July 5, 2020
MY CORNER by Boyd Cathey
Cancel Culture will
Decimate Us…If We Let It
Friends,
Often as I work at my computer I keep
on the Sirius FM Classical Music Service, “Symphony Hall,” with an occasional
switch-over to a Bluegrass channel. Both, I believe, reflect at their finest
superior elements of our Western cultural tradition with deep popular roots in our
civilization, in the songs and compositions of people—our ancestors—which are
inspired by their faith, by their heroes, by their tragedies and triumphs, by
events in their cumulative history.
Over recent years, certainly since the
end of World War II and more aggressively since the momentous civil rights
years of the 1960s, there has been a progressive and widespread effort to both “deconstruct”
this cultural tradition and alter its expression, with a specific emphasis on the
influence of women and minorities who, we are told, have been underrepresented.
There is, let me point out, nothing intrinsically wrong with that: of course,
women and minorities, especially racial minorities, have played a distinctive
and important role in our artistic heritage and traditions. And there have been
some significant and worthy contributions made by those folk. But always to be
understood in perspective and in the context of two millennia of our Western
culture, with its roots in, to quote the late philosopher Eric Voegelin, “Jerusalem,
Athens, and Rome.”
But increasingly our cultural elites
in music, art, and film have attempted to treat those essential characteristics
and aspects of culture, those emanations and glories of our heritage by radically re-interpreting them, recasting them completely, and they have done so by
excluding, even censoring or banning works long held to be of great value and grandeur.
Indeed, a long festering anti-Western and anti-Christian animus, always there
but for decades largely just beneath the surface, now aims to reign supreme and
dominate. Woe to anyone who would oppose it; to do so means you are a “racist”
and partake of “white supremacy.” And once that death knell is sounded, that
fatal sentence is pronounced by some poorly educated “woke” lunatic on Twitter,
well, there is nothing to do but subserviently crawl on all fours, beg
forgiveness for everything your ancestors may have done, essentially for being
white.
Especially since the death of George
Floyd, a drug addict and convicted felon now apparently up for sainthood (by
both Democrats AND too many Republicans), the madness we’ve witnessed in the
actions of our political class now is also translated with a renewed vigour
into the arts, into education, into religion, into sports, into practically
everything that makes life interesting, varied and rewarding.
Ominously, the goal lines are
advancing rapidly in all of those areas, as we see each day recounted by brain-dead
Marxist apparatchiks on television. Outright censorship and banning are
becoming the rule…and it seems that those who should be stoutly opposing them
are giving in readily to the lunacy.
Consider that such “conservatives” as
US Senators James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) now
propose replacing Columbus Day as a national holiday with Juneteenth to
celebrate the manumission of the last slaves in 1865. Tell me, please, what is
the difference between these pusillanimous fake conservatives and those “woke”
social justice warriors out in the streets who actually pull down monuments to
Christopher Columbus? At least the rioters are honest about their designs.
Lankford and Johnson think they can “compromise” their way around what is going
on. Their lack of conviction, their cowardice, is revealed for all to see. And in
the end the mob will not spare them, either.
Recently, Paul C. Graham, author of the book Confederaphobia (Shotwell Publishing), received notice from
Amazon.com that they planned to stop marketing at least one, if not more of the
titles that Shotwell has published, most dealing with the Confederacy.
Here is part of their message: "Greetings from Kindle Direct Publishing. I have received feedback from our technical team. They advised that your book
has been identified as confederate flag merchandise [sic!]. Amazon policy
prohibits the listing or sale of confederate flag merchandise. For more
information, please see our seller help pages: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200685950&qid=1485836319&sr=1-1 We've unpublished this title and placed a publishing hold. Thank you for reaching out to KDP. If you require any further assistance please
do not hesitate to get back into contact with us. Regards, Haashim S. Kindle Direct Publishing."
Amazon forbids and
will not sell anything that promotes what it says involves Confederate
flag merchandise. You
see, for Amazon’s highly educated technical staff a “book” is actually “Confederate
flag merchandise.”
Not only that, but the list of banned
and forbidden items grows even as I write these words. Anything deemed to be
racist, Confederate, misogynist, “Nazi” and so on by Amazon’s “technical team”
will be eventually proscribed, and you won’t be able to get it from the world’s
major seller of merchandise.
