Why won't Disney release Song of the South on DVD? And why is it never aired on television?

Question

I've never seen it but I'm a pretty big Disney fan. Will I ever get to own a copy of this film?

Answer 1

March 11, 2006

Disney CEO Robert Iger: No Song of the South Yet

During the question and answer session at Disney's 2006 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Anaheim, CA, the question was raised by a Disney shareholder why Song of the South has not been released. Here is a transcript:

"My name is Howard Cromer. I live in Cypress, I'm a Disney shareholder. I'm actually delivering a message from my son, 10. He wants to know in recent years, in the midst of all your re-releases of your videos, why you haven't released Song of the South on your Disney Classics?" [Applause] "And, he wonders why. Frank Wells told me many years ago that it would be coming out. Well obviously Frank Wells isn't around anymore, so we still wonder why. And by the way, Mr. Iger, he thinks it was a very good choice when they made you CEO of Disney." [Applause]


Iger: "Thank you very much. You may change your mind when I answer your question, though. Um... we've discussed this a lot. We believe it's actually an opportunity from a financial perspective to put Song of the South out. I screened it fairly recently because I hadn't seen it since I was a child, and I have to tell you after I watched it, even considering the context that it was made, I had some concerns about it because of what it depicted. And thought it's quite possible that people wouldn't consider it in the context that it was made, and there were some... [long pause] depictions that I mentioned earlier in the film that I think would be bothersome to a lot of people. And so, owing to the sensitivity that exists in our culture, balancing it with the desire to, uh, maybe increase our earnings a bit, but never putting that in front of what we thought were our ethics and our integrity, we made the decision not to re-release it. Not a decision that is made forever, I imagine this is gonna continue to come up, but for now we simply don't have plans to bring it back because of the sensitivities that I mentioned. Sorry."

Answer 2

It's another example of the PC police taking history (be it actual, or hollywood's version of it.) and education/discussion as a choice, out of the hands of parents. Just like Warner Brothers and Disney have blocked re-release of numerous wartime cartoons.

I must say, I have found it odd that they would block the re-release of "Song of the South" and yet, build Splash Mountain within it's theme parks based around the B'rer characters from that film.

That ride, after all, makes children ask about that film more and more don't you think?

Answer 3

It is considered by some to be racist. It was released on video in the 80's before the PC patrol stepped in in the 90's. There have been copies made in Europe, I think. I remember last year, someone at a flea market was selling them for a hefty price. Everybody wanted a copy.

Answer 4

It is on the net and can bee downloaded free. I have it and that is how it got it. I put it on disc. The quality is not the best gut okay. If you have any of the P2P programs you can find

Answer 5

You know why.... don't play dumb...ok, if you really want it, you can buy it on eBay but it will come from a foreign country (obviously). I'm not even going to address why it won't be sold here, but I did direct you to where you can purchase.

Answer 6

Strange, I've never even heard aboout it. I don't have an idea what your talking about.

Answer 7

zip a dee doo dah, because it is racist against African-Americans..zip a dee day.

Answer 8

It is considered racist by todays standards.