Song of the South

Song of the South is a 1946 American liveactionanimated musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures, based on the Uncle Remus stories collected by Joel Chandler Harris. It was Disneys first film to feature live actors, who provide a sentimental frame story for the animated segments. The film depicts the character Uncle Remus, presumably a former slave, cheerfully relating to several children, including the films protagonist, the folk tales of the adventures of anthropomorphic Brer Rabbit and his enemies, Brer Fox and Brer Bear. The films song ZipaDeeDooDah won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Song, is frequently used as part of Disneys montage themes, and has become widely used in popular culture. James Baskett was given an honorary Academy Award in 1948 for his portrayal of Uncle Remus the first Oscar although an honorary one to a male AfricanAmerican actor. The film inspired the Disney theme park attraction Splash Mountain.

The film is set on a plantation in the US state of Georgia, some distance from Atlanta. Although sometimes interpreted as taking place before the U.S. Civil War, while slavery was still in force in the region, the setting is the later Reconstruction Era, after slavery was abolished. Harris original Uncle Remus stories were all set after the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery Harris himself, born in 1845, was a racial reconciliation activist writer and journalist of the Reconstruction Era. The film makes several indirect references to the Reconstruction Era clothing is in the newer lateVictorian style Uncle Remus is free to leave the plantation at will black field hands are sharecroppers, etc.Sevenyearold Johnny is excited about what he believes to be a vacation at his grandmothers Georgia plantation with his parents, John Sr. and Sally. When they arrive at the plantation, he discovers that his parents will be living apart for a while, and he is to live in the country with his mother and grandmother while his father returns to Atlanta to continue his controversial editorship in the citys newspaper. Johnny, distraught because his father has never left him or his mother before, leaves that night under cover of darkness and sets off for Atlanta with only a bindle. As Johnny sneaks away from the plantation, he is attracted by the voice of Uncle Remus telling tales in his oldtimey way of a character named Brer Rabbit. Curious, Johnny hides behind a nearby tree to spy on the group of people sitting around the fire. By this time, word has gotten out that Johnny is gone and some plantation residents, who are sent out to find him, ask if Uncle Remus has seen the boy. Uncle Remus replies that hes with him. Shortly afterwards, he catches up with Johnny, who sits crying on a nearby log. He befriends the young boy and offers him some food for the journey, taking him back to his cabin. ........

Source: Wikipedia