acroyear | on...THAT...Disney Movie... (Reply)

MR. FUN:

It was an unofficial experiment but the experience proved insightful. I set up a special screening for a church group in downtown Los Angeles back in the sixties. The motion picture I chose to screen was Walt Disney’s “Song of the South.”

You see, before the heady days of Blue Ray DVDs and video tape the only way one could watch a Disney movie was in the theaters. Should your favorite Disney film not be in release you were out of luck. There was absolutely no other way to enjoy one of Walt’s delightful feature films. There was one exception. Should you happen to be an employee of the Disney Company you could check out a full length feature on 16mm motion picture film. You probably already know where this is going. My audience was African American, and all were gathered together to enjoy this “controversial” Disney movie on a pleasant Saturday evening.

As expected there were laughs, tears and the usual emotions one would expect at a Disney screening. Applause filled the auditorium as the film ended with the on screen logo, “a Walt Disney production.”

Wait a minute! You might ask. Isn’t this the insensitive, offensive racist movie that black people are suppose to hate? Isn’t this the reason the Disney Company continues to keep this delightful tale of the old south under lock and key never to be released? Apparently, my African American audience of the nineteen sixties had gotten beyond that.

I wonder how long it’ll take the Walt Disney Company to do the same?

"Mr. Fun" is Floyd Norman, Disney animator and story man (today, an occasional consultant for Pixar), was named a Disney Legend in 2007, and was the first African-American animator in the Disney studios.