Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse , that features animals , legendary creatures , plants , inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying .
106-538: A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind. Conversely, an animal tale specifically includes talking animals as characters. Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament , " μῦθος " (" mythos ") was rendered by
212-490: A Disney Legend , Whoopi Goldberg expressed a desire for Song of the South to be re-released publicly to American audiences and stated, "I'm trying to find a way to get people to start having conversations about bringing Song of the South back, so we can talk about what it was and where it came from and why it came out". Song of the South has never been available on Disney's streaming service, Disney+ , which launched in
318-487: A Sunday comic strip titled Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit to give the film pre-release publicity. The strip was launched by King Features on October 14, 1945, more than a year before the film was released. The previous comic strip adaptations of Disney films lasted for four or five months, but the Uncle Remus strip continued for almost thirty years, telling new stories of Br'er Rabbit and friends, until
424-400: A union strike in 1941, Disney sought to produce live-action films to generate additional revenue. While Disney's contract with RKO was for animated films, films that mixed live-action with animation fell under the contract, allowing the studio to lower production costs on Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros . Additionally, Disney owned the rights to several properties purchased after
530-413: A Br'er Rabbit tale, and the boy miraculously survives. Later, a fully recovered Johnny sings with Ginny and Toby while Johnny's returned puppy runs alongside them. Nearby, Uncle Remus is shocked when Br'er Rabbit and several of the other characters from his stories appear in front of them and interact with the children. Uncle Remus rushes to join the group, and, together, they all walk into the sunset. In
636-487: A Southern dialect based on the original Joel Chandler Harris stories. In 1986, Floyd Norman wrote A Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Christmas! featuring Uncle Remus and Br'er Rabbit as that year's annual Disney Christmas Story newspaper comic strip. When the Christmas Story strips were reprinted in the 2017 collection Disney's Christmas Classics , this story was omitted—the only deletion in an otherwise complete run of
742-612: A bad decision and then suffers the unintended consequences . Although the meaning of a parable is often not explicitly stated, it is not intended to be hidden or secret but to be quite straightforward and obvious. The defining characteristic of the parable is the presence of a subtext suggesting how a person should behave or what he should believe. Aside from providing guidance and suggestions for proper conduct in one's life, parables frequently use metaphorical language which allows people to more easily discuss difficult or complex ideas. Parables express an abstract argument by means of using
848-487: A book. Fables had a further long tradition through the Middle Ages and became part of European high literature. Fables had a further long tradition through the Middle Ages and became part of European high literature. The Roman writer Avianus (active around 400 AD) wrote Latin fables mostly based on Babrius , using very little material from Aesop. Fables attributed to Aesop circulated widely in collections bearing
954-452: A concrete narrative which is easily understood. The allegory is a more general narrative type; it also employs metaphor . An allegory may have multiple noncontradictory interpretations and may also have implications that are ambiguous or hard to interpret. As H.W. Fowler put it, the object of both parable and allegory "is to enlighten the hearer by submitting to him a case in which he has apparently no direct concern, and upon which therefore
1060-656: A disclaimer and fearing backlash and accusations of racism. At Eisner's request, Uncle Remus was not featured in the Splash Mountain attraction, instead being replaced as the narrator by Br'er Frog in the Tokyo Disneyland and Magic Kingdom versions of the ride. In March 2010, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that there were no plans to release the film on DVD, calling the film "antiquated" and "fairly offensive". In November 2010, Disney creative director Dave Bossert stated in an interview, "I can say there's been
1166-693: A disinterested judgment may be elicited from him, ..." The parable is more condensed than the allegory: it rests upon a single principle and a single moral, and it is intended that the reader or listener shall conclude that the moral applies equally well to his own concerns. Medieval interpreters of the Bible often treated Jesus ' parables as allegories, with symbolic correspondences found for every element in his parables. But modern scholars, beginning with Adolf Jülicher , regard their interpretations as incorrect. Jülicher viewed some of Jesus' parables as similitudes (extended similes or metaphors) with three parts:
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#17327646575341272-414: A ghost to scare Br'er Bear. In another treatment, Uncle Remus gathers the critters together for a prayer meeting and to encourage them to build a church that would bring peace between predators and prey. Also proposed was a storyline in which Br'er Rabbit's addiction to gambling would be at the root of the troubles that led to the film's adventures. Disney first began to negotiate with Harris's family for
1378-411: A lot of internal discussion about Song of the South . And at some point we're going to do something about it. I don't know when, but we will. We know we want people to see Song of the South because we realize it's a big piece of company history, and we want to do it the right way." Film critic Roger Ebert , who normally disdained any attempt to keep films from any audience, supported the non-release of
