Melody Nicolette

Over the next few weeks, we are going on an arduous journey unpacking the legacy of Disney’s Song of the South, and subsequent abysmal handling of one of its most controversial properties.

This is going to be a five-part series, with some very uncomfortable deep-diving, so I hope everyone is ready to hunker down and get some learning in. I hope as an Indigenous (but Non-Black) person, with deep connections to Brer Rabbit, an amateur Disney historian, and Indigenous educator and traditional storyteller, that I can help you form the most well-rounded and educated opinion you can while staying in my own Non-Black lane.

When I refer to “Disney” throughout this series, unless I refer to Walt Disney by name, safely assume I am talking about the bazillion dollar megacorp that owns the world. Got it? Great!

By now, everyone has heard about the retheming of Splash Mountain. We’re going to unpack that specifically in the last installment because there’s a lot of material to get through before we get there. It’s deeper, uglier, and vastly more complex than a surface-level Google search is going to give you.

Over the course of the next few weeks, you’re going to learn about the entire history on a consummate level, and I hope it inspires you to be more upset than you are and to advocate and fight for things on a much more complex and meaningful level. Another reason I chose to embark on this ungodly multifaceted endeavor, was the vast misinformation that surrounds this situation.

As previously mentioned, the way that Disney has handled this since the beginning (as in the 1946 beginning), has been nothing short of abysmal. Ironically, one of the major themes of the Brer Rabbit stories is that “you can’t run away from trouble, there’s no place that far,” and yet, time and time again, this is exactly what Disney has done.

The lengths at which Disney has gone to purposely fail to address the issue, attempt to absolve themselves from responsibility, AND hypocritically make money off of it to whatever extent available is nothing short of Herculean. This is one of the reasons they get no ‘cookies’ for retheming at this juncture. (Don’t worry, we’ll unpack all of this later.) “You can’t run away from trouble….” OR CAN YOU?!

FIRST OF ALL--CAN WE NOT?

I’ll be honest with you all, I genuinely feel bad for anyone who had no idea that Splash Mountain was from an existing Disney property, and wasn’t just another Jungle Cruise (which we’re also going to talk about in the last issue), Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion scenario; Disney has done a great job pretending that Song of the South doesn’t exist, going so far as to remove any references to the film from the Disney park websites.

Disney has done a great job marketing Splash Mountain as if it IS a park original. So many, many people had genuinely no idea, and were blindsided by this discovery. These unknowing park guests now find themselves are sad or upset about losing something they grew up with for the last 30 years, something they didn’t realize was harmful, because of, again, Disney’s duplicitous marketing of the attraction in either of the 3 parks it can be found, on top of denial of the film’s existence. There's A LOT happening right now, and maybe people don't have the spoons to deal with ONE MORE THING. It's always the little things.

It makes the smugness of the (whyte) liberal virtue signaling all the more insufferable. Painting themselves as so much more vastly mentally and morally superior (only because they got to Google first), lording over those who didn’t know as “sooooooo stupid” (not even going to unpack the sh*tty ableism there and its pervasiveness with both “Right” and “Left”) and intergenerational “bigots.” It’s the same people you’ve seen the last month or so really putting on a crocodile tears performance, making endless noise about signing and circulating the WE SEE YOU petition when you know damn well that they treat the Black and Indigenous POC they know in real life like sh*t.

These are the same people only a few months prior had no issues silencing Black and Indigenous people by endorsing political candidates with horrifying criminal justice records that specifically targeted BIPOC. Or stans of Pretendian scum Elizabeth Warren, whose apology they felt they could accept on our behalf, even though she continues to put Native lives and sovereignty in danger with her perpetuation of eugenics. Above all, all this noise-making is not rooted in wanting to do the right thing, or to use these ugly and uncomfortable moments as teachable, learning moments so we can all heal together. It’s rooted in appearing to be vastly mentally and morally superior to others and being The Smartest and Most Correct Person on the Internet. They don’t actually care about Black or Indigenous peoples, how their own past and current actions affect others, or whether or not something is actually racist or damaging--they just want to be smug and self-righteous @ssholes who can lord it over someone else. And, boy, oh BOY, is it tiresome. Have empathy and use this as a collective learning moment, instead of a moment to gloat, you pretentious pieces of sh*t. (Why even be sh*tty when you can just be quiet?)

