Oh racism, you make the past uncomfortable. Since the first animated shorts in 1908 to The Book of Life, humor has morphed from what may have once been socially acceptable to laugh at in to what only makes the more degenerate people laugh at the ridiculous nature of it in private. I'm talking of course of the racist nature of black face, Japanese impressions, and all around American uncomfortableness we've all come to regret.
Considering the time in American history that animation first starting taking off, it's not THAT surprising some very...touchy subjects have been portrayed in the field. Namely the really, really, REALLY fucked up stuff from Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera, and many of the other classic companies that have since then realized their mistakes as our culture has evolved. While I don't hold any of the modern companies responsible for the actions of other of the passed, it's always very interesting to see our past entertainment and comedy, even the most uncomfortable. So I've managed to track some of the more prominent clips from the cartoons and companies we've all probably put on a pedestal, jsut to show you that no one was an exception. For instance, we had...
Betty Boop...
The Flinstones...
Popeye...
Tom and Jerry (Which now infamously has a warning about it on Amazon) ...
Disney...
Looney Tunes...
Or really just everyone.
Thanks to the modern standards and realization that this stuff may have been a touch insensitive, almost all have been banned from airing on American television. The interesting thing is that in some countries, more of this material is allowed to air, especially from Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes. No if you visit Thailand for something other than shemales and happen to see Bugs Bunny in black face, you have to remember that other parts of the world simply don't have America's touchy history with race relations, especially among black people.
Considering the long lasting practice of African slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow laws, Lynchings, Minstrel Shows, and Cuba Gooding Jr.'s acting career are all far more associated with America, the context we share on the depictions is lost in translation in other parts of the world. Same would also go with the stereotypical Asian depictions and other races, in places not associated with American history or that have a dominate association with the race being portrayed, they are allowed to be shown because a lot of the offensive tones we know are not present.
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| I still fuckin love mammy |
The most important thing we all have to remember is that the actions and humor of the past are not the fault of those in the present. By all means we can laugh at ourselves and all our differences, even in some raunchy ways. However belittling each other based on skin color, what country you represent, the money you have, what you do or don't worship, the people you like to screw, or what you screw people with is wrong. Laugh at what we once thought was acceptable but not what they are portraying.
The point is, we're all humans and deserve to be treated as such. Whether you're brown, white, black, blue, yellow, or green, we're all human, just so long as we're not French. And that friends, is magic.
Holy shit I've actually been productive on the site. I even have one scheduled to auto post on Saturday! It's strange. Also follow our TWITTER. o-or my own twitter, senpai...
Thanks for the links to this crazy selection, I have saved them in case they get taken down (some of them have been in the past). I do wonder how many people will necessarily be laughing at what is bring portrayed though. That quote "Any community that gets its laughs by pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by actual idiots who mistakenly believe that they're in good company" comes to mind. Given /mlp/'s bizzare affinity with /pol/, and the latter's "quirks", it'd be really hard to tell how many people are being ironic "satirists," how many are being edgy teenagers, and how many are just actual retards.
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