151: Splash Mountain (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 6)
After two more successful theatrical releases, in 1980 and 1986, Disney decided to put Song of the South in the “Disney Vault” and never released it on home video or theatrically in the US ever again....
26 Nov 201948min
150: Blaxploitation and the White Backlash (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 5)
Song of the South’s most successful re-release came in 1972 at a time when Hollywood was dealing with race by making two very different kinds of movies: Blaxploitation films, which gave black audience...
19 Nov 201947min
149: White Allies and the Blacklist: Maurice Rapf (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 4)
Concerned that his movie about a former slave devoting his life to a white child’s emotional needs might be perceived as racist, Walt Disney hired known Communist Maurice Rapf to rewrite Song of the S...
12 Nov 201947min
148: “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” Minstrels in Hollywood and The Oscars (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 3)
Song of the South’s most famous element is “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” a song written for the movie but reminiscent of a racist standard popularized in blackface minstrel shows of the 1830s. Today we’ll expl...
5 Nov 201950min
147: Hattie McDaniel (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 2)
Song of the South co-stars Hattie McDaniel, the first black performer to win an Oscar (for her supporting role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind). By the time Song of the South was released, McDaniel w...
29 Okt 201956min
146: Disney’s Most Controversial Film (Six Degrees of Song of the South, Episode 1)
Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library... except for "Song of the South," a 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation...
22 Okt 201956min
Sneak Peek: Six Degrees of "Song of the South"
This season, we explore the most controversial film in the history of Disney Animation. With the launch of Disney Plus, the company's entire library could be made available for streaming. The one fi...
16 Okt 20192min
145: Ramon Novarro (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 19)
Ramon Novarro was a Mexican actor and singer whose stardom at MGM in the 1920s and 30s was not impeded by his offscreen life as a gay man. In Hollywood Babylon, Anger focuses only on Novarro’s grisly ...
29 Jan 201951min