1484-471: A parable is a metaphor that has been extended to form a brief, coherent narrative. A parable also resembles a simile, i.e., a metaphorical construction in which something is said to be "like" something else (e.g., "The just man is like a tree planted by streams of water"). However, unlike the meaning of a simile, a parable's meaning is implicit (although not secret). Song of the South Song of
1590-430: A particular moral. In some stories the gods have animal aspects, while in others the characters are archetypal talking animals similar to those found in other cultures. Hundreds of fables were composed in ancient India during the first millennium BCE , often as stories within frame stories . Indian fables have a mixed cast of humans and animals. The dialogues are often longer than in fables of Aesop and often comical as
1696-475: A picture part ( Bildhälfte ), a reality part ( Sachhälfte ), and a tertium comparationis . Jülicher held that Jesus' parables are intended to make a single important point. Gnostics suggested that Jesus kept some of his teachings secret within the circle of his disciples and that he deliberately obscured their meaning by using parables. For example, in Mark 4:11–12 : And he said to them, "To you has been given
1802-515: A piece of propaganda for white supremacy as Hollywood ever produced." Herman Hill in The Pittsburgh Courier felt that Song of the South would "prove of inestimable goodwill in the furthering of interracial relations", and considered criticisms of the film to be "unadulterated hogwash symptomatic of the unfortunate racial neurosis that seems to be gripping so many of our humorless brethren these days." Charles Solomon, reviewing
1908-516: A pleasant relief from the general run of pictures nowadays." Dorothy Masters of the New York Daily News wrote: "Although plot is practically ignored, Disney has worked a lot of magic with brilliant animation, effective and wonderful music, besides having made the very best possible choice for Uncle Remus. James Baskett, who portrays the sagacious dean of plantation workers, has both the benign appearance and mellifluous voice to make him
2014-583: A question from his listeners or an argument between two opposing views. To the educated Greco-Roman audience, Jesus’ use of parables was reminiscent of many famous oratory styles like the Socratic method . As a literary work, the Gospel authorship depict the various groups that question Jesus about his teachings, to the role an interlocutor has in the Socratic Dialogues of Plato . Similarly,
2120-489: A result of the film's controversial legacy, Disney has not released Song of the South on any home video format in the United States, and the film has never been available on its streaming platform Disney+ . Some of the musical and animated sequences have been released through other means, and the full film has seen home video distribution in other countries. The cartoon characters from the film continued to appear in
2226-501: A rich story-telling tradition. As they have for thousands of years, people of all ages in Africa continue to interact with nature, including plants, animals and earthly structures such as rivers, plains, and mountains. Children and, to some extent, adults are mesmerized by good story-tellers when they become animated in their quest to tell a good fable. The Anansi oral story originates from the tribes of Ghana . "All Stories Are Anansi's"
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#17327646575342332-594: A variety of books, comics, and other Disney media for many decades after the film's release. The theme park ride Splash Mountain , located at Tokyo Disneyland and formerly located at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom , is based on the film's animated sequences. The film is set on a plantation in Georgia , part of the Southern United States ; specifically in a location some distance from Atlanta . Although sometimes misinterpreted as taking place before
2438-473: A worldwide total of $ 4,815,000. The score by Daniele Amfitheatrof , Paul J. Smith , and Charles Wolcott was nominated in the "Scoring of a Musical Picture" category, and " Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah ", written by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gilbert , won the award for Best Original Song at the 20th Academy Awards on March 20, 1948. A special Academy Award was given to Baskett "for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to
2544-457: Is a type of metaphorical analogy . Some scholars of the canonical gospels and the New Testament apply the term "parable" only to the parables of Jesus , although that is not a common restriction of the term. The word parable comes from the Greek παραβολή ( parabolē ), literally "throwing" ( bolē ) "alongside" ( para- ), by extension meaning "comparison, illustration, analogy." It
2650-405: Is supported by The Epistle of Barnabas , reliably dated between AD 70 to 132: For if I should write to you concerning things immediate or future, ye would not understand them, because they are put in parables. So much then for this. Another important component of the parables of Jesus is their participatory and spontaneous quality. Often, but not always, Jesus creates a parable in response to
2756-513: The Esopus or Esopus teutsch ). It became one the great bestsellers of the last decades of the fifteenth century. Several authors adapted or versified fables from this corpus, such as the German poet and playwright Burkard Waldis, whose versified Esopus of 1548 was influential. Even the artist and polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) composed some fables in his native Florentine dialect. During
2862-738: The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son . Mashalim from the Old Testament include the parable of the ewe-lamb (told by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:1-9 ) and the parable of the woman of Tekoah (in 2 Samuel 14:1-13 ). Parables also appear in Islam . In Sufi tradition, parables are used for imparting lessons and values. Recent authors such as Idries Shah and Anthony de Mello have helped popularize these stories beyond Sufi circles. Modern parables also exist. A mid-19th-century example,
