South, becoming the first black man to earn an honorary Oscar.

SONG OF THE SOUTH was released on Nov. 12, 1946. Disney essentially erasing the work of the 1st black man to win an Academy Award strikes me as considerably more problematic than whatever issues the film itself may have. Let everyone judge it for themselves. pic.twitter.com/8Wk02Gkn7X

— Laura G (@LaurasMiscMovie) November 13, 2023

The original report comes from WDW News Today. In their piece, the gallery shows a picture of the Song of the South display, and you see Uncle Remus, the kids, Bre’r Rabbit, Bre’r Fox, and Bre’r Bear. Another image shows that the Song of the South reference is now removed and has been replaced with a scene from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).

This is a gallery celebrating Walt’s biggest accomplishments with his studio. To remove a milestone of a movie like Song of the South also removes the noteworthy accomplishment of James Baskett winning that historic Oscar, as well as Walt’s technical achievements in the film combining live-action and animation.

This reference to Song of the South at Walt Disney Presents looks to have been missed by Disney after the full re-theme of Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at the Magic Kingdom. Tiana’s is riddled with mechanical breakdowns, an unclear story, and far more controversial theming, like signs that read Salt Mines (where slaves worked during slavery in America).

It was only a matter of time before that Song of the South reference would be removed. And the ones responsible are Disney’s latest department, Stories Matter, a diversity and inclusion group where creativity goes to die and where classic Disney attractions and films get censored or completely canceled. They are the ones responsible for canceling Splash Mountain, as well as for putting censor warnings on classic Disney films on Disney+ for “problematic issues.”

The fact is that as they remove a film like Song of the South, they also remove Walt Disney, the man himself, from their parks and their company. Song of the South was a passion project for Walt, and he had the utmost respect for James Baskett, calling him one of the best actors of that time. Some of the African-American actors who voiced the Bre’r animal characters said that Walt treated them like kings.

So woke in @Disney & ⁦@RobertIger⁩ have a problem with James Baskett, first African American to win an Academy Award from SOTS, Br’er statue, & the iconic #SplashMountain. Disgusting.#SaveSplashMountain @Disneyland @WaltDisneyCo @WaltDisneyWorld @DisneyParks @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/fcyOtkMBaO

— Michael (@MTARDI32) September 14, 2024

There is a narrative by those in Disney who supported the closing of Splash Mountain and their online supporters that Song of the South is offensive and racist. But in reality, they never watched the film or understood the story by Joel Chandler Harris. Harris actually modeled Uncle Remus’ characteristics on similar real-life African-American folklore storytellers living on plantations. Harris took the main folklore Bre’r Rabbit’s adventures from these storytellers, but in his story, he made Uncle Remus a freedman, not a slave.

Walt was also more inclusive in making Song of the South than those canceling it in 2024. Walt’s decision to make this story his first live-action film shows that Walt appreciated stories from other cultures and traditions. Walt was very much about American idealism and history, as seen in his parks, but he also enjoyed other cultures (i.e., he was responsible for It’s a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland).

In Song of the South, Walt followed Harris’ portrayal of Uncle Remus as a freedman. The movie is set post-Civil War on a Southern plantation. The young boy who befriends Uncle Remus, Johnny, is part of the family that owns that plantation. Johnny makes friends with a black boy of the same age named Toby and a poor white plantation girl, Ginny, who has two brothers who act as bullies in the movie. In real life, back in the late 1800s American South, it would be unlikely for a young rich plantation kid to hang out with any black kids or even poor white kids, let alone a boy hanging out with a girl. Those who judge the film by its supposed “racial class system” also ignore the fact that Johnny’s friend Ginny is part of a poor white family.

Walt was breaking social barriers in his adaptation of Song of the South. But no one at Disney or its “progressive” supporters online will ever understand any of this because they either haven’t watched the film or, if they have, they ignore the real story and instead run with a narrative to cancel for the sake of their message and ideologies. It is, in many ways, artistic vandalism, and that’s exactly what has happened to Splash Mountain, the song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,” and the Song of the South film references at their Disney parks.

***

Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here, including a fitted hat and a SpaceCon t-shirt featuring Idot! (Who is Idot?)