The ramifications of this massive assault
reach into every sphere of our culture, notably film. Consider Gone With the Wind, the Civil War epic considered a
classic of American cinema, that has been pulled
by HBO Max (until maybe at some future date a politically correct version can
be confected): "The move comes as media companies reappraise content in light of
nationwide protests over police brutality and systemic racism after the death
of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minnesota police..... Long considered controversial for its depiction of Black people
and its positive view of slavery, Gone With the Wind faced renewed scrutiny...."
I know what you are thinking: Americans just won’t
tolerate that and won’t let this occur.
But you are wrong, deadly wrong: it IS happening
all around us, such that the patrimony we may be allowed to leave to our
children and grandchildren will be immeasurably poorer and barren, only a
remote memory, and after we pass from the scene, not even that.
This is one of the aspects of the culture
war we find ourselves in. Indeed, Pat Buchanan back
in 1992 spoke of it in what were then considered stark and divisive terms.
But what he said back then was only a mild forecast of what has occurred since 1992:
that conflict “is about who we are. It is
about what we believe. It is about what we stand for as Americans. There is a
religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural
war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War
itself.”
Friends, it is not just those public symbols,
those statues and monuments which are coming down, it is practically everything
that differentiates and distinguishes our culture, our inheritance, the very
essence and emanation of who we are and what we hold dear, our art, music,
literature, our very soul as a people, that is at stake.
If we fail in this battle, in this culture war—and it
IS a war—our civilization is finished, it is over, consigned to the dust bin of
history—a goal so earnestly desired and pushed by the militant mobs of Black
Lives Matter, Antifa, and associated groups. There is absolutely no room for
compromise a la Lankford and Ron Johnson. For compromise leads to surrender and
surrender leads to extinction.
I have gone back and here resurrect two
articles that I’ve published on classic Southern films on DVD. I send them out again,
and I urge you to consider purchasing them while you can, before the censors
ban them and before sites like Amazon stop selling them (and studios shred
them). It goes without saying that other films, more recent ones like Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, may also be on the chopping block and may also
disappear. If you and your family don’t own such items, now is the time to
purchase them and to continue, even in the darkened catacombs of our future, to
share them with your children.
The Russian people suffered under seven decades
of Communism, to emerge in the early 1990s with a reborn and vigorous religious
faith and devotion to their pre-Soviet traditions.
My question for us all is this: are we prepared
to do likewise until that day that God ordains when His justice and triumph
arrive?
Here are my two review articles:
Classic Confederate Hollywood
Recent releases of
four classic films should gladden the hearts of patriotic Southerners and those
viewers not yet infected by the currently-raging virus of political correctness
and multiculturalism.
A few years back
Warner Brothers inaugurated an Archive series and began releasing hundreds of
classic films that had, in most cases, never shown up previously in any
commercially released video format. Warner began releasing these movies in the
DVD-R format, copies of which could basically be made on demand. Very soon
other studios, including MGM/United Artists, Sony/Columbia, and Fox initiated
similar projects. The result is that inveterate viewers of classic films—and
films about the Confederacy and the Old South—now have much greater choices in
viewing.
Fortunately,
several good War Between the States films from the 1930s-1950s have been
included in these releases. Two of them on Fox DVD-Rs are highly entertaining,
and would amply repay the investment of a few dollars. First, a real gem: The
Raid (1954), starring
Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, and Richard Boone, detailing the famous Confederate
raid on St. Albans, Vermont. The Raid is a superb war film, a model in its
genre, in colour, with a good script, fine acting, and superior direction by
old Hollywood pro, Hugo Fregonese. In particular, Lee Marvin, as the fractious
Confederate trooper who hates Yankees (and can’t always hold his liquor),
stands out. But The Raid also puts a human face on war, with
Heflin’s Confederate officer character illustrating both nobility and admirable
Southern honor. Fox has issued a re-mastered version, and it can be easily
ordered using Amazon.com (in particular, Amazon’s marketplace feature).
A second Fox
release is the 1938 Technicolor classic, Kentucky, showcasing
Loretta Young, Walter Brennan, and Richard Greene. Beginning with depredations
committed by a neighbor Yankee officer (Douglas Dumbrille) against a
pro-Confederate landowner and horse-breeder in old Kentucky, the film then
jumps up to the 1930s and a new generation competing in horse flesh and racing.
