Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

"The first books I ever read were the Uncle Remus stories. Ever since then, these stories have been my special favorites. I've just been waiting until I could develop the proper medium to bring them to the screen."
– Walt Disney, 1946

What Mr. Disney is talking about is Song of the South. It's the movie that Splash Mountain is based on and is currently not released. It's in the depths of the Disney vault and may never see the light of day due to it's "racist" images. The Disney company is scared shitless of releasing this because some people may get offended again. When it was released in 1946 it made 3.3 million at the box office. Despite that, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) weren't digging the supposed "impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship" (even though the film was set after the American Civil War).

It was Walt Disney's first live action film and hasn't been released in the States since 1986. It has, however, been re-released in many European, Asian, and Latin American countries since. Because America is waaaay too uptight for that shizz. There's constantly rumors that the Disney folks will soon release it to DVD here. I really hope so. America needs to chill the fuck out.

Luckily for Dustin and I, we got to watch the entire film yesterday! Dustin came home and took a clearly bootleg DVD of Song of the South out of his pocket and I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Someone he works with is apparently a Disney nut as well and had purchased it off of ebay for $32 and let us borrow it! It was a copy of a European release but was pretty well done. The picture wasn't too bad at all.Let me tell you guys...I found absolutely nothing offensive about it. It was totally sweet and innocent and cute and wonderful. We love love loved it! I wish I had my own copy because I would love for my own kids to see it one day. It made Dustin really wanna ride Splash Mountain again.

That's another thing. How can they have that really popular ride in the parks but not have the movie out?? Most people don't even know that it came from a movie that's practically banned! Lame. What we did find shockingly racist though, was the banned cartoon on the DVD that was actually a Merrie Melodies short. Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs. You can only imagine...
If you're interested you can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAO3Hxyq-uk and actually watch this hilarity.