"Not knowing" obviously does not absolve someone of racism, but, in this case, I think it's both fair and just to place the dominant amount of blame on Disney for what basically amounts to lying. Disney has been so sneaky about this for the last 30 years, how much can we blame people for not Googling it beforehand? A lot of the resistance to Splash Mountain being rethemed may indeed stem from a degree of anti-Blackness, that, of course, cannot be discredited. A lot of it may also be rooted in the disbelief they were taken advantage of like that. I guess the real question is, after giving yourself some time to process, how you respond now that you do know.

PART 1: A TALE OF TWO TRICKSTERS

In order to truly understand how we got here, to do this justice, we have to go all the way back. No, not to 1946. No, not to Joel Chandler Harris. We have to go back to the beginning of time when The Animal Relatives ran the world. We’re going back to different manifestations of The Great Hare, from Zomo to Nanabozho. (I don't think for an instant that their names being similar is a coincidence.)

This, by no means, is intended to take away from the stories of Brer Rabbit being resistance of the enslaved, necessary and sacred as they are entertaining. However, we also cannot take away from the Native influence on these stories, and the sacred synergy between the two worlds, as a fascinating examination of the same figure existing independently and predating contact with one another. We cannot effectively begin to understand Brer Rabbit as he is today, or how he was at the time that Joel Chandler Harris pilfered him, without understanding West Africa’s Hare/Tsuro, and the Great Hare of Many Names. We must establish a fundamental look at two continents, the same spiritual figure, and a shared history, that makes an integral cornerstone of a complete understanding. (I will be perfectly honest and candid here for a second, that my own attachment and connection to Disney’s Brer Rabbit stems from his unknowingly perfect embodiment of the Native origins of our little hero.)

Before we can even go any further, we have to understand what a trickster is, what role they play in the lexicon of archetypes, and why so many of them play a sacred role in the cultures they occupy.

A trickster is a figure in religion, mythology or folklore, who not only has access to vast knowledge and possesses a superior intellect, that they use it to subvert what is considered socially acceptable within the culturally relative space they occupy. A trickster comes in many forms; sometimes they’re even a shapeshifter. Sometimes they’re animals, sometimes they’re gods, sometimes they’re both. The trickster often has different roles even within their little trickster slot. Unlike the perpetually virtuous hero with a thousand faces, the trickster is, uh, morally ambiguous. He (sometimes she, but mostly he) isn’t physically imposing, but is an intellectual gladiator, overcoming his opponents with wit. The trickster doesn’t necessarily have to be a divine figure; sometimes they’re just a stock character. This is one of the fundamental differences between the trickster of European folklore and the folklore of Africa and the Americas. Puck, Reynard the Fox, Hermes, Leprechauns, and the Pied Piper are entertaining trickster tales, but don’t carry the same spiritual significance of Brer Rabbit or Mateguas, Coyote or Huehuecoyotl, or Māui (who, conversely, is often physically imposing).

Often tricksters of Black and Indigenous tales are also sacred clowns, cultural heroes who tow the lines of the sacred and profane, responsible for both the creation of the world and some serious fart jokes. Tricksters often learn hard lessons through their foolishness so we don’t have to.

In Native North America, we have many tricksters: Raven of the Pacific NorthWest, the Spider Woman or Spider Grandmother of the SouthWest, Azeban the Raccoon, Wolverine, and Rabbit of the Abenaki, as well as the related Rabbit of Great Lakes and SouthEast. Sometimes we call him Rabbit, sometimes we call him The Great Hare. (We’ll get back to Rabbit in a second.) For most of Native America, including the Great Plains and California, the greatest Trickster of them all, and the most recognizable to non-Native people, is Coyote.

