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Uncle Remus

Folktale of the southern United States

Uncle Remus
Summary

Folktale of the southern United States

FieldValue
nameUncle Remus
imageUncle Remus crop 1881 (high res transparent).png
firstUncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation
creatorJoel Chandler Harris
portrayerJames Baskett (Song of the South)
voiceDallas McKennon (record releases)
genderMale
nationalityAmerican

| info-hdr = | extra-hdr = Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post–Reconstruction era Atlanta, and he produced seven Uncle Remus books. He did so by introducing tales that he had heard and framing them in the plantation context. He wrote his stories in a dialect which was his interpretation of the Deep South African-American language of the time. For these framing and stylistic choices, Harris's collection has garnered controversy since its publication.

Structure

"Old Plantation Play Song", from ''Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-Lore of the Old Plantation'', 1881

Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore collected from Southern Black Americans. Many of the stories are didactic, much like those of Aesop's Fables and Jean de La Fontaine's stories. Uncle Remus is a kindly old freedman who serves as a story-telling device, passing on the folktales to children gathered around him, like the traditional African griot.

The stories are written in an eye dialect devised by Harris to represent a Deep South Black dialect. Uncle Remus is a compilation of Br'er Rabbit storytellers whom Harris had encountered during his time at the Turnwold Plantation. Harris said that the use of the Black dialect was an effort to add to the effect of the stories and to allow the stories to retain their authenticity. The genre of stories is the trickster tale. At the time of Harris's publication, his work was praised for its ability to capture plantation Black dialect.

Br'er Rabbit ("Brother Rabbit") is the main character of the stories, a character prone to tricks and troublemaking, who is often opposed by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. In one tale, Br'er Fox constructs a doll out of a lump of tar and puts clothing on it. When Br'er Rabbit comes along, he addresses the "tar baby" amiably but receives no response. Br'er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as the tar baby's lack of manners, punches it and kicks it and becomes stuck.

Adaptations in film and other media

Comics

In 1902, artist Jean Mohr adapted the Uncle Remus stories into a two-page comic story titled Ole Br'er Rabbit for The North American.

The McClure Newspaper Syndicate released a Br'er Rabbit Sunday strip drawn by J. M. Condé from June 24 to October 7, 1906.

An Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit newspaper Sundays-only strip (King Features Syndicate) ran from October 14, 1945, through December 31, 1972, as an offshoot of the Disney comics strip Silly Symphony.

Films and television

;Films

  • Walt Disney's Song of the South (1946), a live action/animated musical drama with James Baskett as Remus. Baskett was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1948.
  • Ralph Bakshi's film Coonskin (1975), a satire of the Disney film which adapts and mocks the Uncle Remus stories in a contemporary Harlem setting.
  • The Adventures of Brer Rabbit (2006) from Universal Animation Studios, a modern adaptation of the stories featuring the voice of Nick Cannon as the title character.

;Television

  • Rémusz bácsi meséi (1967) from Magyar Televízió, a Hungarian 13-episode television series.
  • Jänis Vemmelsäären seikkailut (1987–1988) from Yle, an eight-part Finnish television series that aired on Yle TV2, as a part of the children's show Pikku Kakkonen.
  • Brer Rabbit Tales (1991), a 47-minute television film written and directed by Al Guest and Jean Mathieson for Emerald City Productions.
  • Brer Rabbit's Christmas Carol (1992) from Magic Shadows, a 58-minute sequel to the earlier film from the same writer-director staff retreading the plot of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol with the Remus characters.
  • The Outrageous Brer Rabbit (1994) from Magic Shadows, a 30-minute sequel to the earlier Christmas film from the same writer-director staff using the same characters in a summer festival-themed film.

Music

"Uncle Remus" is a song by Frank Zappa and George Duke from Zappa's 1974 album Apostrophe (').

Bob Dylan lists several people that are commonly looked to for hope and inspiration in his poem "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie", saying "that stuff ain't real... And Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa Claus."

Influence

Uncle Remus has been claimed as a major influence on Beatrix Potter.

References

Bibliography

  • Short biography of Joel Chandler Harris with photograph
  • References in Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography to Brer Rabbit and Uncle Remus.

References

  1. Montenyohl, Eric. (1986). "The Origins of Uncle Remus". Folklore Forum.
  2. Jim, Korkis. (2012). "Who's afraid of the Song of the South? : and other forbidden Disney stories". Theme Park Press.
  3. Clemens, Samuel L.. (1883). "Chapter XLVII: 'Uncle Remus' and Mr. Cable". Life on the Mississippi.
  4. (2000-08-01). "Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings". Project Gutenberg.
  5. (2019). "American Funny Animal Comics in the 20th Century: Volume One". Theme Park Press.
  6. (2012). "American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide". The University of Michigan Press.
  7. (2009). "Disney's "Uncle Remus" strips". Hogan's Alley.
  8. Brasch, Walter M.. (2000). "Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus and the "Cornfield Journalist": The Tale of Joel Chandler Harris". Mercer University Press.
  9. Murfin, Patrick (March 21, 2013). "An Oscar for Uncle Remus". ''Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout''. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  10. Lowe, Kelly Fisher. (2007). "The Words and Music of Frank Zappa". [[Bison Books]].
  11. "Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie - The Official Bob Dylan Site".
  12. "Not Available - Historical - The Residents".
  13. (2023-05-19). "Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit story originated in African folktales, expert argues". The Guardian.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

characters-in-american-novels-of-the-19th-century african-american-characters-in-literature fictional-characters-from-the-19th-century fictional-slaves fictional-storytellers literary-characters-introduced-in-1881 male-characters-in-literature song-of-the-south-characters br'er-rabbit
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