2968-650: The Old World . Ben E. Perry (compiler of the " Perry Index " of Aesop's fables) has argued controversially that some of the Buddhist Jataka tales and some of the fables in the Panchatantra may have been influenced by similar Greek and Near Eastern ones. Earlier Indian epics such as Vyasa's Mahabharata and Valmiki 's Ramayana also contained fables within the main story, often as side stories or back-story . The most famous folk stories from
3074-430: The parable of the broken window , criticizes a part of economic thinking. A parable is a short tale that illustrates a universal truth; it is a simple narrative . It sketches a setting, describes an action , and shows the results. It may sometimes be distinguished from similar narrative types, such as the allegory and the apologue . A parable often involves a character who faces a moral dilemma or one who makes
3180-528: The son of Lorenzo de' Medici (now kept in the New York Public Library). Early on, Aesopic fables were also disseminated in print, usually with Planudes's Life of Aesop as a preface. The German humanist Heinrich Steinhöwel published a bilingual (Latin and German) edition of the fables in Ulm in 1476. This publication gave rise to many re-editions of the sole German prose translation (known as
3286-581: The translators as "fable" in the First Epistle to Timothy , the Second Epistle to Timothy , the Epistle to Titus and the First Epistle of Peter . A person who writes fables is referred to as a fabulist . The fable is one of the most enduring forms of folk literature , spread abroad, modern researchers agree, less by literary anthologies than by oral transmission. Fables can be found in
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3392-718: The "sons of the Hellenes" had been an invention of "Syrians" from the time of " Ninos " (personifying Nineveh to Greeks) and Belos ("ruler"). Epicharmus of Kos and Phormis are reported as having been among the first to invent comic fables. Many familiar fables of Aesop include " The Crow and the Pitcher ", " The Tortoise and the Hare " and " The Lion and the Mouse ". In the first century AD, Phaedrus (died 50 AD) produced Latin translations in iambic verse of fables then circulating under
3498-815: The 17th century, the French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) saw the soul of the fable in the moral—a rule of behavior. Starting with the Aesopian pattern, La Fontaine set out to satirize the court, the church, the rising bourgeoisie , indeed the entire human scene of his time. La Fontaine's model was subsequently emulated by England's John Gay (1685–1732); Poland's Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801); Italy's Lorenzo Pignotti (1739–1812) and Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi (1754–1827); Serbia's Dositej Obradović (1745–1801); Spain's Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa (1750–1791); France's Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794); and Russia's Ivan Krylov (1769–1844). In modern times, while
3604-505: The 50th anniversary of Walt Disney Productions ; in 1973 as the second half of a double bill with The Aristocats ; in 1980 for the 100th anniversary of Harris's classic stories; and in 1986 for the film's own 40th anniversary and in promotion of the upcoming Splash Mountain attraction at Disneyland . As had been done earlier with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940) and Bambi (1942), Disney produced
3710-682: The American Civil War while slavery was still legal in the region, the film takes place during the Reconstruction era after slavery was abolished. Harris' original Uncle Remus stories were all set after the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Born in 1848, Harris was a racial reconciliation activist writer and journalist of the Reconstruction era. The film makes several indirect references to
3816-480: The Black plantation workers, "We gotta pay these people. They're not slaves." Uncle Remus also states, after being told that he cannot read any more stories to Johnny, "I'm a free man; I don't have to take this." Rapf saw the animal stories as metaphors for slave resistance, and intended to portray Br'er Rabbit as a smaller, less powerful Black man, and in place of the oppressive whites would be Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear and
3922-639: The Disney studio. Patten had been a professional model since age three, and caught the attention of Disney when she appeared on the cover of Woman's Home Companion . Leedy was discovered on the playground of the Booker T. Washington school in Phoenix, Arizona , by a talent scout from the Disney studio. Ruth Warrick and Erik Rolf, cast as Johnny's mother and father, had actually been married during filming, but divorced in 1946. Hattie McDaniel also appeared in
4028-805: The Near East were the One Thousand and One Nights , also known as the Arabian Nights . The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian assortment of fables. The earliest recorded work, ascribed to Vishnu Sharma, dates to around 300 BCE. The tales are likely much older than the compilation, having been passed down orally prior to the book's compilation. The word "Panchatantra" is a blend of the words "pancha" (which means "five" in Sanskrit) and "tantra" (which means "weave"). It implies weaving together multiple threads of narrative and moral lessons together to form
4134-513: The Rain Pour Down" is set to the melody of " Midnight Special ", a traditional blues song popularized by Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter). The song title "Look at the Sun" appeared in some early press books, though it is not in the film. Ken Emerson, author of the book Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster And The Rise Of American Popular Culture , believes that "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" is influenced by
