Video Link of the Day

[roup42]

Warning 1: Offensive Content

Warning 2: The clip begins with a test pattern and a high-pitched tone. You might want to turn down the volume on your computer before you click through.

Bob Clampett's Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, a 1943 cartoon for Warner Brothers, is the Birth of a Nation of animation: It is both revered as a piece of

Comments

[violentvixen]

Wow. I'd heard of that cartoon when I researched Warner Bros. in elementary school for a report, but the book didn't make clear just how much stereotyping there was.

and "Japs - free"???? WTF???

[roup42]

and "Japs - free"???? WTF???

Well, it was in the middle of WWII. That's pretty mild compared to a lot of stuff from the cartoons of the time. Nowaday they trim a lot of it. For most of the cartoons they just cut out a few seconds of the offending material, the "Censored 11" are those where the entire work is considered too offensive.

I remember them still playing a lot of Bugs Bunny WWII cartoons with really bad Asian stereotypes on tv when I was a kid in the '70s.

[violentvixen]

Still... I often forget that the internment camp stuff happened in this country, but stuff like that reminds me. If it said "Nazis - free" it would be one thing, but I'm sure that lots of Japanese-American kids watched Looney Tunes.

[meedja]

Woah. I was ready for a certain level of offensive, just knowing how unsubtle most of the cartoons from that era were (even the non-offensive ones), and like you, I can remember some of the WW2 ones still showing when I was a kid, but even so, I wasn't expecting that amount of stereotyping. Had to laugh at the Prince at the end though, between taking sharp breaths of disbelief.

Thanks for the link.