While I understand the need to be sensitive when it comes to Song of the South, I still believe that it could make a quality title for the Walt Disney Treasures line.  Make one disc devoted to the movie (including contextualizing the film, and have a non-skippable introduction where it is stated that the film contains material which may be seen as offensive/racist by today's standards, and how Disney isn't presenting it to endorse racist sentiments, but instead to make available a piece of film history), and then another disc devoted to Disney's history with race; show clips, warts and all, and then show how Disney has progressed as the times have changed.  It would be a bit different from normal WDT titles, but it could be highly effective.

As long as it is clearly marketed to collectors and film fans, it could theoretically work.

SotS by itself would be an issue of discussion (ie. "Private purchase vs. public viewing", etc., yada^3)--
SotS *TOGETHER* with the much-delayed True-Life Adventures, however--which still hasn't found its way onto the last three Treasures DVD announcements--sounds suspiciously like someone in the boardrooms is Testing the Market for troubled goods--
And hoping to keep it under the radar so that A) they can make a big show of washing their hands clean of how they put it out there and "didn't bury it", but B) keeping their fingers crossed that any low numbers "prove" we must not have wanted them comercially released after all, so, well, shucks, there ya go...

And if they *are* testing the market...well, whaddya say we let them in for a big surprise?  >:)
(And we don't have to pretend their WHOLE we-own-it independent non-iTunes site is a hit, just our one specific target...They'll probably get the iTunes idea anyway .)

I agree with what Anonymouse and DerekJ said.  I think that more people would be willing to buy these shows and films on DVD instead of watching them on the computer and paying each time.  I can't see myself doing that.  I'd love to see the "True Life Adventures", but I'll hold out.  And I'll continue watching my not-so-good bootleg DVD of SOTS.
As far as Giselle becoming a member of the Princess Collection...the majority of "Enchanted" will be live action.  They include Tinker Bell, Mulan, and sometimes Esmeralda, who are not princesses, but leave out Tiger Lily and Eilonwy...I could see Giselle being added if she was all animated, but, to me, it'd be confusing as to what kind of princess belongs in the Princess Collection.  I'm worrying way to much about this, though!

Seems to me that if they WERE to release SOTS on DVD, they would (1) do it at a very busy news time (a Presidential election maybe) so the inevitable protesters would get less coverage, and (2) deny the release until the absolute last minute.  

I don't buy the argument that it would be a poor seller.  I doubt it would do as well as a new major release, but there sure are a lot of baby boomers who would love to see it again, and wouldn't have a clue how to go about finding a bootleg copy.  It'd surely outsell "Spin and Marty."

If, in 2011, I have a way to get these programs into my widescreen TV with at least DVD quality, then sign me up.  Otherwise, forget about it.

Oh, and great to hear about Andreas Deja!  Good start to my morning.

I have a bootlegged copy of SOTS and I can tell you, that the film is absolutely harmless.  There is no racism in the movie at all.  If anything, the live action sequences are boring but the animated sequences are an absolute joy to watch.  If they were to release it on DVD with a film historian explaining context, then it would have no problem being released I'm sure.

Dittos to NubtheSquirrel. Song of the South is not racist. It takes place AFTER slavery, which is a common misconception about the film. Uncle Remus is free to come and go as he pleases. The only villains are white. You've got black kids and white kids playing together (the horror!). Little Johnny looks up to Uncle Remus and learns from him, and Uncle Remus struggles with feeling useful in his older years (no "Magic Negro"  [Spike Lee's term] a la The Family Man and Legend of Baggar Vance). Compare that with Soul Plane, Bringing Down the House, or Get Rich or Die Tryin'. If Disney doesn't want to release the film on DVD, why not at least use the Brer Rabbit characters in a series of D2V movies? They certainly lend themselves to that as much as Pooh does, and far more so than Bambi, Cinderella, and Hunchback.

As for Gnomeo and Juliet, while I'm happy that Elton John and Tim Rice got their project resurrected, I still fear that it has "fiasco" written all over it. Even more so now that it's going to be "hipper and edgier." Haven't they yet figured out that those two words are the death knell for an animated film? There hasn't been a single animated film aimed solely at teens and parents that has succeeded. You have to shoot for the kids first, and then the parents. Teens come last. I read an interview not long ago (wish I could remember who it was) where the person said that the target audience for an animated film is 8-year-olds. You can sneak in a few things for the parents (depth and originality usually help), but the target is still 8-year-olds. Lasseter and Catmull were right, and they've got the track record to prove it.