I just want to make a quick note here, as an Abenaki person, that I am going to try to be as respectful as possible to my fellow Native people, for in our traditions, Rabbit is our hero and Coyote is closer to Brer Fox, especially, of all depictions, Disney’s Brer Fox; Coyote is a nasty and bad guy--the kind who will eat half of a pie you made, tell you he didn’t like it, but then also stick his little paws into every piece so no one else can eat the rest of it, and wipe them on your jacket as he tells you that. I also understand that for my California, Plains, and SouthWest Relatives, Coyote is sacred; for some of you, Coyote is also Creator. Moving forward, I just want to be transparent about my own cultural touchstones, and being respectful to my other Native Relatives. We have Fox, too.

Actually, let’s talk about the Wabenaki peoples for a second; The Abenaki, Miq’maq, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Penobscot are a part of the Wabanaki Confederacy, speak an Algonquin language and are considered Anishinaabe Dawnland peoples. Rabbit has many names in Wabanak storytelling and Anishinaabe aadizookaan: Mateguas, Tcakabesh, Nanabozho, Gitchii-waabooz. Sometimes they’re the same character, sometimes not. Sometimes there’s more overlap and in other times not; Mateguas (or Jiibayaabooz) is the lord of the Underworld, and the first keeper of magic. Existing within Abenaki/Wabanaki (and more specifically Miq’maq and Passamaquoddy) theology, are the Rabbit tales of running away, of moons in ponds, laughing places, of gaining a cotton tail, outwitting Coyote, Fox, Wildcat, and the Frenchmen, and saving his skin while the skin of his teeth have a tear. These should all start to sound pretty familiar.

The Miq’Maq Rabbit, known as Ableegumooch, is closer to the light-hearted, mischievous, cartoonish version of the Brer Rabbit we know today. He is a troublemaker, both brilliant and foolish, but is not malevolent, as say, Wolverine is, or greedy and outright foolhardy like Azeban the Raccoon. (I’d also like to point out that these were the ways these stories were handed down to me, and might not be everyone’s understanding of them. I tell them to you the way they were told to me.) There is a Coyote version of a Brer Rabbit story we’re probably the most familiar with, referring to it as a “pitch doll.”

While Rabbit of the Great Lakes and Eastern Woodlands is the most precious to me, it would go without saying that the Rabbit of the SouthEast has probably had the greatest influence on the Brer Rabbit we understand today. To even talk about that, we first need to address who they even had to influence in the first place: the West African trickster Rabbit/ Hare figures. (There is some debate as to whether or not to refer to these figures as ‘Rabbit’ or ‘Hare,’ as the use of ‘Rabbit’ is probably an influence from the North American counterpart, so I will keep that in mind.)

While we’ve talked about how the Brer Rabbit we know and love today could have not existed without the Native influence, Brer Rabbit remains unique in a way only the Decendants of American Chattel Slavery could have created. Many, many African animals, such as the Lion, Leopard, or Elephant, make their way into North American Brer Rabbit stories. There are many tales where our little hero Brer Rabbit runs circles around Boss (King) or Brer Lion; sometimes it’s to teach Boss Lion who the real boss is, sometimes Brer Rabbit has to play doctor.

At one point, Brer Rabbit’s faith in his own abilities is shaken, and he must retrieve an elephant tusk for a charm bag for the Spider Witch. Jackal and Hyena became Brer Fox and Brer Wolf; the African desert tortoise became Brer Terrapin. Anansi the Spider would have near-identical tales as Hare, and sometimes the wiley Adanko the Hare would appear in the Anansi tales. Senegalese stories would feature Leuk the rabbit. Even the uncomfortable and dreaded, often (appropriately) avoided “tar baby” story has its origins in Africa, although it would first be attributed to Robert Roosevelt, even before Joel Chandler Harris got his cringe-worthy hands on it. It would appear in none other than The Cherokee Advocate, and would recount Brer Rabbit’s battle with the tar wolf doll.

