The Bees (Song of the South)

The Bees are characters featured in the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. They are a group of animated bees featured in the animated sequences throughout the film.
==Background==
In the "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", the bees featured in this sequence are a group of anthropomorphic bees. They are seen having a light brown coloration over their body as well as each wearing a t-shirt having a pattern of yellow and black stripes. They are shown to have a kind personality to Uncle Remus throughout the sequence along with the other critters that he finds, often having a happy expression.
The bees also appear during the "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" sequence. Unlike the bees featured in the "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" sequence, they do not have the same appearance from the first segment, as they are a different group of bees in this segment (implying that they are non-anthropomorphic bees). However, whenever an active beehive is disturbed, it causes the bees to attack the person who disturbed their hive as a self-defense ability - such as the case of Br'er Rabbit tricking Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox into the "Laughing Place" where Br'er Bear was the first to be stung followed by Br'er Fox being the next, showing that Br'er Rabbit was the one who tricked them into their comeuppance while Br'er Rabbit laughs at them in excitement, happy that he found his "Laughing Place".
==Appearances==
===Song of the South===
The bees are first seen near the end of the musical number, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" where Uncle Remus happily passes alongside them after passing through the three Sis Moles, a trio of hummingbirds, and Mr. Bluebird where he passes by some bees by a tree. Upon passing by them, he hears the bees happily buzzing to the song's tune, just as Uncle Remus sings along with them. During the end of the song's Mr. Bluebird verse, Remus then explains "It is the truth", to which the bees disagree, because they don't see Mr. Bluebird next to him, followed by the hummingbirds doing the same gesture to him; however, Uncle Remus doesn't notice that Mr. Bluebird is on his head just before the song ends.
During the "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" sequence where Br'er Rabbit attempts to escape from Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear in order for Br'er Rabbit to stall the duo's plans to eat him, Br'er Rabbit ultimately tricks Br'er Bear in a patch of trees (whom they think that it's the "Laughing Place" that Br'er Rabbit is talking about) where he finds nothing but bees just as he gets a beehive stuck on his nose. As Br'er Fox laughs at him, Br'er Bear gets offended and places a beehive on Br'er Fox's head while Br'er Rabbit laughs at him just as Br'er Bear grabs him, who tells Br'er Rabbit that he tricked him into that so-called "Laughing Place" just as Br'er Fox tosses the beehive at Br'er Bear for the bees to attack him again as he reacts in fright. The bees angrily chase Br'er Bear just at they suddenly pass through Br'er Fox, swarming him while Br'er Rabbit finds this moment exciting and funny. As the bees suddenly chase Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear away, Br'er Rabbit continues to laughs in excitement throwing the autumn leaves in the air.
==Other appearances==
===Splash Mountain===
In the log-flume attraction themed after Song of the South, the part where the bees are seen during the "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" sequence is featured in all three versions of Splash Mountain where the scene is encountered during the "Laughing Place" sequence. How the beehive effect works is there is a slot placed into the middle of the hive where a turntable in installed which is used to make the bees, represented as small beads covered in green-yellow paint, spin.
In the Disneyland version of the attraction, the bees are encountered during the part where the log arrives at the "Laughing Place" sequence where they are heard happily buzzing along just as the guests pass through a grotto of beehives with the bees swarming around their hives happily buzzing and singing "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" together. Additionally, in that same sequence, Br'er Rabbit can be briefly seen where he is caught by Br'er Fox who placed a beehive on him while another beehive features bees swarming around it just before arriving at the "Burrow's Lament" sequence, which replaces the Tar Baby concept which was originally going to be placed in that scene to avoid the same controversy which was used in the original film itself. The next scene where Br'er Rabbit is seen after his encounter with Br'er Fox is where Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear failed to catch him and were caught by Br'er Gator with Br'er Rabbit happily relaxing in the Briar Patch which he calls home. 
In the former Florida version, a beehive is briefly seen at the entrance of the Briar Patch sequence featuring the animatronic animals singing inside the indoor parts of the attraction. The bee scene is encountered during the part where the logs arrive at the drop leading to the cavern sequence representing the "Laughing Place". As the logs pass through in this version, the bees are heard buzzing and singing happily to "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place". Additionally, Br'er Bear can be seen laughing with a beehive placed on his nose followed by Br'er Rabbit laughing with Br'er Fox preparing to use a beehive on him just before the vehicle reaches another drop where guests hear various animals singing "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" together. The next scene features Br'er Rabbit being caught by Br'er Fox who placed a beehive onto him, successfully putting him into his lair. The next scene where Br'er Rabbit appears is during the finale part where he escapes from Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear who were respectively caught be Br'er Gator. The next scene where Br'er Rabbit is seen after his encounter with Br'er Fox is where Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear failed to catch him and were caught by Br'er Gator with Br'er Rabbit happily singing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" with Mr. Bluebird at the end of the attraction.
