Entertainment Weekly's 25 Most Controversial Films - Page 2

You have to keep in mind that these EW lists will always try to have it both ways. Half the picks make sense to people that actually watch movies, and then they throw a couple bones to people who don't. "Premiere" does a better job.

Compared to Sunflower and those godless heathens Peter Pan fought, maybe Song's stereotypes aren't that bad. I've never actually seen it myself. Nevertheless, I'm still pretty sure the suits determined that any profit made from Song would be far outweighed by the inevitable backlash.

I've remember having a "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" storybook from my childhood that had a read-along cassette. I'd give my left nut to find that, but I know it's history by now.

Weird, I remember seeing Song of the South a bunch of times on Italian TV. Why do they allow it to be broadcast, but not released on DVD?

The problem with Song (for those curious, it's not hard to track down a bootleg of the Japanese laserdisc) isn't horrible racial caricatures, because in that aspect it's pretty benign. The controversy came from the fact that the film depicts the life of a slave as this happy, summer camp lifestyle. Uncle Remus spends most of his time relaxing in nature, singing songs and spinning yarns for the white kids.

Anyway, it'd be easy enough for Disney to release the film as part of their prestige "Treasures" line and preface it with a few features talking about racism or stereotypes. Not profitable to release the film? Are you kidding me? Among Disney nerds, this sucker is the Holy Grail. They'd make a mint.

They're probably just waiting for Maya Angelou to die first.

I'm sure it would turn a profit. But Disney has spent decades branding itself as being synonomous with kids' entertainment. How many clueless mothers and aunts and grandparents are going to buy this for children? How many will be outraged? How many organized minority groups (ones that people actually take seriously) will yell on Oprah about it? The PR damage is too great. Diseny has cultivated a dim and docile audience base. No way are they fucking with that.
Some anecdotal evidence- Years ago i worked for Suncoast when Disney released Fantasia on VHS. I got plenty of returns from parents who felt cheated because it wasn't exactly a kids' movie.

I honestly don't think there'd be much of a backlash. Sure, you'd get some overenthusiastic groups going nuts, and some crazy parents, but you get that with Grand Theft Auto. I think in the mainstay, it'd sell well.

Slavery is taught in school as much or more than the Civil War. I don't think "Song of the South" is poised to rewrite the historical record in regards to the day to day life of a slave. Releasing it, by default, draws attention to the fact that they've kept it locked up or decades out of respect. I think the statute of limitations on this "controversy" is about up, especially with all the other examples we've posted of far more overtly offensive stuff you can buy pretty much anywhere.

That's a complete misrepresentation, Stew. The Civil War is covered for months on end, and slavery is usually discussed as a subset of it. Even when it is talked about, it's more often than not referred to as a political point, rather than actually getting into a day-in-the-life type of study. It's more about Northerners not wanting it and Southerners wanting it than it is about what the experience was actually like for slaves.

There's nothing truly controversial about Song of the South. I've owned a bootleg copy for years now (given to me, free of charge, by a total stranger, just in case Disney's trolling about) and it's biggest crime is in how utterly boring it is between animated segments.

While Remus' life is portrayed in an inarguably "whitewashed" manner, the film doesn't in any way imply that this is the sort of life enjoyed by every slave. Nor does it imply that slavery is good. It's no more offensive than gone With the Wind, or dozens of other "classic" films with dated or inaccurate historical representations.

If Disney were smart, they'd start production on new Brer Rabbit cartoons. Begin by remaking the original shorts, as shorts, as part of John Lasseter's desire to bring the animated short back to theaters. Leave Uncle Remus and de lil' chilluns out completely, and start rebuilding the Brer mythology among the sorts of people who'd care enough to write negatively about such a project as a lighthearted exploration of how slaves in the real south resisted cruel and unkind masters.

Because the Uncle Remus stories, at day's end, are actually very cool, sometimes sad, inspirational things. They come from the lives of blacks who experienced slavery firsthand. Even if Harris (Uncle Remus' compiler) was racist, the stories are not. They should be celebrated as a positive part of black heritage.

Here's a little bit on the stories. It's Wiki, so it's up for debate as always, but the essential facts are right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus

Maybe a misrepresentation for your schooling, not for mine. Be it slave masters, whips, rapes, the breaking up of families, or the terrible living conditions, we were taught all of it.

As were we.

While the whole political angle was definately taught, we learned a lot about slavery's day-to-day. I still remember the first time my teacher showed me the whipping scene from Roots. It seared itself on my brain.

Disney banks a lot on its squeaky clean image, and apparently a lot of its old cartoons had pretty blatant ethnic stereotypes in them that were later removed. I guess Song of the South was considered unsalvageable. I don't blame them. They're in the business of making children's entertainment, not providing historical time capsules of America's ugly past.

I just took the rugrat to Disney World, and picked up a copy of Dumbo. Obvious 1941 black stereotype speech/caricatures of the black crows remains intact.


As for this list, obvious EW readership bias, but they at least included "Cannibal Holocaust" (but forget "Men Behind the Sun") as you would think actual "Animal Snuff" content to be more controversial than Aladdin. I'll second "Salo", and toss in "Pink Flamingos" to the list of far more controversial.

I still have my storybook and LP (along with a bunch of other Disney stories/movies). I saw it selling for $75 or so at a flea market a year or so ago.

I've been wanting to see 120 Days in Sodom, but it's somewhat difficult to locate.

Can't argue much with that list, but I have to think Battle Royale deserves a place on any shocking movie list.

Wow Thanks for that You tube. Last time I saw this was when I was 10.

I disagree with the people that say Song of the South wasn't all that bad. It was and that's why we love it; its the piss stain on Mickey's pants; Disney's embarrassing not-so-secret (among others). It's my little revenge every time Eisner ghettoed a Miyazaki film; I let others know about SOS.

Did anyone mention the fact that The Wild Bunch has not made the list.

For the love of god, it was given a X rating when first released and then it is 25th aniversery (or something like that) rerelease was also given the X (may of been NC17) rating again.