We’ve reached the point in where we can talk about the SouthEastern parallels and how they relate to being resistance methods of the enslaved, and it feels like a good time to remind everyone that these weren’t and aren’t fluffy bunny stories. Even Disney’s Brer Rabbit has considerable grit to him. In traditional retellings, the many enemies of Brer Rabbit are routinely, brutally killed off, only to pop back up in the next story (Julius Lester had a hilarious take on this). More than “just” animal stories, these parables are more than “just” folktales; these stories are theology and are oral literature. When thinking of and talking about them, it’s important to view them through this distinguished lens and not use Eurocentrism to color the way you view them.

It’s generally agreed by both Native and Black American historians that the Brer Rabbit we know has both Black and Cherokee/Creek origins. This, of course, raises a lot of questions about synergy versus cultural appropriation, as, during the period of colonization, the “Five Civilized Tribes” were both the oppressor and the oppressed. (It would also make it even more clear that Cherokee demonstrated anti-Blackness is not only shameful but nothing short of absolute bullshit.) Through the shared experience of colonization, the stories of the tricky Rabbit or Hare outwitting a larger, more powerful opponent aren't just appealing, they're inherently necessary.

We've finally reached a Brer Rabbit we can recognize. But first, what does “Brer” even stand for, anyway?! “Brer,” sometimes written “Br’er” is a contraction of the word Brother, originating in Black American Southern vernacular.

We've learned about the syncretism of the two worlds, African and Native North American influences on the Brer Rabbit stories we're familiar with today, but we cannot downplay the importance of Brer Rabbit specifically to Black America. Brer Rabbit as we understand him today was born out of necessity, giving a secret language to those robbed of their identities, and having every aspect of their lives stolen from them and controlled. Their minds and spirits, however, could not be. Not only upholding African storytelling traditions, these tales of defiance, resistance, and triumph could also double as secret codes for meetings and plans of escape.

Brer Rabbit lacked physical and political power but could outsmart his opponents at every turn, often by subverting expectations, using reverse psychology, or redirecting blame to cause distraction. It makes what Joel Chandler Harris, and later Disney, did to them all the more disgusting. I made sure to add resources below of folks who are far better equipped to talk about this than me.

TO POSE A FINAL QUESTION, HOW MUCH OF THIS DO YOU THINK THE DISNEY ANIMATORS WERE AWARE OF?

I’ve often wondered about how aware the Disney animators were of the relationship between the oral literature of the enslaved and Indigenous people. That seems like a strange question to pose, left field, and perhaps overreaching, giving too much credit where it’s not due. However, there is something to be said about how suspiciously Disney’s Brer Fox acts just like Coyote of the Eastern United States. It’s very suspicious that Brer Fox would look and behave like other Disney coyotes, and not other foxes, such as Robin Hood or Honest John or the little red fox from Mary Poppins. It could be just a coincidence that Brer Fox more closely resembles Bent-Tail from The Legend of Coyote Rock and other shorts Bent-tail starred in.

Of course, 1943’s Foxy Loxy has a little bit of an overlap between the two, but isn’t it suspicious all the same? Foxy Loxy, though odious enough, still resembles more of a fox, with smooth lines, and catlike whiskers, rather than the more coyote and wolf-like features of Brer Fox, Bent-tail, and coyotes in the Pecos Bill short. Of course, we’ll never have a definitive answer, but it does make one wonder. Huh. How…. very Coyote.

Stay tuned for Part 2: The Hot Mess of Joel Chandler Harris’ “Authentic Dialect,” Cultural Appropriation, and Lasting Disastrous Effects.

Further Reading Viewing and Listening:

Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa

When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote: AFRICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE

by Jonathan Brennan

American Indian Trickster Tales by Richard Erdoes and Alphonso Ortiz (has some of the Miq’Maq and other Rabbit stories referenced throughout this piece)

Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection (SBN 10: 1555917240 / ISBN 13: 9781555917241)

Bayou graphic novels by Jeremy Love

Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales (a 4 book series) by Julius Lester (illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)

How Many Spots Does A Leopard Have? And Other Tales by Julius Lester

"You Can't Run Away from Trouble, Disney" - Part 1

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