4240-442: The Reconstruction era: clothing is in the newer late-Victorian style ; Uncle Remus is free to leave the plantation at will; Black field hands are sharecroppers , etc. Seven-year-old Johnny is excited about what he believes to be a vacation at his grandmother's Georgia plantation with his parents, Sally and John Sr. When they arrive at the plantation, he discovers that his parents will be living apart temporarily, and he will live at
4346-415: The South is a 1946 American live-action/animated musical comedy-drama film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson , produced by Walt Disney , and released by RKO Radio Pictures . It is based on the Uncle Remus stories as adapted by Joel Chandler Harris , stars James Baskett in his final film role, and features the voices of Johnny Lee , Baskett, and Nick Stewart . The film takes place in
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4452-590: The South began. The studio constructed a plantation set, for the outdoor scenes, in Phoenix, Arizona , while other scenes were filmed in Hollywood . The film is predominantly live action, but includes three animated segments, which were later released as stand-alone television features. Some scenes also feature a combination of live action with animation. Song of the South premiered in Atlanta in November 1946 and
4558-817: The Tin Box " in The Beast in Me and Other Animals (1948) and "The Last Clock: A Fable for the Time, Such As It Is, of Man" in Lanterns and Lances (1961). Władysław Reymont 's The Revolt (1922), a metaphor for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 , described a revolt by animals that take over their farm in order to introduce "equality". George Orwell 's Animal Farm (1945) similarly satirized Stalinist Communism in particular, and totalitarianism in general, in
4664-427: The U.S. state of Georgia during the Reconstruction era , a period of American history after the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery . The story follows seven-year-old Johnny ( Bobby Driscoll ) who is visiting his grandmother's ( Lucile Watson ) plantation for an extended stay. Johnny befriends Uncle Remus (Baskett), an elderly worker on the plantation, and takes joy in hearing his tales about
4770-854: The United States in 2019. In 2020, Iger affirmed during a shareholders meeting that the film would not be getting a release on the service, even with an "outdated cultural depictions" disclaimer, stating that the film is "not appropriate in today's world". “As Uncle Remus, James Baskett is so skillful in registering contentment that even the people who believe in the virtues of slavery are going to be impressed and want to know his secret.”—Film critic Manny Farber in The New Republic , December 23, 1946. Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times , "More and more, Walt Disney's craftsmen have been loading their feature films with so-called 'live action' in place of their animated whimsies of
4876-516: The adventures of Br'er Rabbit (Lee), Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear (Baskett and Stewart). Johnny learns from the stories how to cope with the challenges he is experiencing while living on the plantation. Walt Disney had wanted to produce a film based on the Uncle Remus stories for some time. In 1939, he began negotiating with the Harris family for the film rights, and in 1944, filming for Song of
4982-416: The advice and lets Uncle Remus take him back to Sally. Johnny makes friends with Toby, a young black boy who lives on the plantation, and Ginny Favers, a poor white girl. Ginny gives Johnny a puppy after her two older brothers, Joe and Jake, threaten to drown it. Sally refuses to let him take care of the puppy, so he takes it to Uncle Remus. Uncle Remus takes the dog in and delights Johnny and his friends with
5088-501: The aftermath of World War II, Walt Disney Studios faced financial difficulties due to a lack of foreign markets for animated films during wartime. The studio produced few theatrical animated shorts then, focusing instead on military training films that broke even, but produced no profit. The studio only profited in 1945 and 1946 by reissuing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio , and still had to lay off half of its employees in 1946. With additional financial difficulties due to
5194-649: The animals try to outwit one another by trickery and deceit. In Indian fables, humanity is not presented as superior to the animals. Prime examples of the fable in India are the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales . These included Vishnu Sarma 's Panchatantra , the Hitopadesha , Vikram and The Vampire , and Syntipas ' Seven Wise Masters , which were collections of fables that were later influential throughout
5300-409: The boys, but their fight is broken up by Uncle Remus, who reprimands Joe and Jake and warns them to keep away from Johnny and Ginny. Johnny runs off to comfort Ginny. He explains that he does not want to go to the party either, especially since his father will not be there. Uncle Remus discovers both dejected children and cheers them up by telling the story of Br'er Rabbit and his "Laughing Place" . When
5406-493: The character of Uncle Remus was "bound to enrage all educated Negroes and a number of damyankees". Harrison's Reports praised Driscoll and Baskett's performances, particularly the latter writing "his tender understanding of the child's problems gives the picture many appealing moments." Overall, the review felt the film had "a simple but sensitive and pathetic story, filled with deep human interest and fine, clean comedy situations, and it has an air of wholesomeness that comes as
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#17327646575345512-414: The characterization of Remus himself. Baskett won an honorary Oscar in 1948. After Baskett's death, his widow wrote Disney and told him that he had been a "friend indeed and [we] certainly have been in need". Also cast in the production were child actors Bobby Driscoll , Luana Patten , and Glenn Leedy (his only credited screen appearance). Driscoll was the first actor to be under a personal contract with
