When I was very young, around five, I enjoyed the Disney movie Song of the South. I remember little of it except that it had great cartoons separated by interminable stretches of talky live action. Oh, and the song "Zippity Doo Dah."
And then one day, quietly, Song of the South was gone. Banned. Pulled from the public by its own studio. It is racist, they said. Offensive. It will never be reissued.
Brer Bear? Racist? I really couldn't see how, but my memories were murky at best. Was this just political correctness run amok? Decades passed, and then one day while certainly not looking at downloadable movies I saw it: the Song of the South torrent. Click. Gimme. I want to know.
I waited until Madam and Eve weren't around—just in case this thing really was Birth of a Nation—and I watched it the other night. Well, I watched part of it.
Ho-ly shit. My parents had me watch this?! It's a minstrel show. All that's missing is the blackface. It was like the old Amos 'n' Andy shows. In fact, per IMDB, some of the actors came from Amos 'n' Andy. I watched it with jaw fully agape, wondering what on earth my mother was thinking.
And then a familiar feeling set in: stupifying boredom. My god, those live action scenes. Oy. How can something this offensive be so dull?