Brer Rabbit - again...

[Alípio d'Oliveira Coelho]

> From: "Arie Fachrisal" <cien2 at cbn.net.id>
> Subject: Brer
> Hi all,
> So the dialogues were written in southern dialects which may offense
> the
> blacks. One question, why did the writer write in that dialect then?
> If
> he/she's some kind of racist, i think he/she wouldn't include the
> dialect.
> Maybe IMO the writer was living in the southern which he/she oneself
> used
> spoke in that dialect too???
>
> From: sonia_dyer at hp.com
> Subject: Brer Rabbit
>      The characters are mimicking black people's speech and behavior -
>
>      which makes them seen as "black people" (although being rabbits
> etc.).
>      Is this in itself offending?
>
>                  Hi Jorgen-
>           Similarly, in the original  Uncle Remus/Brer Rabbit stories,
> the rabbit was a very very
>           clever and inventive fellow.

>                       Sonia

> From: bror.hellman at partena.se
>
> Well, it's written in southern dialect because Bre'r Rabbit and the
> other folks are what usually is known as "southern hicks" or farmer/
> country folks. It's an old cliché.  Even Goofy speaks similarily in
> films.
> It's used to depict uneducated, unsophisticated country people,
> I don't think anyone could think that Bre'r Bear is ridiculing
> "black" people.
>
> 2) Bre'r Rabbit, Bre'r Bear and Bre'r Fox originally comes from
> the feature film "Song of the South", which in it's turn is based
> on a collection of folktales, etc. called "Uncle Remus Tales".
> Well, the narrator in this movie is an old black man. Depicted in
> the fashion of the time, which today is much more controversial,
> and is - in my opinion - very stereotypical.
> Now, I live in Sweden, so I might have got some facts wrong,
> but this is how I understand it.
>

Uncle Remus' stories are written by Joel Chandler Harris. They are tales
to preserve the slave culture. UncleRemus was a old, black, CLEVER slave
and some stories even appeared on medical literature. This is the
introduction of a special article published on The American Journal of
Medicine:"UNCLE REMUS AND THE CASCADE EFFECT IN CLINICAL MEDICINE
 Brer Rabbit Kicks the Tar-Baby"

    "When Joel Chandler Harris published his Uncle Remus stories more
than a century ago, his major purpose was the preservation of a part of
the unique antebellum plantation slave culture, which he feared would
otherwise  soon be forgotten. To accomplish this, he invented the
character of the wise and kindly slave-philosopher Uncle Remus. As much
as he was concerned about the accurate portrayal of the details of the
folklore, the allegoric interpretations of the legends were of little
concern to Harris (he was gladly willing to defer all such
interpretations to "the scientists"). However, the Uncle Remus stories
are much like Aesop's fables, in that each can be considered a parable
with a fairly obvious message."
(K. Patrick Ober, M.D. - The American Journal of Medicine - May 1987,vol
82,  page 1009-13)

 Anders:

| What is political correctness?

It is a plague! A plague which we should fight to keep away from
Scandinavia and other more or less unaffected areas.
   Jørgen

That's true. Congratulations!
Brer Alipio