The Eleven Chosen Ones

The problem isn’t the cartoons. It’s a collector/geek mentality dictating issues it really shouldn’t (like social awareness) that Warner Home Video is afraid of. The more ignorant fans (many of whom have posted in that thread) try to delude the general public into thinking shorts like the Censored 11 aren’t really racist.

The same holds true for the Disney Company, who is very reluctant to release Song of the South to a modern audience. The most insensitive of fans seem to think that it should be released in the family section like it has been in the past in Europe and Asia, and that there is truly nothing offensive about the film. (For some reason though, Dumbo‘s crows have gotten a free pass forever.)

These companies rightfully fear being linked to that kind of thinking. Warners can release Gone with the Wind and A Day at the Races, just as Fox can release Stormy Weather (and whoever owns Birth of a Nation can release that film), without repercussion because old movie fans aren’t misguidedly defending the blatant racial elements of those films. This mindset is exclusive to animation fans.

Comparing the black-caricature cartoons to the ones like Disney’s Der Fuehrer’s Face is inaccurate. That film’s notoriety is caused by the parody of the Nazi party, not an often-abused race. (On the other hand, films that stereotype the Japanese from WWII were definitely done with more malice, considering, unlike the Nazis, the Japanese were an actual race. Who, by the way, were placed into internment camps, violating the civil rights America is known for ‘protecting’, so you can see why Japanese descendants could be a little pissed off.)

The companies are definitely reading what we are saying, particularly when the cartoons are given public attention. Jon Cooke claims that his popular Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies site received huge boosts of traffic when the fiasco of Cartoon Network’s “June Bugs” having twelve cartoons pulled, and the issue of Speedy Gonzales being verboten on CN, were given AP coverage. Jon also reminds me that many scenes in Turner owned cartoons that were discussed on a popular message board as “scenes that haven’t been edited yet” (like the black bunny in Tex Avery’s Little Tinker) were immediately edited in their very next airing. So to say “nobody gives a shit” is wrong.

The thing that strikes me as funny is that the whole idea of a “Censored 11” is hypocritical, as there were other films of similar nature that were never branded as “unusable” in the ‘pre-48′ Warner cartoon library. Chuck Jones’ Inki is drawn in the typical black stereotype fashion, but that is fine, because the gags don’t come from his race. Friz Freleng’s September in the Rain features the same exact number seen in the verboten Tin Pan Alley Cats, and Frank Tashlin’s The Major Lied Till Dawn has extensive scenes of natives in the same nature as Jungle Jitters and The Isle of Pingo-Pongo. Tex Avery’s The Early Worm Gets the Bird and Jones’ Flop Goes the Weasel feature extensive black caricatures, though because they were animal characters, they’re fine.

Some criticize that it is babying to issue these cartoons with disclaimers. This is bigotry at best. Two of the Censored 11 cartoons, Friz Freleng’s Jungle Jitters and Tex Avery’s All This and Rabbit Stew, are in the public domain, and have been carelessly presented on video collections aimed at children. If I need to explain why this is a problem to you, please leave this site now. You’re running late for the klan meeting anyway.

If you need further proof that negative reactions to these films, Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs in particular, is not a new age touchiness, please read this, submitted by professor Chris Lehman. Blacks objected to the racism in motion pictures back then, but since Congress was already busy shooting down bills to outlaw lynching, they didn’t get noticed.

I am using my own dime (because it cost an upgrade to put these on my own server, so they’ll actually be available) to present these films in a proper historical context. I have the films available, and I will gladly make them available to anyone who wants copies.

I agree with everyone, these cartoons should be available, appropriately, but don’t try to fool yourselves (and worse, others) into thinking that they’re not really racist. That will just ensure they’ll never be available legally.

The Cartoons:

Hittin’ the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931, Harman-Ising)
This short in particular is typical of its time period. Uncle Tom is not presented any worse than Bosko was at the same time (the passengers on the boat are stock incidental characters with black voices too), and it’s hard too find much offensive about it without being over the top. What’s more notable about it is its rampant plagiarism of Steamboat Willie at the beginning, and how it’s more of a stereotype of 1930s cartoons than of black people (like that Legree-guy coming out of nowhere).
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Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time (1936, Freleng)
Probably the most pointed and hurtful of the cartoons on this list. The gags are grotesque, particularly the shoe shine gag, and Nicodemus/Stepin’ Fetchit is just a disgusting display of hate. Take note that his ‘sins’ include stealing watermelons.
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Clean Pastures (1937, Freleng)
This one gets a few more points because of its lively music, but it’s still just a parade of stereotypes. The problem with caricaturing of black entertainers during this time is that it’s typically the lips that are always given the most attention to exaggeration. It’s made blatant when you compare it to a photo, such as Fats Waller, whose most interesting features were his eyes and cheeks.[wpvideo j15bYKIV w=320]

Uncle Tom’s Bungalow (1937, Avery)

Typical Avery setting, plots, and gags for the time period. Only the black caricatures make it stand-out. Oddly, Avery’s later vastly superior short, Uncle Tom’s Cabana, was never banned from laserdisc.
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Jungle Jitters (1938, Freleng)
Inarguably one of Friz’s worst. The gags are just bad, partly because many are taken from an earlier Ben Hardaway cartoon, Buddy in Africa.

The Isle of Pingo-Pongo (1938, Avery)

Actually, a network could air this short, just with all of the native scenes edited out. Hey, it’s happened on Nickelodeon with Clampett’s Africa Squeaks.
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All This and Rabbit Stew (1941, Avery)

I know the hurtful imagery belies this, but until the final gag, there’s nothing really different, story-wise, between this and a typical Bugs Bunny versus Elmer Fudd cartoon. Take a look at probably the earliest “Tex” take with Bugs’ limbs flying off, animated by Bob McKimson.

Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs (1943, Clampett)

Yes, we’ve reached the only one you actually care about, and also the only one on this list that would classify as a ‘masterpiece’. The imagery is grotesque, but I, individually, am able to get lost in Clampett’s carefree, spontaneous world, and I’m sure a lot of others feel the same way. But it’s still racist as hell.

Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943, Clampett)

This one gets a lot of free passes (probably because rabid Clampett fans tend to be the most thuggish subset of animation fandom), but it’s a patchwork film at best. Clampett was notoriously late for his deadlines and going overbudget, and this film seems to be a result of that, what with a poorly reused section from an early Freleng cartoon, endless footage from Porky in Wackyland, and a long pan at the start. And it seems poor Fats Waller in real life really did have too much of that “wine, women, and song.”

Angel Puss (1944, Jones)

Chuck Jones actually tried denying authorship of this cartoon for awhile (at least until his autobiography). Can you blame him?

Goldilocks and the Jivin’ Bears (1944, Freleng)

This is a guilty favorite of mine, and it seems that, as David Gerstein has pointed out to me, that the black theme seems to have been tacked on just to keep it from being another Freleng fairy tale parody.

So there you go, all eleven of them. Judge for yourselves whether or not these should be seen in an appropriate context by the general public.