Scott D. Pierce: Disney+ shouldn’t stream racist ‘Song of the South.’ And it needs stronger warnings on other films. – Salt Lake Tribune

Disney is being criticized for failing to include its racist 1946 movie Song of the South on its new streaming service. Its also being criticized for deciding to include other animated films that have racist content, with a warning that is certainly insufficient.

And you thought connection errors were the biggest problem with Disney+.

Song of the South has no place on a streaming service that is aimed squarely at families, that children are accessing, that parents trust as a safe haven. (Id argue theres no such thing and parents should monitor everything their children watch, but thats a different column.)

Song of the South, a mix of live-action and animation, has given Disney heartburn for decades because lets be clear its racist. It depicts happy slaves and presents an idyllic view of the Southern plantation system. (Disney claims its set after emancipation, but thats vague in the movie.) Characters speak in racist dialects. One of the animated sequences features a tar baby. Really.

Putting it back in general circulation would normalize racism. I foolishly got into a discussion about this on social media and could hardly restrain myself when one person reeking of white privilege said, Im not sure I see the issue with it.

And objections to Song of the South did not arise out of present-day political correctness. There were protests when the film was released, and the NAACP voiced strong objections.

You could make the argument that Song of the South is no more racist than Gone with the Wind, but there is one major difference Gone With the Wind isnt animated. Children like cartoons. They watch them, even when theyre not appropriate. Like South Park and Family Guy. Theyd watch Song of the South, and, no, its not appropriate.

Some are suggesting that Song of the South could stream with a strong warning at the beginning, but thats naive. We all know warnings like that are routinely ignored.

But its historically significant, some argue. OK, fine. No one is suggesting that all copies of Song of the South should be burned. Put it in museums, next to the Confederate statues.

There are a lots of reasons to criticize Disney, but keeping a racist movie from poisoning the minds of children is not one of them.

But Disney isnt scrubbing all the racism from Disney+. You can stream Dumbo, which includes a scene with crows one named Jim that are clearly offensive stereotypes. Lady and the Tramp and The Aristocats both contain racist Asian stereotypes. Peter Pan includes racist Native American stereotypes and the song What Made the Red Man Red.

(Full disclosure: I let my children who are now 28, 28 and 32 watch all those movies when they were young. Looking back, I wish Id been more aware. I wouldnt have forbidden them from watching, but I would have talked to them about what they were seeing. The same way we talked about the use of the term colored after we saw Remember the Titans a Disney-produced movie set in 1971 Virginia when they were kids.)

On Disney+, Dumbo and those other movies are preceded by this warning: This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions. Again, while I question whether warnings have much effect, its hard to imagine that mild warning is going to make viewers pause at all.

I dont have all the answers. In a perfect world, all parents would talk to their children about racism. Clearly, we dont live in anything approaching a perfect world.

But if Disney is going to stream these movies and provide a warning, it ought to do something more in line with what Warner Bros. added to some of its cartoons when they were released on DVD. A warning that they are products of their time and may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society.

Id take out the word may. They were undeniably racist. These depictions were wrong then and theyre wrong today, WBs warning continued.

Exactly. And Disneys warning ought to be that strong, if not stronger.

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Scott D. Pierce: Disney+ shouldn't stream racist 'Song of the South.' And it needs stronger warnings on other films. - Salt Lake Tribune