Song Of The South Analysis

During Reconstruction, the time period after the Civil War in between the years 1865 – 1877, the South changed from enforcing slavery to abolishing slavery. The document to be analyzed consists of the accounts of a man named Abram Colby, and how he lived in this time period. Throughout Reconstruction, treatment of black Southerners improved as they gained political power and new laws were created in their favor. This caused white Southerners to react violently, whereas black Southerners reacted defiantly, emphasizing their demand for equality and freedom.

Not only is music a great form of entertainment, but it also can portray a meaningful message. In the song, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”, the artist Buffy-Sainte Marie does just that. After further analysis, one can understand what the song is about and its significance. This, among with many other aspects of the song, can help one truly comprehend what she is attempting to get across to the audience.

The novel, The South vs The South was written by William Freehling. Freehling's book argues that one of the key reasons for the defeat of the American South was that it was internally divided amongst itself. It could not raise the support needed to fight off the stronger North. In this paper I will answer question 3 in the topics given and discuss how reading this book changed my views on how the civil war was fought and won.

Ballad of Birmingham, written by the poet Dudley Randall relives a tragic moment in time in which four little girls died when a church was purposefully exploded. This poem is based on the incident that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. This poem vividly shows the perspective of a mother losing her child. Most of the poem includes a mother daughter discussion regarding the participation of the freedom march. The mother explains to her daughter that it is far too dangerous for her to be participate, therefore she sends her daughter to church, where she believes that she would be safe. The mother later hears of the explosion and runs over to find out that her daughter had been killed by noticing her daughter’s shoe on the ground. In Ballad of Birmingham, Dudley Randall uses voice, imagery, and sound to show how the tragic event revolves around a theme of racism/mother’s love, which most readers can empathize to.

Song of the South is a movie based off of “Uncle Remus” a book about the stories of Br’er Rabbit. In the book, Brer Rabbit has many encounters with Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear. The stories about Brer Rabbit include The Tar Baby, Brer Rabbit Earns a dollar per minute, and Br’er Rabbit’s Laughin Place.Then in 1946 Walt Disney made a movie based on the book. The movie has many songs that have an uplifting feeling to them like Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Everyone’s got a Laughin Place, and How Do You Do. Some songs were forgotten but Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah remained a classic Disney Song. But when The movie was then re-released into theater weeks after the release because of the racist comments it made. Many people thought it was not necessary but others did

The scales of justice are rarely in balance. In “West of Memphis”, imperfection within the criminal justice system is used as a central theme. Imperfection can be defined as an unsatisfactory feature. Similarly, town fervor, which puts additional pressure on investigators to swiftly come up with answers, bible-belt politics, namely, devil worshiping, celebrity clout, which leads to freedom from prison, as result, show imperfection in the criminal justice system as a central theme.

Disney has faced a large amount of criticism from critics over the tropes and stereotypes that it portrays in its animated films. This is not a recent event however. One of Disney’s most notorious and controversial films, Song of The South, was released in 1946. Song of the South, set during the Reconstruction Era, focuses on a young boy named Johnny who learns that his parents will being living apart for an unknown amount of time, moves to a plantation in Georgia, while his father continues to live in Atlanta. Depressed and confused over the recent events Johnny decides to run away to Atlanta, but is drawn to the voices of Uncle Remus, an ex-slave living on the plantation, telling stories of Br’er Rabbit. Although it is implied that the African American workers are no longer Johnny’s family property, the black characters are still wholly subservient and are happy to be so. James Baskett plays Uncle Remus as a blissfully, happy companion ready to please. Due to this “magical negro” trope, the characters’ ridiculously stereotypical voices, and the unrealistic happy and joyful relationship between the white landowners and their black help, Song of The South, is one of Disney’s most offensive, racist, and fictitious film. Disney’s portrayal of Uncle Remus is his veiled justification of the mistreatment that minorities received before and after the Reconstruction Era.