I'm fortunate enough to have access to a international vcr, which can make copies into our format, NTSC. I purchased a SOTS VHS in the PAL format from ebayUK and made the copy and it works great. There are places that will make copies from PAL to NTSC. Privately owned video stores, sometimes, if you can find them, have a service for a small fee. There's a photo store in my town with a sign in the window that they can send the tapes out for you for a small fee.
This is a legal process. You are allowed to make one copy of a tape for personal use and keep your original as an "archive tape" This is especially true with foreign format tapes.
So, it's not that common, but if you can get your hands on an international deck, get your hands on the VHS released in the UK and make yourself a legal copy. It's not a digital source, but it beats a bad bootleg.
I also agree, that this movie would have no problem being released, especially for it's historical significance. There's a boatload of films from that era and other eras which are worse. Hell, I have a copy of Blacula. Talk about racial stereotypes. They celebrate blacksploitation (spelled right?) as a film genre. Uncle Remus is quite tame compared to anything released during that 70's period.

I was lucky enough to see SOTS a few years ago, and I honestly feel that the whole thing is much ado about nothing - both in regards to Disney's walking on eggshells about releasing it and the fans' clamoring for it to be released.

Don't get me wrong - I think Disney should release it and I think the furor over the alleged racism in the movie is overblown, but it's not all that great a movie. So much of the appeal of this movie to fans is the "forbidden fruit" aspect of it - people continue to clamor for it primarly because Disney says they can't have it. When it finally does get released, I suspect that the great uproar that Disney's expecting won't materialize or will be a lot smaller that they think it's going to be; I also suspect that a lot of people are going to buy the movie, watch it once, say "I waited all this time for THAT?" and stick it back on the shelf, never to be played again.

Now, as to this idea of the allowing people to view Vault stuff through an encrypted website: Chuck the whole idea and offer the programs through iTunes, guys. I know I'm not going to pay over and over again for the priviege of seeing a particular episode of "Wonderful World of Disney" that I really like - I might do it once if the price was right, but that'd be about it.

Also, Disney can encrypt the heck out of the content, but it's almost a given that within a relatively short time someone will break the encryption and either sell bootleg copies or distribute the content via the Internet. Why not just sell the thing outright on DVD, or via iTunes, or even work on a DVD burner system like the Wonderland Music kiosks at DL and WDW?   There'd probably be a lot more people willing to buy a copy that they can keep than people who are going to pay again and again for the privilege of watching the same show.

If they must do the whole encrypted video site thing, then what I assume they would do is something like a subscription, where you pay 30 or so dollers a month and get access to the whole vault.

Maybe the trick would be to release it back-to back with something less controvercial, in addition to including the disclaimer and a bit of historical info about the black community in context to soothe any offence which could be taken. It would certainly provide a good opportunity to educate children about certain issues, and all the while provide an chance for those of us who enjoy aspects of the film to have it in our libraries.

Personally, I do not feel it is a racist film. It reflects racist attitudes which were held in the time when it was made, but this is to be expected. It may actually have held some very progressive and valuable undertones, but Disney never seems to get credit for the positives. I guess that's the balance and nature of having such colossal success.

Chrlane, you are correct. Song of the South was actually WAY ahead of its time in its depiction of race and should be lauded, not hidden in a vault. SotS broke a lot of ground that wouldn't be equalled for many decades to come.

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pschnebs said:
Don't get me wrong - I think Disney should release it and I think the furor over the alleged racism in the movie is overblown, but it's not all that great a movie. So much of the appeal of this movie to fans is the "forbidden fruit" aspect of it - people continue to clamor for it primarly because Disney says they can't have it. When it finally does get released, I suspect that the great uproar that Disney's expecting won't materialize or will be a lot smaller that they think it's going to be; I also suspect that a lot of people are going to buy the movie, watch it once, say "I waited all this time for THAT?" and stick it back on the shelf, never to be played again.
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As another loyal bootleg owner, I'm in partial agreement--Yes, it *is* "just about the kid":
It came out of the "anthology" days of Mr. Toad and Make Mine Music, and is essentially one hour of Disneyland period-set filler for twenty reasonably clever (if Alice-era slapsticky) minutes of cute cartoon.  But it's *good* cartoon, the live-action stuff's harmless, Baskett and McDaniel are watchable in anything, and hey, some people are Splash Mountain fans.

