january 5
(no, I don't know why there are two entries for the same day.)zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Almost ready to sign off for the night when an exchange occurs that probably should be captured for posterity.But first a little background. For those of you who don't know, the Disney film Song of the South (home of the little tune you've probably got going on in your head right now if you read my lyric of the day) is a hot item. Most things you can't get are. Did you know you can't get it? You can't. At least, not through the usual channels. Disney won't sell it in the U.S.; if you root around Ebay or at the link above, be prepared to pay a bundle. And then, most copies are only in the British PAL format, not the American NTSC format, so you'll have to pay to have it transferred ... and then you've got to be prepared to realize you forgot about the anti-copying protection, which does weird things to the picture approximately every 30 seconds. That's what happened to me. I bought one, transferred it, then realized too late about the copy problem. In the meantime, I asked an English friend of mine to get me one if she could, and I'd pay her back. I'd bought, transferred, seen, and re-sold by the time hers arrived ... for Christmas. A sweet gesture, really! But I'm re-selling it on Ebay, 'cause there's just no point. That means I've been getting some emails, asking questions about the tape, and so on and so forth. We now come to the topic of this entry: You tell me -- is this person joking, sarcastic, or just plain thick in the head? Here's the email exchange I had this evening:
Subj: Song of the SouthCould there really be someone out there who would think they'd dub British-accented English on top of Amurrican Suthun accents? Yeah, I know, they dubbed Mel Gibson in the first Mad Max film, but ... surely she was kidding. Right?
Date: 1/5/01 10:11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: ******@bellsouth.net (Lee Ann)
To: sheerie@aol.comIs this in English and does it have subtitles?
Thanks,
Lee AnnSubj: Re: Song of the South
Date: 1/5/01 10:14:57 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Sheerie To: ******@bellsouth.netNo subtitles, and it is in English. It came from England.
Best,
RandeeSubj: Re: Song of the South
Date: 1/5/01 10:26:07 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: ******@bellsouth.net (Lee Ann)
To: sheerie@aol.comRandee, I'll have to think about this. "Song of the South" wont be the same in Queen's English. Thanks for the reply.
Lee Ann
On a related topic, and something that's worth wondering about: Why isn't Song of the South available in the U.S.? Here's the cover, scanned for Ebay:
Have a better clue? A slave in the Old South makes friends with a young white, privileged child whose father isn't around. The slave -- Uncle Remus -- shares his Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear and Brer Fox stories, entertains the kid, tells the kid not to bother a bull in a field -- but as soon as daddy comes home, kid runs through the field and gets gored. Kid lives thanks to support of Remus. It's a very slight, stupid story (race issues aside) and Disney has since done much better. Is it offensive? More offensive than, say, Gone With The Wind? We can get GWTW on the shelves, but SOTS is not available. GWTW is rated PG. Kids can see it, so the "keep kids away from such images" argument doesn't play. In the end, the truth is this: There is no reason that movie shouldn't be available in this country.
Much like drugs, it's not as though you can't get it (and also much like drugs, it often doesn't live up to the hype) if you want to. Banning it is political correctness taken to an unnecessary extreme. I'm glad I got to see it again, as an adult. The main title song is still fab. The rest of it, including what I thought I remembered as really fun Brer stories, is just uninteresting. But we, the individuals, should be allowed to decide this for ourselves. Which leaves us with this disturbing question: Can Lee Ann really be that dense?