Walter Brennan plays the crusty and irrepressible Peter Goodwin who had seen
his father cut down by Federals during the War and who remains highly
suspicious of the grandson of his hereditary enemy who begins to have designs
on Brennan’s granddaughter, played by Loretta Young. With flair Young and
Greene interpret the roles of the scions of the rival families, whose racing
competition ends up in romance. Like other films produced before the advent of
political correctness and the post-1960s trend of hatred of anything
Confederate, Kentucky epitomizes
the period when national harmony and respect of Southern tradition seemed to
dominate. The acting, especially by Brennan, is fine and the colour
photography—rare for 1938—is excellent. As I said, Kentucky is not politically correct, and its
portrayal of blacks has offended some reviewers, whose vocabularies seem always
limited to the word “racism.” But it is much more than a contextual view of
race relations; it’s a heartwarming film that will appeal both to adults and
the whole family.
A third recent
release has shown up on Olive Films in both regular DVD and Blu-Ray formats (in
a fine black and white print). Perhaps the finest movie about Reconstruction
ever made and directed by one of the finest cineastes in the history of the
film industry, John Ford, The Sun Shines Bright,
is a sheer delight, combining all of the wonderful characteristics of Ford’s
famous movie-making. As usual the “Ford actors ensemble” works extremely well
together. Thus, Grant Withers, Jane Darwell, Russell Simpson, John Russell,
James Kirkwood, Trevor Bardette, and other Ford regulars show up, playing off
each other with ease and grace.
The story, taken
from Irvin S. Cobb’s tales of Old Kentucky, details life towards the end of the
19th century, with the little community of Fairfield split between partisans of
the South and those who appear to be mostly carpetbaggers or scalawags. In a
role assumed by Will Rogers twenty years earlier (in another Ford classic, Judge
Priest), Charles Winninger is simply perfect as Confederate veteran
and bugler Billy Priest, now Judge of Fairfield County. Winninger heads up a
diminishing encampment of the United Confederate Veterans. And Milburn
Stone–Doc Adams of “Gunsmoke” fame—takes the role of Horace K. Maydew, the
Republican attorney who hopes to replace Judge Priest at the next election.
As with most of
Ford’s films, humour plays a central role. Add strictly comedic roles with
Stepin’ Fetchit, Slim Pickens, and Francis Ford, and the traditional Ford magic
takes off from the first scene and never ceases until the final credits.
Fetchit is Judge Priest’s “boy,” an integral and beloved part of his household
who keeps him abreast of all the gossip and news circulating in Fairfield, but also
insures that the old judge gets his “rheumatiz” medicine every morning to, as
he says, “get my heart started.”
Early on there is a
rapturous scene in Judge Priest’s courtroom when a young black man is brought
in for vagrancy (as charged by attorney Maydew), and Stepin’ Fetchit reveals
that the boy can superbly play the banjo and asks him to begin “Dixie.” He
does, and every UCV member in the small town hears it and makes his way to the
courthouse to join in. It’s as if the whole town, both white and black, is
celebrating “old times there are not forgotten.”
Yet, despite its
boisterous humour and rhapsodic flow, The Sun Shines Bright also offers the spectator some
wonderful insights into human nature, loyalty, justice, love of tradition and
devotion to one’s native land. The final moving scene, with Judge Priest
disappearing past a series of opened doors, was adapted by Ford years later for
the final scene of his masterpiece, The
Searchers.
Originally released
by Republic on VHS cassette, The Sun Shines Bright has now been licensed to Olive Films
who have released it both on DVD and Blu-Ray disc. For a birthday, an
anniversary, or for any occasion, this film is a must for any Southerner and
any lover of great filmmaking. John Ford, reportedly, said that The Sun Shines Bright was the favorite of all his superb
films. That is high recommendation indeed.
The fourth recent
release of a War-related film from the 1950s is a new re-mastering of Drums
in the Deep South (1951).
This movie has long been available, both on VHS cassette and DVD, but always in
sub-standard and poor quality, with bad colour separation and smudgy video
reproduction. I can recall many years ago seeing it on television, and even
then the Super Cinecolor process looked bad. But, finally, VCI Entertainment
has found an acceptable master copy and restored it. The Super Cinecolor is
still a bit washed out (as most Cinecolor films are), but the colour separation
is far superior to other editions and the copy on DVD is sharp, and does not
detract from the story line. And the film can be had from sources like
Amazon.com for under ten dollars.
James Craig stars
as the Confederate officer charged with inhibiting Sherman’s march from
Chattanooga to Atlanta, and his close friend, Guy Madison (not yet into his
Wild Bill Hickok role), assumes the role of Craig’s Yankee nemesis. The action
is plentiful and the attention to both historical and military detail is very
good. The last scene, as James Craig decides to sacrifice his life for the
Cause, is memorable. Final credits include the obligatory statement about a
re-united nation, “indivisible,” but this should not deter purchasers.
