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Backlash for Classic Cartoon releases? (1 Viewer)

buttmunker

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See now, that's up to conjecture: there's no proof she's the maid. After all, in Saturday Evening Puss, when Jerry called Mammy about Tom's party, she said, A party?! At MY house? Excuuuuuse ME!
 

WillardK

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How about by laughing at the human condition rather than at derogatory stereotypes. Mel Brooks' genius in Blazing Saddles took the human condition of laughing at stereotypes and twisted it into an absurdity that was too funny to stop and wonder what the laughter was about! It's humor that shines a mirror at bigotry instead of celebrating it. Of course, there are those who can't see the difference, but they are in the minority and should be made fun of.
 

sethgardner

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I've read a few articles here and there about some non pc stuff in the cartoons, but I haven't seen any real traction in the mainstream news.
 

Richard M S

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Quite honestly, with all that is going on today (vs the more pc-friendly times of 10-13 years ago), any politician who would make an issue of these cartoons would be laughed off by both Bill O'Reilly of Fox news and Frank Rich of the NY Times in a heartbeat.

Speaking of Fox, the outcry over their ill-advised decision to not release the Charlie Chan films - and then their subsequent release of several volumes of them indicates times have changed.
 

Patrick McCart

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I've always felt that the politically correct thing to do is to make all this stuff available and be proud of it. Films are historical artifacts and we should be thankful that even the offensive stuff is still around. Like the well-written disclaimers note on Warner's DVDs, keeping them under wraps or edited bits out would be like pretending that the social conditions never existed.

Coal Black is one of the funniest cartoons I've seen. It's not the racial stereotypes I laugh at, but rather the context they're placed in. It's a raunchy and offensive parody of one of the safest animated features, Snow White. However, I think another "banned" Looney Tune, Angel Puss, is completely unfunny due to the stereotypes. It's because the context is in poor taste and relies only on that. Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips is in really bad taste from today's perspective, but it's hilarious if you try to watch it with 1944 eyes.

I do think that Warners is going to wait for the extreme un-PC Looney Tunes for their own disc, though. The only exception would be The Isle of Pingo Pongo, since it's only one scene that kept it out of distribution and would make a good pick for a Tex Avery disc. I've always wondered why that one was taken out of circulation, while Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips remained.
 

Joe Lugoff

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I don't think so. As someone else pointed out, she does refer to it as her house. Also, she comes and goes at all hours -- and there's never anyone else there.

I still think the idea was that a house with mice and mouseholes in it had to be somewhat rundown (it sure doesn't seem to be any mansion to me).
 

Keith Paynter

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Take this with a grain of salt, but I read that according to John K., WB received one complaint.

It happened with the release of the first Turner Golden Ages Of Looney Tunes LD set. (Well, not exactly. It was the 10-volume VHS releases of the niche disc set that made their way into wider public accessibility.) Subsequent issues on VHS and LD replaced the short with Racketeer Rabbit.

I still have my original LD set, and have Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips (along with several other controversial WWII WB shorts) in my personal 16mm collection. Apart from the racial epithets, a product of WWII attitudes in America, it's one of Friz Freleng's better BB cartoons.
 

ChrisPearson

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Maybe. However, she is almost always seen doing domestic work and black women were almost always depicted as maids in films of this period (unfortunately), which would make depicting a black woman as mistress of her own home somewhat radical for the time. Besides, I think it looks like quite a nice house!
 

Joe Lugoff

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OK, but, really --- would a "nice house" have mouseholes in it with mice running around, one of them wearing a little diaper?

Obviously, I'm kidding to some extent, but it would seem strange for a nice house to have mice running around in it!
 

BarryM

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For gosh sake, it's that "bad taste" that makes those cartoons so fun to watch.

What's next? Instead of colorizing movies, is the idiot PC police going to go back to all pre-1995 movies and airbrush out all cigarette smoking and cigarette smoke?

As the Kingfish used to say, "Wholly Mackrel"!!
 

dana martin

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Disney already did this on a lot of there animated features, when Eisner was there the first time i noticed it badly was while watching Melody Time, i know they are afraid that they would be seen as unwholesome or some crap like that , Hey Disney; Uncle Walt Smoked! leave the artist work the way it was originally intended and get off of your rears and release Song of the South!

 

Joe Lugoff

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The Kingfish used to say something else, too, which sums up my feelings on this subject: "I is absolutely regusted!"
 

Keith Paynter

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Patrick, another aspect of Coal Black that doesn't frequently get mentioned but deserves notice is the Dwarfs in army - one of the few references (animated or otherwise) to blacks in the service during WWII (Lantz's Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy being the other most prominent example). In reality, few African Americans saw real service overseas and spent most of their time in home front activities.

Sadly, some people can't see past the broad caricatures in these cartoons.

Hey dana, don't forget the loss of Goofy's cigarette in El Gaucho Goofy.
 

Patrick McCart

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That's a good point to make. It's also interesting that while most of the characters have the exaggerated designs, So White is surprisingly normal in terms of facial design. No big lips like all the other characters. I'm still in awe of how Clampett got away with having her wearing Daisy Dukes shorts. He seemed to get away with a lot of bawdy gags (like Daffy sitting on a doorknob in The Henpecked Duck, the dog scooting in An Itch in Time, and the squirming wolf in Bacall to Arms).
 

BarryM

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Thanx for pointing this out...absolutely disgusting.

I'm next expecting that someone will re-edit "Birth Of A Nation" and remove all the stereotyping....it'll be reduced to a short subject!!!!
 

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