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Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library...except for Song of the South, the 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation, which was theatrically re-released as recently as 1986, served as the basis for the ride Splash Mountain, but has never been available in the US on home video. What is Song of the South, why did Disney make it, and why have they held the actual film from release, while finding other ways to profit off of it? Across six episodes of our new season, we’ll dig into all facets of Song of the South’s strange story. Join us, won’t you?
SHOW NOTES:
Sources for the whole season:
Birth of an Industry by Nicholas Sammond
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
White Screens/Black Images by James Snead
Slow Fade to Black by Thomas Cripps
Making Movies Black by Thomas Cripps
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood by Donald Bogle
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films by Donald Bogle
Joel Chandler Harris: A Biography and Critical Study by Bruce R. Bickley Jr.
Sources specific to this episode:
Who’s Afraid of the Song of the South by Jim Korkis
Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays by Johnson Cheu
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca. The outro song this week is “Controversy” by Prince.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Laurent Edmond Gaston Bacri & Jean-Louis Négro - Snow White & The Dwarves
Laurent Edmond Gaston Bacri & Jean-Louis Négro - Tic Tock Clock
Johnny Pearson - Disney Land
Frank Bernard Woodbridge - Creepy Corner Ghost
Jahzzar - Railroad's Whiskey Co
Paul Martin Pritchard - Wandering Nights
Daniel Horacio Diaz - Fancy Footwalk
John Greaves - Serie Noir
Gooding, Charlie H. Bisharat & Jennifer Anne Wood - The Late War
Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Ghost Town
Joel Vandroogenbroeck - Chain Production
Marc-Olivier Nicolas Dupin - Lola Lola
Alexandre Stephane Rusian Toukaeff, Baptiste Vayer - Serene Pastoral Folk Blues
Daryl Neil Alexander Griffith - Freestylin'
Daniel Horacio Diaz - The Setup
Prince - Controversy
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated and produced by Karina Longworth.
Editor: Jared O'Connell.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
