Song Of The South Analysis

In “Song of the South” clips, I noticed immediately that African American actors in the film were being depicted as slaves. I noticed that all the slaves in the film are very cheerful and happy to be working. This romanticizes the very unfair treatment of African Americans. All the workers on the plantation seem to sing songs while they willingly work. I also notice that the African American characters in the film, such as Uncle Remus, are only important as workers, entertainers, and in vague relations with the white characters. I also noticed from part four of the film that the mother doesn’t even acknowledge the young African American boy. She only greets her son and pays attention to him. Miss Sally also cuts off Uncle Remus when he’s trying to tell her the reasoning behind the puppy situation. Even though the other boys lied about Johnny and the puppy, Miss Sally still told Uncle Remus that he could not tell his stories to Johnny
Johnny and the slave boy play together as if there was no hierarchy between them. Johnny is also very close to Uncle Remus; he calls him his best friend. It seems that all the children in the film don’t understand the segregation and ownership that is taking place in the south at this time. But, I can see this film being “for children” because it tells the story as if it was a tale. This movie tries to be “for children” because it in cooperates real people in cartoons. It also has songs such as “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” that are easy to learn and sing along with. This film also assumes that it’s normal for white people to be more powerful over African Americans. This hierarchy of power can lead children to believe that there is color in the world. Young white children might come to believe that they are better than people of African American descents or even other cultures. This sort of entitlement might cause white children to bully those that are of different skin color than