5618-568: The chorus of the pre- Civil War folk song " Zip Coon ", which is today considered racist for its use of an African American stereotype. The film premiered on November 12, 1946, at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. Walt Disney made introductory remarks, introduced the cast, then quietly left for his room at the Georgian Terrace Hotel across the street; he had previously stated that unexpected audience reactions upset him and he
5724-407: The deleted character Br'er Coon. Rapf was a minority, a Jew, and an outspoken left-winger , and he himself feared that the film would inevitably be Uncle-Tomish . "That's exactly why I want you to work on it," Walt told him, "because I know that you don't think I should make the movie. You're against Uncle Tomism, and you're a radical." Rapf initially hesitated, but when he found out that most of
5830-433: The dog. Sally becomes upset that Johnny and Uncle Remus kept the dog despite her order (which was unknown to Uncle Remus), and she instructs him not to tell any more stories to Johnny. Johnny's birthday arrives and Johnny picks up Ginny to take her to his party. On the way there, Joe and Jake push Ginny into a mud puddle. With her dress ruined, Ginny is unable to go to the party and runs off crying. Johnny begins fighting with
5936-618: The end of the fifteenth century. The most common version of this tale-like biography is attributed to the Byzantine scholar Maximus Planudes (1260–1310), who also gathered and edited fables for posterity. In the Renaissance, Aesopic fables were hugely popular. They were published in luxurious illuminated manuscripts, such as the so-called "Medici Aesop" made around 1480 in Florence based on the corpus established by Planudes, probably for
6042-408: The fable has been trivialized in children's books, it has also been fully adapted to modern adult literature. Felix Salten 's Bambi (1923) is a Bildungsroman —a story of a protagonist 's coming-of-age—cast in the form of a fable. James Thurber used the ancient fable style in his books Fables for Our Time (1940) and Further Fables for Our Time (1956), and in his stories " The Princess and
6148-519: The fable of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar-Baby , stressing that people should not get involved with something they have no business with in the first place. Johnny imitates Br'er Rabbit's use of reverse psychology from the tale and begs the Favers brothers not to tell their mother about the dog. The trick works and the boys get in trouble after telling their mother. In an act of revenge, they tell Sally about
6254-505: The fable was the first of the progymnasmata —training exercises in prose composition and public speaking—wherein students would be asked to learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer forensic or deliberative speeches. The need of instructors to teach, and students to learn, a wide range of fables as material for their declamations resulted in their being gathered together in collections, like those of Aesop. African oral culture has
6360-554: The film also combines animation with live-action. The three sequences were later shown as stand-alone cartoon features on television. Nine songs are heard in the film, with four reprises . Nearly all of the vocal performances are by the largely African-American cast, and the renowned all-Black Hall Johnson Choir sing four pieces: two versions of a blues number ("Let the Rain Pour Down"), one chain-reaction-style folk song ("That's What Uncle Remus Said") and one spiritual ("All I Want"). The songs are, in film order, as follows: "Let
6466-503: The film based on the stories, Song of the South , had earned $ 300 million. Beginning in 1939, Disney began developing Uncle Remus as an entirely animated feature. The stories were also considered as two-reel animated shorts. Stories considered for the production included "Br'er Rabbit Rides the Fox", in which Br'er Rabbit tricks Br'er Fox into riding him like a horse to a party, and "De Wuller-De-Wust", in which Br'er Rabbit pretends to be
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#17327646575346572-423: The film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". By January 1948, the film had grossed $ 3.4 million in distributor rentals from the United States and Canada, netting the studio a profit of $ 226,000 ($ 2.83 million in 2017 dollars). According to RKO records, during its initial release, the film earned $ 3,515,000 domestically and $ 1,300,000 foreign, for
6678-598: The film in VHS and DVD compilations in the United States, as well as on the long-running Walt Disney anthology television series . "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and some of the animated portions appear in an added feature on the 2004 Alice in Wonderland Special Edition DVD, as part of the 1950 Christmas special One Hour in Wonderland , which promoted the then-forthcoming film. From 1986 to 2001, most of
6784-479: The film in the Los Angeles Times during its 1986 re-release, praised the film as "essentially a nostalgic valentine to a past that never existed, and within those limits, it offers a pleasant, family diversion for holiday afternoons when the children get restless." The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes has a rating of 50% based on 16 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. On Metacritic ,
6890-597: The film is now in the public domain .) Most of the foreign releases of the film are literal translations of the English title; the German title Onkel Remus' Wunderland translates to "Uncle Remus's Wonderland", the Italian title I Racconti Dello Zio Tom translates to "The Stories of Uncle Tom", and the Norwegian title Onkel Remus forteller translates to "Storyteller Uncle Remus". In 2017, after being inaugurated as
6996-430: The film would be live-action and that he could make extensive changes, he accepted the offer. Rapf worked on Uncle Remus for about seven weeks. When he got into a personal dispute with Reymond, Rapf was taken off the project. According to Rapf, Disney "ended every conference by saying 'Well, I think we've really licked it now.' Then he'd call you the next morning and say, 'I've got a new idea.' And he'd have one. Sometimes