And the only reason I mention this is, lest anyone complain about Bob Iger's Decision From On High, the only backup strategy BVHE is currently employing for not opening discussion on a release is to have a few of their inside executives waving off fan-overmytholigization with "Oh, it's overrated, really..."
And as one who remembers seeing them employ the EXACT SAME strategy in trying to sweep "Princess Mononoke" under the carpet back in '99--1) Ban, 2) Discredit, 3) Bow to niche-audience pressure and grudgingly micro-release under the radar in places the FBI couldn't find, and 4) "Well, numbers don't lie..."--some of us won't fall for the same trick twice:  
WE'LL be the judge of what we think or don't think is "too boring" for our own good, thank you, and then only *after* we have it available for purchase or rental.  Fool us once, shame on you...

hi,
I agree with lots of the above commentary r.e. . It's certainly not a great movie, but its animated sequences are delightful and it is certainly no more "rascist" than other films of the period: i.e. Gone with the Wind. It just reflects the time in which it was made. But I also agree that a general release is a mistake. I have always thought that it would make a wonderful Disney Treasures box, coupled with a few other less sensitive images of race from the period (i'm thinking poor little Sunflower the centaurette cut from Fantasia) as a nice historical companion piece to the WWII box. Disney is being hyper-sensitive on this one, if they can release COMMANDO DUCK with its wartime depictions of the Japanese, they certainly can release SONG OF THE SOUTH!

hi,
I agree with lots of the above commentary r.e. . It's certainly not a great movie, but its animated sequences are delightful and it is certainly no more "rascist" than other films of the period: i.e. Gone with the Wind. It just reflects the time in which it was made. But I also agree that a general release is a mistake. I have always thought that it would make a wonderful Disney Treasures box, coupled with a few other less sensitive images of race from the period (i'm thinking poor little Sunflower the centaurette cut from Fantasia) as a nice historical companion piece to the WWII box. Disney is being hyper-sensitive on this one, if they can release COMMANDO DUCK with its wartime depictions of the Japanese, they certainly can release SONG OF THE SOUTH!

With all sue respect, I am not sure racism is a huge issue with the Disney company, and I feel it is being used as a red herring to divert our attentions from certain pressing social matters.

Judging from some experiences and some things I have read, and some troubling occurances I have witnessed, I think SEXISM is a major issue in animation today. In this day and age, there is NO excuse for it either. I am a strong advocate of traditional female roles in society, but I also think that ALL women have to be properly represented in industry-- and that we should have that choice-- particularly in the "Hollywood" entertainment industry, where there is such sweeping influence on global culture. If certain men feel we are too "distracting" to be in the work force, then maybe they need to look at their own behavior instead of scapegoating and victimizing women for their own shortcomings and spreading intollerance in an effort to conceal their shame and frustration. All these men are doing is perpetuating the issues which led them to resent women in the first place, and standing in the way of progress. Please see my blog for further thoughts on this and other gender and political issues in animation: http://leftlaneblog.blogspot.com/

BTW, that should read, "due", not, "sue", although the thought has crossed my mind more than once. It would be considerate, Jim & Co., if you would endeavor to include a spellcheck or editing option here for your users.

As for the emails I recieved telling me I am "digging myself a hole", well I am not digging myself a hole, that hole was dug well before I arrived on the scene, and I am not the one with the dirty hands!

SOTS- I remember it from a theatrical release when I was a kid- in the seventies, I think.  Harmless.  Not the greatest movie ever made, but entertaining.

Gnomeo- this stinks from space.  And the anti- Lassetter twist gives this story that extra "Jim Hill "punch we've all come to expect here.

Didn't I hear that a 2-disc Region 1 version of SOTS was being released in Canada?  Can't we just buy it that way?  I never did get confirmation on that one, though.  Anyone know anything?