The bronze statue of Br’er Rabbit, an animated figure in the film, has been removed from its podium at the Walt Disney World Hub, erasing allusions to the divisive 1946 film “Song of the South.” A collection of bronze statues based on well-known Disney characters may be found near the Cinderella castle in the Hub. Brer Rabbit has been taken down from the Hub, according to our information. The bronze figure’s pedestal has been sanded over, implying that he won’t be returning anytime soon.
While the theme park did not formally notify the statue’s relocation, a few sources documented it with before-and-after photos of its plinth, which is now notably missing among other statue-bearing pedestals in the display. More and more remnants of the classic attraction are being eliminated as the Princess and the Frog re-theme prepares for its eventual takeover at Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. Broder Rabbit has been withdrawn from the Cinderella Castle Hub.
Disney is likely to remove all of the sculptures and replace them with the 50th Anniversary ones shortly. They’ll undoubtedly take advantage of this to make alterations to the park while claiming it’s for the anniversary. So, they’re hoping people will forget about him.
Will the Bronze statue ever be brought back?
No one knows whether or not they will be brought back, but they will likely be replaced with the Disney Fab 50 Character Collection of gold statues to celebrate the park’s 50th anniversary. Disney has been sharing design sketches and renditions of these monuments over the past few weeks, showing some of the characters that will be on display. At Magic Kingdom, Donald will be joined by Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Daisy! As Walt Disney World celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, they’ve created the Disney Fab Fifty Character Collection.
To get a sense of who he was, let’s go back in time
The trickster rabbit’s roots can be traced to African tradition. The name Br’er Rabbit became widespread during the slavery of West Africans in the United States. White authors, most notably Joel Chandler Harris, hijacked these tales. Uncle Remus, an ex-slave who narrated the stories of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear, was invented by Harris and functioned as the idea for the Disney Academy Award-winning live-action/animated musical. Remember that Disney does not own Brer Rabbit in its entirety, only the version from Song of the South and Splash Mountain. Brer Rabbit isn’t the only animated adaptation of the character; The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, voiced by Nick Cannon, was released in 2005 by Universal Studios and starred Nick Cannon as one of them.
The controversy surrounding the “South Song” was illustrated
According to initial reports, Br’er Rabbit’s statue had been destroyed, which wasn’t unusual because the character appeared in the 1946 film “Song of the South.” Disney rethemed Splash Mountain to reflect the subject of “The Princess and the Frog ” instead of “Song of the South ” because that film had recently been criticised for its racist connotations. Brer Rabbit is one of the critical characters in Song of the South (1946), set in part on a Reconstruction-era plantation in the south of America. The representation of African American characters is deemed disrespectful, as the film appears to glorify plantations in some way or another.
No home media release has been made in the United States, and the film isn’t on Disney+ or any other streaming service at the time of this article’s writing. CEO Iger added that Disney had no intentions to re-release the controversial film, even with an official disclaimer ahead of its release. Despite criticism during its initial release, Song of the South was a commercial success, thanks largely to the animated sequences and the hit song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
The Walt Disney Company decided to pull the picture from theatres in the mid-1980s, and it has not been legally released in the United States since then, with perhaps the exception of clips from the illustrated sequences. For millions, Br’er Rabbit is still a household name, thanks to its inclusion in Splash Mountain. Disney did not announce the statue’s removal, and it was unclear when it was taken because it was not a prominent feature that many people would notice. Also, Outside of Disneyland’s Critter Country, the track “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” has been taken off the audio loops.
Let’s put him out of our minds for a while and focus on this one- The Disney World Parks are getting a makeover in preparation for the 50th Anniversary festivities, which begin in less than a month! Cinderella Castle has been changed at Magic Kingdom with new hues and golden embellishments, and we can’t wait to see the stunning new 50th Anniversary fireworks extravaganza!