Academy Award
winning film composer Dmitri Tiomkin provides a lush and lyrical score. The
result is another product that those devoted to Southern history, the War
Between the States, and good cinema should snatch up without hesitation.
Amidst the clutter
of contemporary attempts by Hollywood to produce politically-correct films on
the history of the War Between the States period (with such ahistorical
examples as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire
Hunter and 12 Years a Slave now
typical), exploring films of an earlier era in American history serve as an
antidote to the infectious brew that both pollutes our minds and warps our
judgment.
Song
of the South and the Assault on Culture
Boyd Cathey on Jul 25, 2019
Most of us, even
the youngest, have heard of the magnificent Disney film, “Song of the South,”
originally released in 1946. And certainly we are familiar with its hit song,
“Zip-a Dee Doo Dah.” Some of us have seen this partially animated
classic, or recall seeing it years ago, even though it is officially
unavailable at present. Disney refuses to release it to the American market.
Well, superbly
reproduced video copies can now be purchased in the United States.
Here’s the rest of
the story.
In our
politically-correct times, various films—mostly dating from the 1940s and
1950s—that are genuine cultural treasures have been or are in danger of being
banned or removed de
facto from public view. In particular, it has been classic
films about the South and the Confederacy which have become increasingly the
most notable targets of fierce and unhinged attacks, objects of efforts not
only to eradicate wonderful cinematic works of art, but extinguish their very
memory and the memories they convey.
It’s a campaign
that parallels the frenetic attempt to remove monuments honoring Confederate
veterans, and now has expanded to censor and ban artwork and memorials to such
national figures as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Christopher
Columbus. And that movement only increases and broadens its targets as time
passes.
It is, of course,
part and parcel of the multifaceted and ongoing campaign in our society, in
fact in all of
the remnants of Western Christian society (including Europe) to efface any
symbol of our historic cultural heritage.
It is all about the
progressivist template which posits that “race” is the central motivating factor
in history. All else pales in significance and importance: not religious
belief, not shared cultural heritage, not a common history or language, but
race is the determinant for practically everything in society. The
historic “colonialized” peoples, black and brown (but curiously normally not
Asians), according to this narrative, are a downtrodden underclass, oppressed
historically by the European white patriarchy who have brutally amassed their
fortunes and power at the expense of those black and brown peoples.
Thus, according to
such Marxist ideologues as Frantz Fanon (in his influential volume, The Wretched of the Earth,
1961) and Saul Alinsky (in his handbook for modern revolutionaries, Rules for Radicals,
1971), those races must overthrow the white European hierarchy, by whatever
means necessary.
It is not even a
question of the overused totem word “equality.” For these newer
revolutionaries, although they may use that term widely (and indiscriminately),
actually desire a new form
of inequality,
with themselves at the top of the mound heap—witness the politically enhanced
campaign for “reparations,” now adopted in some form by most Democratic
candidates for president.
This template of
race and liberation from racism is an explosive theorization that inevitably
produces violence and social upheaval. And it fits into a Neo-Marxist
revolutionary narrative which employs it as a means to power. Indeed, one
may question whether these new fanatical revolutionaries’ professed concern for
the underclass is really that, or rather, a classic Marxist use of the “proles”
to advance their replacement of one oligarchy with another of their own making.
Interestingly, for
those millions of radicalized “woke” white millennials (and craven politicians
who cower in fear at their latest barbarity), this meme has become a kind of
exercise in public expiation of their own sense of “white guilt,” pounded into
them by poisonous academic and cultural elites who dominate our society and our
educational system.
Like most revolutionary
movements, in the arts and literature it initially appeared modest in its
goals: “We just want to restrict the most offensive
[for minorities] works of art,” it declared, “such books as Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn or Helen Bannerman’s The Story of Little Black Sambo, which
are perceived to be racist.” Or, “we just want to ban such songs, like ‘Dixie,’
that produce discomfort or instill fear into minorities.”
But, of course,
like any revolutionary movement, book burning takes on a life and logic of its
own. And its list of targets has grown as the cowardice and corruption of the
supposed opposition to it has collapsed.
This is perhaps
most noticeable in the fate of classic films that portray the Old South or
Confederacy in a favorable light. Such works fail to satisfy the correct
propaganda purposes and, thus, do not further the revolution.
Back in 1956 as a
young boy my family and I went to see a special, tenth anniversary screening of
Disney’s masterful semi-animated film, “Song of the South.” I can still
remember the wonderful sensation, the delightful songs, the humor and
imagination, and the heartwarming story. This cinematic epic is a monumental
film, a true American classic with appeal to viewers of all ages, with a
message of loyalty and genuine love that transcend both the times and race.
