Do you think this is racist?

I would like to know how people feel that video was racist.

Me too. Maybe because it has a black guy in it so it MUST be racist?

Paul Ryan is a straight white Republican. I’d say whomever posted the video was being snarky since many liberals seem to think anyone Republican in any way is a racist.

“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” is based on an old racist folk song, and the film Song of the South is generally considered to be pretty racist (which is why you can’t buy an official copy of the film anywhere in the US). Out of context, there might not seem to be anything objectionable about that specific clip. But of course, context is a key element of racism.

As a point of comparison: not every sentence in Mein Kampf is objectionable when taken on its own out of context, but don’t you think it would be weird to go around quoting it even if you limited yourself to the unobjectionable parts?

@SavoirFaire It can be bought from both Amazon and Walmart.

I remember the movie as a child. It felt very light hearted and happy. But I guess the adults were just fucking around. If you’ve never seen it as an adult, which I think most people have not, how would you know it’s racist?

Great classic film. I love it.
Sadly nowadays about anything is racist when people twist logic and facts enough.

Right. A video featuring an old black man is racist because it features an old black man.

Remember now a days we have to totally PC about everything in case we offend some sensitive little minded person .

@Dutchess_III ” It can be bought from both Amazon and Walmart.”

Not legally and in its complete form. Please post links if you think otherwise.

“A video featuring an old black man is racist because it features an old black man.”

Literally no one has said that. By your own admission, you haven’t received any explanation from the person on Facebook who objected to the video, and my response pointed out that the objection might come from the fact that the song has racist origins and that the film it comes from is generally considered racist. Interpolating to “it must be because there’s a black guy in it” is just sticking your head in the sand because you don’t actually want an answer.

here.

Yes I do want an answer! Why is that happy song racist? Most people haven’t seen the movie, or if they did, in my case, were too little to remember it, why do we need a context? Why is that song racist?

I do not know, but this certainly is

LOL!

lol

I think more than the origins of the song the old man is depicted in a stereotypical Uncle Tom characterization that is offensive. I don’t think it’s the song itself that is considered racist. Most white people would probably not have reacted to it as such at the time. I don’t remember the rest of the film clearly – or maybe never even saw it.

Well, then we need to do a remake of the song.

The movie is based on the Uncle Remus stories, and much of the dialogue is in an offensive black vernacular. It has a plantation setting which is portrayed as wonderful for all.

There was a big to-do about Song of the South years ago. It had to do with the stereotyping of blacks. I guess some people are just really sensitive or have no sense of humor.

Oh, I remember that song

I was asked not to sing Black Betty bam a lam by a family member, people are odd about race.

@Dutchess_III You can’t buy the film at that link. You can buy a movie poster related to the film. And again, no one has said that the song itself is racist (including your Facebook friend). To return to my previous comparison, imagine if someone posted the following to Facebook: “Obstacles do not exist to be surrendered to, but only to be broken.” No problem, right? There’s nothing objectionable about the quote on its own, devoid of context.

But then someone responds with, “This is a quote from Mein Kampf. Please take it down.” Surely you can understand why someone might find it objectionable to quote Mein Kampf even if there’s nothing objectionable about the quote itself, devoid of context. You wouldn’t ask Fluther “What’s wrong with this quote?” and wonder if it’s because a German guy said it. Or do you think it’s completely unproblematic to just go around quoting Hitler as if he was as good a source of wisdom as anyone?

This always blows my mind. There were really fucking hardcore limits on which black people could vote until The Voting Rights Act of 1965.My mom was 13 when that bill passed. This isn’t some Civil War racism. This is people having dogs attacking them on a bridge for wanting equal rights when my mom was a teenager. And that is fucking disgusting.

Good people on both sides… Nope. Just people that hate racists.. And racists.

I don’t see it as racist. I’m guessing the original OP felt happy Ryan was leaving and used the words “My, Oh my, what a wonderful day!” when he heard.

@SavoirFaire Here. I’ll probably actually purchase it. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it. I just have to see for myself what all the hullabaloo is about.

