Credit: DisneyWhile The Walt Disney Company would like you to forget that Song of the South (1946) ever existed, it keeps returning to the spotlight. This time, the Disney film is the subject of a new play that depicts some of the origins of stories in a less-than-flattering light.
Song of the South is widely considered to be Disney’s most racist film, mainly due to its portrayal of Uncle Remus, a kindly African American in the post-Civil War South. The film was one of the few that is not available on Disney’s streaming services or for purchase on DVD or digital.
Despite its racist nature, or perhaps because of it, Song of the South has developed a cult-like following. That is mostly due to its connection to Splash Mountain, whose fans have never given up hope that their beloved ride will return.
California Playwright Ishmael Reed is now tackling the origin story of Song of the South and how those to whom these stories belonged were never compensated for what he believes are their tales. Reed’s newest play, “The Amanuensis,” looks at author Joel Chandler Harris, who was credited as the creator of the Uncle Remus stories, which inspired Song of the South, as he takes the stories directly from enslaved people and takes credit for them.
In real life, Disney paid Harris’ family $10,000 for the rights to the Uncle Remus stories. In the play, the characters of Br’er Rabbit and Sister Fox help the original storytellers seek financial and moral retribution for their stories. In the years since its release, Disney has made $82 million on the film.
Despite his attempted takedown of Disney and Song of the South in his latest play, Reed, 87, admits that he liked the play when he was a boy. He told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I wasn’t sophisticated enough to detect its demeaning of Black Americans. This is the power of film.”
Reed attempts to give the original storytellers their due and shine a light on the prejudices of the film and the stories behind it, rehashing some of the old controversies behind the film and Disney’s role in promoting them. However, Reed sees this as a continuation of issues that have been happening for centuries and continue to this day. He told the Chronicle, “The use of Black characters by white script writers to mouth their prejudices about Blacks continues to this day.”
These controversies would also help to explain why Disney has desperately tried to distance itself from the film and rides based on it in recent years.
“The Amanuensis” is playing at Theater 33 in San Francisco.