In the Tokyo version of the attraction, the scene is encountered where the logs drop down into the scene representing the "Laughing Place" where guests encounter swarms of bees happily buzzing to the tune "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" just before the log goes down another drop where guests encounter Br'er Bear getting a beehive on his nose as Br'er Rabbit happily laughs to find this moment entertaining while Br'er Fox plans to place another beehive on Br'er Rabbit just before passing through the scene where guests hear various animals singing "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" together. The next scene features Br'er Rabbit being caught by Br'er Fox who placed a beehive onto him, successfully putting him into his lair. The next scene where Br'er Rabbit appears is during the finale part where he escapes from Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear who were respectively caught be Br'er Gator. The next scene where Br'er Rabbit is seen after his encounter with Br'er Fox is where Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear failed to catch him and were caught by Br'er Gator with Br'er Rabbit happily singing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" with Mr. Bluebird at the end of the attraction.
As of 2020, Splash Mountain was announced for closure in the California and Florida versions to make way for a Princess and the Frog-themed attraction in order to remove references to Song of the South (which the attraction is based on) due to controversy surrounding the film which the ride is based on at the California and Florida versions. The Florida version of Splash Mountain permanently closed on January 23, 2023, followed by the California version later closing on May 31 of that same year.
They were replaced by some mushrooms and some giant over-sized props, but it is still unknown if they will appear in the Disneyland version of the retheme attraction.
===Professor Barnaby Owl's Photographic Art Studio===
A picture of Charles Boyer's Splash Mountain artwork featuring the bees Quartet can be seen in the Professor Barnaby Owl's Photographic Art Studio store.
===Tiana's Bayou Adventure===
An Easter egg of the bees can be seen on a watering can in the line queue at Tiana's Foods.
===Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland===
In the Splash Mountain level, they can be seen where Mickey Mouse is passing through them.
===Kinect: Disneyland Adventures===
In the Splash Mountain level which marks the first time the Song of the South characters appear in CGI form, Br'er Rabbit assists the player in delivering a beehive to distract Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear in the Briar Patch and River level so that the bees can pester them.
=== Disneyland Explorer ===
In Disneyland Explorer, the bees could be found in the Splash Mountain mini-game, in which the player had to spray water at logs with beehives on them and collect the beehives to keep the bees away from Briar Patch. The bees could be heard buzzing and be seen flying around the beehives in a similar fashion to how they do so on the park attraction.
==Gallery==
Br'er Rabbit spotted bees.png|Br'er Rabbit spotted some bees.
Song-disneyscreencaps com-8819.jpg|The bees chasing away Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear.
Bees in Disneyland's Splash Mountain.jpg|The Bees in Disneyland's version of the Splash Mountain attraction. (1989-2023)
Bees in Magic Kingdom's Splash Mountain.jpg|The Bees in Magic Kingdom's version of the Splash Mountain attraction. (1992-2023)
Laughingplacetunnel.jpg|The Bees in the Tokyo Disneyland's version of the Splash Mountain attraction.
Bees for Splash Mountain by Charles Boyer.jpeg|The Bees on the Splash Mountain opening day poster by Charles Boyer.
The Laughin' Place drop concept art.jpg
Concept art of the Dip-Drop for Splash Mountain by John Stone.jpg|Concept art of the dip-drop showing the bees for Splash Mountain by John Stone.
Bees (Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland).png|The Bees in the Splash Mountain level of Mickey's Great Adventure in Tokyo Disneyland.
Inside of Professor Barnaby Owl's Photographic Art Studio.jpg|The Bee's photo cameo in Professor Barnaby Owl's Photographic Art Studio.
Easter egg of the Splash Mountain bees on a watering can in Tiana's Bayou Adventure.png|Easter egg reference of the bees on a watering can in Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
==Trivia==
*In the Disneyland version of Splash Mountain, some of the signs read "Bee careful" and "No frowns allowed", as a reference to the bees featured in the "Everybody's Got a Laughing Place" sequence which were used as Br'er Rabbit's trick to Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear into helping them find a "laughing place".
*Although Song of the South was never released in any official home video format in the United States, the bees have been sporadically featured on the front cover of the Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah volume, along with the Hummingbirds, the Sis Moles, the Butterflies, and Mr. Bluebird. They have also been featured on the volume's UK VHS cover.
*The "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" sequence is the only scene from Song of the South where the bees' faces are completely visible. The rest of the scenes where the bees appear have no faces.
Category:Song of the South characters
Category:Splash Mountain characters
Category:Tiana's Bayou Adventure characters
Category:Bees
Category:Neutral characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Animated characters in live-action films
category:Characters who fly
Category:Characters in Disney parks
Category:Kinect: Disneyland Adventures characters
Category:Disney characters
Category:Characters in video games