The Beasts of the Southern Wild is a movie about a village of people cut off from an industrialized world. In the film, the village does not interact with the modernized people until they are forced to, and even then they are reluctant to do so. These actions portrayed by the people in the village can be related to a quote by Henry David Thoreau when he said, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer, let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” The villagers in fact did not pace with their human companions, as they were not part of the industrial world, instead they paced more with their companions in nature as that is where they lived. Not only did the movie show how they were cut off from the rest of civilization, it showed how even though they were in terrible situations, with terrible events happening to them such as floods, they always found a way to rise up again. These specific actions are similar to a quote given by Ralph Waldo Emerson when he said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

The year 1941 saw a landmark book published, The Mind of the South, by W. J. Cash. Cash determined to delve into the true mindset of the South. His thesis contends that the South was divided into three minds, or “frontiers:” pre-Civil War, where the white planter class dominated all aspects of society, with little regard to Native Americans, African-Americans, or women; the Reconstruction era, where African-Americans were still not really free and elite whites continued to dominate society; and the beginning of the twentieth century where the old social order of the South charged on, with Confederate soldiers and elite whites assuming the lead roles in all parts of society, thus laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights movement. This is a shocking and almost comical book for modern readers, but remains a landmark book in early-twentieth century Southern scholarship. From his first few lines, Cash assumes his readers are just like him: white, male, and above all else, Southern.

Throughout the 1800s, slavery was the largest, most widespread social and moral debate of its time. Southern slaveholders were relentless in the fight to keep their slaves to ensure that they would remain with the same freedoms and liberties that they had accustomed themselves to. Northerners and other anti-slavery activists were adamant about the abolishment of slavery, but the southerners wrung true to their beliefs and generally did not feel convicted for the way they treated their slaves. Among many arguments, the southerners prided themselves the most on the fact that God was condoning their actions to own slaves. With the blessings of their churches, southern slaveholders continued to keep their slaves in captivation because they believed that because God created slavery, then their actions were justified by the most high King.

In the very beginning of the book, we see how Uncle Tom has already proven to his master that even black people were capable of being honorable and trustworthy. Mr. Shelby even defends Uncle Tom to Haley who scoffs at the idea of a slave being capable of such traits. Mr. Shelby tells

“All Along the Watchtower” is known as a classic rock song, but was originally crafted by Bob Dylan in 1967. Artists like Pearl Jam, U2, Dave Matthews Band and Eric Clapton have all covered this song, but notably the most famous version would be Jimi Hendrix’ rendition. A year after the song’s original release, Hendrix covered the unknown Bob Dylan song and propelled its legacy. Both songs draw different artistry and interpretations, but the concept is fundamentally the same.

All people possess the ability to fly, the inability comes from living a life that weighs them down. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison exemplifies the difficult journey of discovering identity through her character Milkman Dead. The novel follows him through the series of unfortunate events that make up his life and uncovers his complex family history that leads him to understand not only his heritage, but his identity and desire to fly. Everyone craves flight, whether conscious of it or not, but most let their other desires blind them and cannot “let go of the shit that weighs them down” (Morrison 179). Revenge consumes the life of the avenger, ruining it more that they could ever ruin their victim’s life, as Song of Solomon clearly depicts through the contrast between the inability and ability to fly.

Southpaw is a beautifully illustrated film about a fighter, who once felt as if he was on top of the world. Throughout the film, the character Billy Hope is put through extreme circumstances that cause the man to go from on top, to the lowest depths in a matter of moments, or so it seems. As Hope loses his wife in a terrible stage of events, because of his career choice, and enemies; he’s left feeling alone. Due to the loss and extreme heart break he begins to make bad life altering decisions that result in his child going into foster care which only made it worse. Billy decided to get his life together and began working hard to get his daughter back although their family can never be the same. The movie itself portrays how quickly life can change for one person, but how it isn’t impossible to recover from horrific events although it is very difficult.

This gives the impression that at the time either Disney Studios could not see the racism in the film they were producing, or they simply liked it that way and did not want to change it. If the argument that racism in any Disney film is unintentional were true, then why would Disney ignore these pleas to adjust the racial representations?