@Dutchess_III You may not be able to buy it. Disney got so tired of hearing the flack over that movie, they locked it up in the vaults and have never released it since.

Well, it’s in my cart, ready to go.

Cool!

And it’s ordered.
And it was free because I signed up for an Amazon card and I got a $70 gift certificate. And a $5000 line of credit. Which means they fixed the F-up they caused on my credit from last year.

OMG! That means I can order Look Out for Pirates at long last for my 6 year grand daughter who LOVES to read! But it’s $25.00!

@Dutchess_III And that’s an illegal copy, not an official Disney release. You’re just proving my point here.

And yes, I’m sure it’s an illegal copy. My wife’s grandmother was a huge Disney fanatic, and I bought her the same version when she lamented not being able to find the movie anywhere.

Well, we’ll see!

Got the movie today. I just ordered it yesterday, too! I’ll take a gander at it and let you know what I find.

@zevello, it is set on a plantation with is portrayed as wonderful for all. Well, it’s KID’S movie! Of course it’s portrayed as wonderful for all. However, it’s set during reconstruction, and at one point Uncle Remus gets so sad about something he packs up and starts heading for Atlanta. But the main boy character stops him. Many other former slaves choose to stay as well. And that’s just history.
Anyway, I got that from Wiki. We’ll take a look at the movie tonight and I’ll let you know.

It shipped from CA.

Somehow I just don’t think Amazon would allow illegal stuff to be ordered through them

I posted of my purchase on FB. At least two other people then bought the DVD too. They hadn’t even tried because they just assumed it was banned because that’s what they’d heard.

@Dutchess_lll Yes, it’s an illegal copy. Even if you aren’t willing to read the many reviews stating as much, you should be able to figure that out just from looking at the product description. It mentions features that only counterfeiters bring up, such as the quality of the cover art (because many bootleg DVDs have either no art or bad art), the presence of a menu screen with scene selection (something that is standard practice for official releases, but doesn’t always exist on bootlegs that were transferred from VHS), and the claim that this version has the best video quality “available” (in other words, it’s not as bad as other bootleg versions—or so the seller claims).

The simple fact is that Disney has never allowed the film to be released for home video in the US in any format. There are news articles, academic papers, and even books that discuss the movie and Disney’s decision hold the film back from the public (which, I should point out, is not the same as the film being “banned”). As for Amazon, it can’t monitor its third-party sellers the way it can monitor its own products, and the internet has been a hotbed of copyright infringement for as long as it has existed. So really, it shouldn’t be so surprising that you were able to find an illegal copy for purchase.

Ok. We watched it. Pretty delightful. Was it Disney’s first time combining animation with film I wonder?

If this movie was racist then so is Missisipi Burning, Driving Miss Daisy, Bringing Down the House, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone With the Wind, and many others.

It’s not PC and offends people same as Speedy Gonzalis from Bug Bunny.
Some can read a whole lot of something in Nothing if ya get what I mean.

You forgot Pepi La Phew, the steriotypical horny French guy.

That’s funny because the show dropped speedy shortly after his debut .
But kept the horny skunk for years how come??

Oh cuz he was white I suppose.

@SQUEEKY2 I would have to question your definition of “shortly”. Speedy was in cartoons from 1953 to 1968. 15 years is a long time.

Sorry @seawulf575 I didn’t research it,it just seemed to me he vanished just as quick as he appeared and I really liked that mouse.
And the French Skunk just went on and on.

You know what I think? I think folks got themselves all in a bundle because the white people were portrayed as uncaring and clueless, while the black people were portrayed as wise and understanding. I don’t think it had a thing to do with the way they spoke, which is an accurate portrayal, BTW, or anything else.
It was portrayed as “idyllic” because it was from a child’s POV, and many things seem idyllic to children.
Would you have preferred to show all the ugly instead? It that’s what you want, sit down with your 5 year old and show them Mississippi Burning.

@SavoirFaire here is a pic of the cover.
It did not come from overseas. It came from California (although it was made in Taiwan.)
It did not appear to be edited in any way. For example, it included the tar baby story, which, from my research, some people found the MOST offensive.