Disney's Most Notorious Film Read Online Free PDF Page B

culmination of a decades-long, white conservative attempt to stop, and undo, the progress of the civil rights movement.
    Not coincidently,
Song of the South
quietly began its resurgence during this period. Three equally important factors influenced the film’s resurrection from the dead during the 1960s. While Disney’s strategies of convergence and ambivalence among African American audiences were both key, the shifting attitudes among white Americans in the wake of the Great Society cannot be overstated. By the end of the 1960s, as support for the civil rights movement dissipated, Disney began floating the idea of rereleasing its most notorious film, which they claimed was now the “most requested” title in the vault. 31 By 1972
Song of the South
was back in theaters and suddenly doing record business. As a nostalgic look back to a pre–civil rights utopia,
Song of the South
offered these audiences a reassuring image of harmless and content African Americans—back at the plantation, hard at work for their white masters, and completely uninterested in equality, let alone freedom. It is inaccurate to pin the film’s newfound popularity
only
on a white, anti–civil rights desire to return to the illusory era of white privilege that the film depicts. Yet this was undoubtedly one of the central reasons for its success, and it created an environment in which Disney could finally rerelease the film without provoking much controversy. By 1980, the film was back yet again, and continued to do strong box office throughout the conservative climate of the Reagan ’80s.
Song of the South
’s appeal was so prominent during this decade that critics and activists began to finally take note of the film again, explicitly tying its nostalgic, reactionary popularity to the larger political atmosphere created by the sitting U.S. president.
    POST-RACIAL WHITENESS
    Reaganism brought into relief a particularly potent form of whiteness that invariably shapes most defenses of
Song of the South
. “Whiteness” does not mean the same as “white people.” Rather, it evokes a hegemonic cultural logic that consciously and unconsciously reinforces white attitudes, beliefs, and positions as the dominant, unquestioned way of life. Regardless of his or her race, every American at some point or another negotiates the norms of whiteness—equally capable of either uncritically reproducing or self-reflexively questioning them. Neither attitude challenges this framework as the dominant way of seeing the world. After World War II, many people critical of
Song of the South
acknowledged their own subject position in relation to the dominant discourse of whiteness that had produced the film in the first place. Yet others, especially those sympathetic to Disney, became increasingly resistant over time to acknowledging racial categories. Instead, they embraced a post-racial attitude that claimed to do no less than deny racial difference altogether. This has been especially prevalent since the end of white support for the civil rights movement, but it can be seen in some of the earliest defenses of the film as well. Post-racial politics are really the most insidious and resilient type of whiteness, emerging largely unseen in the 1960s and continuing its destructive impulses to this very day.
    On a superficial level, post-racial attitudes seem positive enough, since they mimic long-held liberal ideals of racial equality and tolerance. Indeed, it is a definite improvement from the days when lynching, rioting, and racial epithets were thought to be “acceptable” ways for many whites to interact with, and control, African Americans. But the reality is that post-racial mind-sets have done nothing to make people equal. Rather, they have been used to support conservative policies that inhibit progress toward social justice. By denying racial difference, one can deny the very possibility of racial discrimination, and thus undo the accomplishments of the civil