7102-464: The film, arguing that Disney films become a part of the consciousness of American children, who take films more literally than do adults. Audio from the film—both the musical soundtrack and dialogue—was commonly used in home media tie-ins through the late 1970s. In particular, many book-and-record sets were released featuring the animated portions of the film or summaries of the film as a whole. The Walt Disney Company has also included key portions of
7208-410: The good and evil tree ( Q14:32-45 ), of the two men , and of the spider's house . Q16:77 contains the parable of the slave and his master, followed by the parable of the blind man and the sighted. The parable is related to figures of speech such as metaphor and simile . A parable is like a metaphor in that it uses concrete, perceptible phenomena to illustrate abstract ideas. It may be said that
7314-562: The guise of animal fable. In the 21st century, the Neapolitan writer Sabatino Scia is the author of more than two hundred fables that he describes as "western protest fables". The characters are not only animals, but also things, beings, and elements from nature. Scia's aim is the same as in the traditional fable, playing the role of revealer of human society. In Latin America, the brothers Juan and Victor Ataucuri Garcia have contributed to
7420-428: The ideas were good, sometimes they were terrible, but you could never really satisfy him." Morton Grant was assigned to the project. Disney sent out the script for comment both within the studio and outside the studio. On May 10, 1944, the title was changed from Uncle Remus to Song of the South . In February 1941, Disney talked with Paul Robeson about him playing Uncle Remus, and the two remained in talks about
7526-404: The lights with cardboard save for a sliver of blue sky behind his head, and then remove the cardboard from the lights when he began singing so that he would seem to be entering a bright new world of animation. Like Walt's idea for Bambi on ice , it made for one of the most memorable scenes in the film." There are three animated segments in the film (they total 25 minutes). The last few minutes of
7632-516: The literature of almost every country. The varying corpus denoted Aesopica or Aesop's Fables includes most of the best-known western fables, which are attributed to the legendary Aesop , supposed to have been a slave in ancient Greece around 550 BCE. When Babrius set down fables from the Aesopica in verse for a Hellenistic Prince "Alexander", he expressly stated at the head of Book II that this type of "myth" that Aesop had introduced to
7738-628: The location to oversee what he called "atmospheric shots". Back in Hollywood, the live action scenes were filmed at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio . On the final day of shooting, Jackson discovered that the scene in which Uncle Remus sings the film's signature song, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", had not been properly blocked . According to Jackson, "We all sat there in a circle with the dollars running out, and nobody came up with anything. Then Walt suggested that they shoot Baskett in close-up, cover
7844-678: The musical segments – notably "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", "How Do You Do?", and "Everybody's Got A Laughing Place" – were included on the VHS and LaserDisc releases of the Disney Sing-Along Songs series. The full-length film has been released in its entirety on VHS and LaserDisc in various European and Asian countries. In the United Kingdom, it was released on PAL VHS between 1982 and 2000. In Japan, it appeared on NTSC VHS and LaserDisc in 1985, 1990 and 1992, with Japanese subtitles during songs. (Under Japanese copyright law ,
7950-401: The name of Uncle Remus . His stories of the animal characters Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear are modern examples of African-American story-telling, this though should not transcend critiques and controversies as to whether or not Uncle Remus was a racist or apologist for slavery. The Disney movie Song of the South introduced many of the stories to the public and others not familiar with
8056-607: The name of Aesop. While Phaedrus's Latinizations became classic (transmitted through the Middle Ages, though attributed to a certain Romulus , now considered legendary), the writing of fables in Greek did not stop; in the 2nd century AD, Babrius wrote beast fables in Greek in the manner of Aesop, which would also become influential in the Middle Ages (and sometimes transmitted as Aesop's work). In ancient Greek and Roman education,
8162-430: The part of Uncle Remus, which Muse had lobbied for. In addition to concerns about his racial stereotyping, Reymond had never written a screenplay before (nor would he write another). Maurice Rapf , who had been writing live-action features at the time, was asked by Walt Disney Productions to work with Reymond and co-writer Callum Webb to turn the treatment into a shootable screenplay. According to Neal Gabler , one of
8268-488: The past, and by just those proportions has the magic of these Disney films decreased", citing the ratio of live action to animation at two to one, concluding that is "approximately the ratio of its mediocrity to its charm". A review in Variety felt the film overall was "sometimes sentimental, slow and overlong". Nevertheless, the review felt the songs were "above-average, with one 'Zip-adee-do-da,' [ sic ] likely to be one of
8374-484: The perfect spinner-of-tales. It's largely through his philosophical whimsy that Song of the South is so delightfully charming." Columnist Hedda Hopper also praised Baskett's performance, and advocated for him to receive an Academy Award . Criticism in the black press, however, was more politically divided. Richard B. Dier in The Afro-American was "thoroughly disgusted" by the film for being "as vicious
