Tar baby

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Tar-Baby was a doll made of tar and turpentine, used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fought the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he became. In contemporary usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact. The only way to solve such a situation is by separation.^[1]

Contents 1 Story 2 Term 3 Disney 4 Spanish Version (El Muñeco de Greda) 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Story

In one tale, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear construct a doll out of a lump of tar and dressed it with some clothes. 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, kicks it, and in doing so becomes stuck. Now that Br'er Rabbit is stuck, Br'er Fox ponders how to dispose of him. The helpless, but cunning, Br'er Rabbit pleads, "Please don't throw me in the briar patch," prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Br'er Rabbit escapes. Using the phrases "please don't throw me in the briar patch" and "tar baby" to refer to the idea of "a problem that gets worse the more one struggles against it" became part of the wider culture of the United States in the mid-20th century. The story was originally published in Harper's Weekly by Robert Roosevelt; years later Joel Chandler Harris wrote of the tar baby in his Uncle Remus stories. A similar tale from African folklore in Ghana has the trickster Anansi in the role of Br'er Rabbit.

[edit] Term

Although the term's provenance arose in African folklore, some now consider "tar baby" to have negative connotations revolving around pejorative images of African-Americans.^[2] Specific reasons why the term developed negative racial aspects are difficult to identify. In recent years, several politicians who have publicly used the term have encountered some controversy, mocking, and censure from African-American civil rights leaders, members of the popular daily media, and other politicians.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

In an interview, Toni Morrison said the following of its use in her book, in an acting of reclaiming: "Tar Baby is also a name, like 'nigger,' that white people call black children, black girls, as I recall…. At one time, a tar pit was a holy place, at least an important place, because tar was used to build things…. It held together things like Moses' little boat and the pyramids. For me, the tar baby came to mean the black woman who can hold things together." ("An Interview" 255) ^[9]

[edit] Disney

Walt Disney Studios released Song of the South, which contains the Tar-Baby story, in 1946. The film was never released on VHS in North America due to issues relating to race. Currently Disney is considering releasing the film on DVD.^[10] The ride Splash Mountain, which is in three of the Walt Disney theme parks, is based on the stories by Uncle Remus. However, instead of the Tar-Baby, Br'er rabbit is captured in a beehive. The changes were made most likely to avoid similar racial controversies that plagued Song of the South from being released on home video.

The Tar Baby was featured as one of the guests in House of Mouse.

[edit] Spanish Version (El Muñeco de Greda)

There is anecdotical evidence of the same story in north western mountainous parts of Colombia, South America. In the Spanish version the rabbit, which doesn't have a name, annoyed hits the tar baby (textually "Muñeco de Greda") with his hand, and successively with the other hand, legs, and ears. Until it is completely stuck, being then trapped by the farmer that had setup the tar baby as a trap.

[edit] See also

• Anansi
• Promise (album) — an album by Sade that includes the song "Tar Baby"

[edit] References