It is about and
takes place in the Old South, on a Southern plantation, one in which a familiar and peaceful–albeit
unequal–relationship between white and black Southerners ensures a good story. But
for our modern custodians of good taste and artistic virtue, this is a very big
problem: “Song of the South” does not call for a race war, nor does it demonize
Southerners or the Old South. Thus, today this cinematic masterpiece,
comparable at the very least to anything else Disney produced (e.g., Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, etc.) is
not commercially—officially—available in the United States.
And you know the
reason: our cultural elitists and politically-correct “woke” cultural masters inform
us that it’s “racist.”
Walt Disney passed
from the scene in 1966, and his company soon fell under the control of New York
cosmopolitans (e.g., Michael Eisner and Bob Iger) whose appreciation of
traditional American heritage and traditions was about as great as their
appreciation of Eastern North Carolina barbecue.
In other words,
given the changing cultural and political climate in the United States,
releasing “Song of the South” for American distribution was not something they
were going to do (even with the potential millions of shekels they might
amass).
Here is what the
Wikipedia tells us:
“The Walt Disney Company has yet
to release a complete version of the film in the United States on home
video given the film’s controversial reputation…. From 1984-2005, Disney
CEO Michael Eisner stated that the film would never receive a home
video release in the U.S.A., due to not wanting to have to hire a viewing
disclaimer. However he favored its release in Europe and Asia where “slavery is
a lesser controversial subject”.… In March 2010, new Disney CEO Bob
Iger stated that there are currently no plans at this time to release the
movie on DVD yet, calling the film “antiquated” and “fairly offensive”….
Film critic Roger Ebert, who normally disdained any attempt to keep films
from any audience, supported the non-release position, claiming that most
Disney films become a part of the consciousness of American children, who take
films more literally than do adults…. The full-length film has been released in
its entirety on VHS and LaserDisc in various European and Asian countries. In
the UK, it was released on [the European, non-American video format]
PAL VHS first in 1983, then in 1991, 1992, and 1996, and again in 2000. In
Japan it appeared on NTSC [American format] VHS, and LaserDisc in
1990 with Japanese subtitles during the songs (additionally,
under Japanese copyright law, the film is now in the public domain).
An NTSC DVD was released in Taiwan for the rental market by “”Classic Reels”.”
Even in England it is
now listed by Amazon.co.uk as “no longer available” and extremely difficult to
find. My first copy came from Taiwan, replete with Taiwanese subtitles that I
could not, unfortunately, shut off.
There have been
private copies circulating, and over the years I’ve purchased several of them,
with varying degrees of success as to film reproduction quality, color, and
sound.
But now, just
recently I discovered an American source for an excellent video reproduction of
the film, [songofthesouth.org]
in glorious Technicolor and, even more attractive, at an excellent price. And
I’d like to share it with you.
I recommend it
without hesitation. The quality of the video reproduction is superb in every
way, color, sound, contrast, sharpness. And the price (INCLUDING FIRST CLASS
POSTAGE AND HANDLING) is only $11.99. Additionally, this seller will
include a second and largely forgotten Disney classic, “So Dear to My Heart”
(1948), as a second, for only $16.99 for both. I ordered my copies on a
Saturday, and the order came priority mail the next Tuesday, that is, in record
time, in a nice DVD package with cover art.
In short, this is a
self-recommending purchase, and an opportunity to fully appreciate, enjoy, and
participate in the richness of our cinematic cultural inheritance.
Given the unhinged
and frenetic attempts to censor and eradicate our heritage, I don’t know for
how long this fine copy of an American and Southern classic will be available
before the PC police denounce the site and demand it cease offering copies to
purchasers.
As for me, I plan
to get several additional copies for my own archive and for possible Christmas
gifts.
And my advice is
for you to do the same.
About Boyd Cathey
Boyd D. Cathey holds a doctorate
in European history from the Catholic University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain,
where he was a Richard Weaver Fellow, and an MA in intellectual history from
the University of Virginia (as a Jefferson Fellow). He was assistant to
conservative author and philosopher the late Russell Kirk. In more recent years
he served as State Registrar of the North Carolina Division of Archives and
History. He has published in French, Spanish, and English, on historical
subjects as well as classical music and opera. He is active in the Sons of
Confederate Veterans and various historical, archival, and genealogical
organizations. His boo, The Land We Love:
the South and Its Heritage, was published in 2018.
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