8480-460: The plantation with his mother and grandmother while his father returns to Atlanta to continue his controversial editorship of that city's newspaper. Distraught at his father's departure, Johnny secretly leaves for Atlanta that night with a bindle . As Johnny sneaks away from the plantation, he discovers Uncle Remus telling tales of a character named Br'er Rabbit to other sharecroppers on the plantation. By this time, word had gotten out that Johnny
8586-399: The project for several years, but ultimately he was not cast. It is speculated that Robeson's politics made him too controversial for the role. Other actors considered included Rex Ingram. Clarence Muse lobbied for the role of Uncle Remus while consulting on the screenplay, but left the project due to Dalton Reymond's depiction of African-Americans in the original treatment. James Baskett
8692-439: The project, doubting that it was "big enough in caliber and natural draft" to warrant a budget over $ 1 million and more than twenty-five minutes of animation. Disney planned to produce a series of Uncle Remus films if the first one was successful, each with the same live-action cast but different animated shorts. Ultimately, the studio decided that only a third of the film would be animated and the rest would be live-action. Disney
8798-504: The reasons Disney had hired Rapf to work with Reymond was to temper what Disney feared would be Reymond's "white Southern slant". Reymond's treatment included the phrases "massa", in reference to white characters, and "darkey", in reference to plantation workers, prominently. Rapf removed the offending phrase and added dialogue to make it clear that the film was set after slavery had ended; one character in Rapf's script states, in reference to
8904-455: The relationship between man and his origin, with nature, with its history, its customs and beliefs then become norms and values. Parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse , that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals , plants , inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable
9010-400: The remainder of its initial theater run was a financial success. The song " Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah " won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Original Song and Baskett received an Academy Honorary Award for his performance as Uncle Remus. Since its initial release the film has attracted controversy, with critics characterizing its portrayal of African Americans and plantation life as racist . As
9116-492: The resurgence of the fable. But they do so with a novel idea: use the fable as a means of dissemination of traditional literature of that place. In the book "Fábulas Peruanas" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine , published in 2003, they have collected myths, legends, and beliefs of Andean and Amazonian Peru, to write as fables. The result has been an extraordinary work rich in regional nuances. Here we discover
9222-524: The rhetorical style of the Roman Senator and lawyer Cicero (which remained highly regarded after his death by many famous orators ) was known for its use of a seemingly unrelated anecdote that demonstrates in its conclusion some insight pertaining to the current topic of the discussion. The Quran 's Q39:28-30 boasts "every kind of parable in the Quran". The Quranic verses include parables of
9328-438: The rights in 1939, and by late summer of that year he already had one of his storyboard artists summarize the more promising tales and draw up four boards' worth of story sketches. In November 1940, Disney visited the Harris's home in Atlanta. He told Variety that he wanted to "get an authentic feeling of Uncle Remus country so we can do as faithful a job as possible to these stories." Disney's brother Roy had misgivings about
9434-516: The role of Aunt Tempe. Production started under the title Uncle Remus . The budget was originally $ 1.35 million. The animated segments of the film were directed by Wilfred Jackson , while the live-action segments were directed by Harve Foster. Filming began in December 1944 in Phoenix, Arizona where the studio had constructed a plantation and cotton fields for outdoor scenes, and Disney left for
9540-434: The role that storytelling played in the life of cultures and groups without training in speaking, reading, writing, or the cultures to which they had been relocated to from world practices of capturing Africans and other indigenous populations to provide slave labor to colonized countries. India has a rich tradition of fables, many derived from traditional stories and related to local natural elements. Indian fables often teach
9646-476: The screenplay, but Muse quit when Reymond ignored Muse's suggestions to portray African-American characters in a way that would be perceived as being dignified and more than Southern stereotypes. Muse subsequently wrote letters to the editors of black publications to criticize the depiction of African-Americans in Reymond's script. Disney claimed that Muse attacked the film because Disney did not choose Muse to play
9752-468: The season's favorites" and the animated sequences as "great stuff". They also praised Driscoll and Patten as "two of the most natural and appealing youngsters" and Baskett's performance was "as warming a portrait as has been seen in a long time". A review in Time magazine praised the animated sequences as "topnotch Disney—and delightful", but cautioned that it was "bound to land its maker in hot water" because
9858-416: The secret of the kingdom of God , but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that 'they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven .'" ( NRSV ) The idea that coded meanings in parables would only become apparent when a listener had been given additional information or initiated into a higher set of teachings
9964-408: The so-called "Romulus". In the later Middle Ages, Aesop's fables were newly gathered and edited with a prefatory biography of Aesop. This biography, usually simply titled Life of Aesop ( Vita Aesopi ), is more invented than factual, and itself a sort of moralistic fable; known in several versions, this Aesop Romance , as scholars term it today, enjoyed nearly as much fame as the fables themselves by
