Tom and Jerry cartoons carry racism warning (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education correspondent

Tom and Jerry cartoons on television are being accompanied by a warning that they may depict scenes of "racial prejudice".

The classic cat and mouse cartoons, some made more than 70 years ago, carry a warning for subscribers to Amazon Prime Instant Video.

There have been claims of racist stereotyping in the depiction of a black maid in the cartoon series.

Amazon's warning says such prejudice was once "commonplace" in US society.

Tom and Jerry, once a staple of children's television on British television, is being presented with a cautionary note about "ethnic and racial prejudices".
***
more: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-29427843

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Some of them were pretty blatantly racist.

A number of them generally simply aren't played on TV anymore, thankfully.

[uppityperson]

2. Then there is Dumbo, quite the critique on racism.

[Cali_Democrat]

3. "prejudice was once "commonplace" in US society"

It still is.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Sexist too. The maid is always a woman.

And they condone animal cruelty, specifically inter-species brutality.

And I bet some of them have an anti-gay subtext if you look closely enough.

[NightWatcher]

5. Why no violence warning? I saw Jerry assault Tom

and run his body through the pin setter at a bowling alley.

I had an uncle killed by a bowling alley pi setter, where's my trigger warning?

[kiva]

6. Anyone who watches a movie or TV show,

or reads a book older that the last few decades will likely run into racism, sexism, and homophobia - and they are frankly fools if they don't realize it when they click on the button or open the page. This doesn't mean that newer stuff is free of those things, but they are less likely.

I