Looney Tunes racial?

[packman]

The production company pulled most from the market in 1968 , but they still survive on the Internet. Strange, I don't recall these making any impression on me-but, no matter, they are -viewed thru our present day eyes- as cringe-worthy.

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Still, I vividly remember Uncle Remus in Song of the South as a role model-kind, wise and a loving soul having a touch of magic whose song about Zipping the Dooda was positive and optimistic.

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http://splitsider.com/2014/09/exploring-the-hidden-racist-past-of-the-looney-toons/

[JustAnotherGen]

1. True Colors?

This thread will be interesting . . . Can't wait to see the responses!

[jberryhill]

2. Try finding a copy of Song of the South to purchase

Just try.

[derby378]

7. I saw it in a theater once

The animated sequences were entertaining, but I was really bothered by the portrayal of happy, singing slaves marching to and from the fields without overseers on horseback with whips at the ready.

[tularetom]

13. Thank you for posting this - I had forgotten that somebody I know has one

It's a Region 2 DVD that won't play on US or Canadian players, but I have an all-region DVD player. I don't know where he got it, but I remember him bitching about not being able to play it.

(You can buy the player on Amazon for about 40 bucks).

[FSogol]

3. "Song of the South" was by Disney, not Looney Toons. n/t

[packman]

5. True -

nevertheless, hasn't it now fallen into that area of racial branding with the tar baby, Uncle Remus, blackbirds, etc.?

[FSogol]

14. Those were orginally from the Uncle Remus books, a collection of African-American folktales

complied by a white Georgian journalist.

As a kid, I loved books on mythology and folktales and came across the books at my library. I loved the stories and saw the movie in 1972 or 1973 in the theater. Disney is terrified of reactions to the movie and will never re-release it.

Some consider the movie extremely racist and others point out that the story takes place in the post-antebellum South and that singers are freed slaves, not slaves. I'd really have to see the film again to cast any judgement on it, since my 6th year old self loved Br'er Rabbit (the African version of the Trickster/Loki/Coyote/Wisakedjak (Whiskey Jack)/Iktomi/Anansi and probably ignored the live action parts of the movie.

I should add that "Zippity Doo Dah" won Best Song in the 1946 Academy Awards.

[Archae]

4. 1930's Looney Tunes were not the exception.

Back then, the two biggest black performers were Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Stepin Fetchit.

Cartoons from other studios also used stereotypes, mostly black stereotypes.

[mythology]

6. There was a Bugs Bunny cartoon titled

Bugs Bunny nips the nips. Yes there were a lot of things in early Looney Tunes that are awful by today's standards. Tom and Jerry had the stereotypical black mammy in many early shorts.

It's unfair to judge those shorts by our modern standards because things that were acceptable aren't any longer.

[cyberswede]

10. Superman, too (WWI propoganda, Japanese stereotypes)

[hifiguy]

11. Yeah, the wartime cartoons need to be considered

by themselves in a separate category, separate from the now racially offensive ones; Nazi Germany was even more roundly mocked than Japan. And the animation departments weren't much different than the studios themselves in their use of the stereotypes of the day.

I'm not much for condemning historical events or artifacts for reflecting the attitudes of their times. While it's perfectly acceptable to note what was once OK is no longer, pouring moral opprobrium on the past for not being what is now considedered enlightened is intellectually dishonest, IMO.

[FSogol]

18. One day someone will look back on us in horror and say, they claimed to care about the

environment, but drove around in those gas guzzling cars!

[KittyWampus]

12. I think even Bugs using "what a maroon" has racist roots.

[hifiguy]

21. Merriam-Webster says

1
capitalized : a fugitive black slave of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries; also : a descendant of such a slave
2
: a person who is marooned
Origin of MAROON

probably from French maron, marron feral, fugitive, modification of American Spanish cimarrón wild, savage
First Known Use: 1666

I think in Bugs' case it was his Brooklyn version of "moron" and the context in which he uses it seems to buttress that.

[el_bryanto]

8. When they reprinted the Looney Toons a while back

They came with a disclaimer - first spoken by Woopie Goldberg and then just printed at the front.

Leonard Maltin did an intro for some of the Disney Cartoons, but his wasn't so good.

Bryant

[hifiguy]

23. That is a perfect explanation.

[CBGLuthier]

9. Some of the racist ones are on the platinum collections with disclaimers.

Mostly the ones depicting the Japanese as small little men with buck teeth. Hey, we were at war, right?

One of the greatest films ever made, Casablanca makes me cringe every time I hear Ilsa refer to Sam as that boy over there. Since she was a European I would think she should not have had that ugly habit. Makes me glad Rick dumps her and goes off with Louie instead.

[Nye Bevan]

15. Well the BBC was still broadcasting THIS crap in 1978 (watch and cringe):

[intaglio]

16. And do not remind Lenny Henry about this

It gave him a start but I think he still regrets it.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

17. First, neither of your vids is Looney Tunes, and second...

The early productions of Looney Tunes cannot be held to today's standards. They were produced in a different time, under different social mores.

[packman]

19. Look at the site, read the article

[MohRokTah]

20. Cartoons, art, movies, etc. are a window into the time.

We get to see what was considered "okay" and "normal" in a time period via the various art forms that period produced.

[Mr Dixon]

22. SMH

There are plenty more on YouTube.

[Boom Sound 416]

24. They were an equivalent of the times and

They were written and theatrically released for adults.

[GeorgeGist]

25. Did you ever notice that Mickey Mouse is black ...

except for his face. Same for Minnie.