Lots of folks online are arguing about Disney-Plus, the new streaming channel that gives a subscriber access to much of the infamous Disney Vault. Much of the talk is about how Dumbo is on there with, contrary to rumors and fears, no removal of any scenes that might have been scissored for antiquated racial portraits. I just read a thread where instead of celebrating Dumbo's non-laundering, people are furious that Song of the South is still not as easy to see as any other Disney classic.
I'm a little weary of suggestions that the withholding of Song of the South is right up there with the Spanish Inquisition and The Holocaust in the annals of injustice. First off, not issuing it on DVD has so far gotten very few people murdered. Secondly, it's a pleasant enough movie but I don't think it's in the Top Twenty of Disney classics. Thirdly, that doesn't matter a whole lot. It should be available to those who want to see it. Fourthly, it is and long has been.
Bootlegs abound. Legal foreign videos are out there (I have the Japanese Laserdisc) and there have been full copies that lingered on YouTube for many months before Disney got them pulled. Is there a Disney collector on this planet who doesn't have a copy? If so, they must not have looked very hard.
This is and always has been a controversy that is once-removed from the actual issue of racial stereotypes. For Disney, it must be a purely economic decision based on the way some people might (might!) react to it. It's some execs' decision that the income they'd derive from putting it out there would not be worth the tsuris…and that may be so but they should do it anyway.
Actually, every few years, word gets out that they're planning to turn it loose. Then someone there gets icy tootsies and they delay it. Maybe if the crows in Dumbo get zero complaints, it will bolster someone's courage. They'll put it out on home video or on streaming or most likely both.
And then what will happen? I'll predict there are groups and politicians that thrive on drumming up outrage and they won't resist the chance to do a lot of drumming. The folks who've seen the film and maybe own copies will quietly applaud its new legitimacy. And everyone else will kind of ignore it or if they do see it, ask, "What was all the fuss about?"