10070-492: The strip was discontinued on December 31, 1972. Apart from the newspaper strips, Disney Br'er Rabbit comics were also produced for comic books; the first such stories appeared in late 1946. Produced both by Western Publishing and European publishers such as Egmont , they continue to appear. In 1946, a Giant Golden Book entitled Walt Disney's Uncle Remus Stories was published by Simon & Schuster . It featured 23 illustrated stories of Br'er Rabbit's escapades, all told in
10176-425: The strip. Disney has not released a complete version of the film in the United States on home video , given the film's controversial reputation. Over the years, Disney has made a variety of statements about whether and when the film would be re-released. From 1984 to 2005, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner stated that the film would not receive a home video release in the United States, due to not wanting to have
10282-542: The success of Snow White , which could be made into family films. In 1938, Walt Disney became interested in the Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus storybook, claiming to remember hearing the stories as a child, and prepared two research reports to determine if it was possible to film the stories, dated April 8 and 11, 1938. He purchased the rights to the stories in 1939, paying Harris's family $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 216,000 in 2023). By 1986,
10388-530: The three return to the plantation, Sally becomes angry at Johnny for missing his party, and tells Uncle Remus to stay away from him. Saddened by the misunderstanding of his good intentions, Uncle Remus packs his bags and begins to leave for Atlanta. Johnny rushes to intercept him, but is attacked by a bull and seriously injured after taking a shortcut through a pasture. While Johnny hovers between life and death, his father returns. Johnny calls for Uncle Remus, and his grandmother escorts him in. Uncle Remus begins telling
10494-692: The title of Romulus (as though an author named Romulus had translated and rewritten them, though today most scholars regard this Romulus to be a legendary figure). Many of these Latin version were in fact Phaedrus's 1st-century versified Latinizations. Collections titled Romulus inspired a flurry of medieval authors to newly translate (sometimes into local vernaculars), versify and rewrite fables. Among them, Adémar de Chabannes (11th century), Alexander Neckam (12th century, Novus Aesopus and shorter Novus Avianus ), Gualterus Anglicus (12th century) and Marie de France (12th-13th century) wrote fables adapted from models generally understood to be Aesop, Avianus or
10600-531: The voice roles of the butterfly and Br'er Fox. Baskett also filled in as the voice of Br'er Rabbit for Johnny Lee in the "Laughing Place" sequence after Lee was called away to do a USO tour. Disney told Baskett's sister Ruth that Baskett was "the best actor, I believe, to be discovered in years". After the film's release, Disney maintained contact with him. Disney also campaigned for Baskett to be given an Academy Award for his performance, saying that he had worked "almost wholly without direction" and had devised
10706-420: Was better off not seeing the film with an audience. James Baskett was unable to attend the film's premiere because he would not have been allowed to participate in any of the festivities, as Atlanta was then a racially segregated city. Song of the South was re-released in theaters several times after its original premiere, each time through Buena Vista Pictures : in 1956 for the 10th anniversary; in 1972 for
10812-402: Was cast as Uncle Remus after responding to an ad for providing the voice of a talking butterfly. Baskett is quoted as saying; "I thought that, maybe, they'd try me out to furnish the voice for one of Uncle Remus's animals." Upon review of his voice, Disney wanted to meet Baskett personally, and had him tested for the role of Uncle Remus. In addition to the role of Uncle Remus, Baskett also received
10918-647: Was initially going to have the screenplay written by the studio animators, but later sought professional writers. In June 1944, Disney hired Southern-born writer Dalton Reymond to write the screenplay, and he met frequently with King Vidor , whom he was trying to interest in directing the live-action sequences. Dalton Reymond delivered a 51-page outline on May 15, 1944. The Hays Office reviewed Reymond's outline, and demanded that some terminology, such as characters referring to Remus as an "old darkie" be removed from Reymond's treatment. Disney hired African-American performer and writer Clarence Muse to be consulted on
11024-453: Was missing, and some plantation residents are looking for him. Johnny evades being discovered, but Uncle Remus catches up with him, offers him food for his journey, and takes him back to his cabin, where he tells the boy the traditional African-American folktale, " Br'er Rabbit Earns a Dollar a Minute ". In the story, Br'er Rabbit attempts to run away from home only to change his mind after an encounter with Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear . Johnny takes
11130-546: Was the name given by Greek rhetoricians to an illustration in the form of a brief fictional narrative . The Bible contains numerous parables in the Gospels of the New Testament ( Jesus' parables ). These are believed by some scholars (such as John P. Meier ) to have been inspired by mashalim , a form of Hebrew comparison prominent in the Talmudic period (c. 2nd-6th centuries CE). Examples of Jesus' parables include
11236-468: Was translated by Harold Courlander and Albert Kofi Prempeh and tells the story of a god-like creature Anansi who wishes to own all stories in the world. The character Anansi is often depicted as a spider and is known for its cunning nature to obtain what it wants, typically seen outwitting other animal characters. Joel Chandler Harris wrote African-American fables in the Southern context of slavery under
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