Disney's Most Notorious Film: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South

Contents

Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 One Conditions of Possibility: The Disney Studios, Postwar “Thermidor,” and the Ambivalent Origins of Song of the South 37 Two “Put Down the Mint Julep, Mr. Disney”: Postwar Racial Consciousness and Disney’s Critical Legacy in the 1946 Reception of Song of the South 62 Three “Our Most Requested Movie”: Media Convergence, Black Ambivalence, and the Reconstruction of Song of the South 86 Four A Past That Never Existed: Coonskin, Post-racial Whiteness, and Rewriting History in the Era of Reaganism 124 Five On Tar Babies and Honey Pots: Splash Mountain, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” and the Transmedia Dissipation of Song of the South 158 Six Reassuring Convergence: New Media, Nostalgia, and the Internet Fandom of Song of the South 200 Conclusion: On Rereleasing Song of the South 227 Con t en t s viii Disney’s Most Notorious Film Appendix. Timeline for Song of the South and Its Paratexts 235 Notes 239 Selected Bibliography 261 Index 269 ...