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History of Banned, Racist and Censored Cartoons
Between 1930 and 1950, animators at Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, MGM, Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, R.K.O., and many other independent studios, produced thousands of cartoons containing racial stereotypes and references to alcohol, adultery, female anatomy, cross-dressing, gambling, marijuana, pornography, sexual situations, smoking, and suicides (i.e. a frustrated Bugs Bunny blows himself up).
This period is now known as the golden age of animation, and until the mid 1960s, cartoons were screened before all feature films. Later, these same cartoons would cycle endlessly for decades on broadcast TV or cable syndication. To modern audiences, many of these cartoons are quite shocking and graphically illustrate how pervasive and institutionalized racism was in our culture just a short time ago.
Ownership of Warner Bros. cartoons passed to United Artists in 1968 and they created a "Censored 11" list of cartoons they refused to air or make available for purchase on any media. Since then, because of objections by parents, sensitive sponsors, timid corporate policy, and changing cultural mores, many more classic cartoons were heavily edited or pulled from syndication. Many have already been lost forever.
Studios are so protective of their classic characters like Bugs Bunny that in 2000, when Spike Lee made Bamboozled (a film dealing extensively with black stereotypes in Hollywood), Warner Bros/United Artists denied his request to include images of Bugs in blackface from the classic wartime cartoon Any Bonds Today. In 2001, the people at Cartoon Network announced a "June Bugs" marathon, where they promoted their intention to show every single Bugs Bunny short. Warner Bros/United Artists quickly stepped in and dictated to Cartoon Network which shorts could not be shown.
These cartoons, like the cliché goes, were a product of their times and represent a period of American history where views were very different than they are now. While they are certainly not suitable for viewing by children without adult supervision and guidance, they are important historical documents that should be available to all. They are necessary for the development of anyone's cultural and historical literacy.
It is also important to remember that they were intended to be funny, not hurtful. One does not have to look far to find many other examples of racial stereotyping in popular media in the first half of the 20th century. Radio shows, movies, and comic strips were filled with caricatures of Blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and many other ethnic groups. It is to our great credit that we have evolved as far as we have since then, but we should preserve our history and not try to rewrite it in some Orwellian attempt to excise those parts of it that we now find abhorrent.
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History of Banned, Racist and Censored Cartoons
Between 1930 and 1950, animators at Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, MGM, Merrie Melodies, Looney Tunes, R.K.O., and many other independent studios, produced thousands of cartoons containing racial stereotypes and references to alcohol, adultery, female anatomy, cross-dressing, gambling, marijuana, pornography, sexual situations, smoking, and suicides (i.e. a frustrated Bugs Bunny blows himself up).
This period is now known as the golden age of animation, and until the mid 1960s, cartoons were screened before all feature films. Later, these same cartoons would cycle endlessly for decades on broadcast TV or cable syndication. To modern audiences, many of these cartoons are quite shocking and graphically illustrate how pervasive and institutionalized racism was in our culture just a short time ago.
Ownership of Warner Bros. cartoons passed to United Artists in 1968 and they created a "Censored 11" list of cartoons they refused to air or make available for purchase on any media. Since then, because of objections by parents, sensitive sponsors, timid corporate policy, and changing cultural mores, many more classic cartoons were heavily edited or pulled from syndication. Many have already been lost forever.
Studios are so protective of their classic characters like Bugs Bunny that in 2000, when Spike Lee made Bamboozled (a film dealing extensively with black stereotypes in Hollywood), Warner Bros/United Artists denied his request to include images of Bugs in blackface from the classic wartime cartoon Any Bonds Today. In 2001, the people at Cartoon Network announced a "June Bugs" marathon, where they promoted their intention to show every single Bugs Bunny short. Warner Bros/United Artists quickly stepped in and dictated to Cartoon Network which shorts could not be shown.
These cartoons, like the cliché goes, were a product of their times and represent a period of American history where views were very different than they are now. While they are certainly not suitable for viewing by children without adult supervision and guidance, they are important historical documents that should be available to all. They are necessary for the development of anyone's cultural and historical literacy.
It is also important to remember that they were intended to be funny, not hurtful. One does not have to look far to find many other examples of racial stereotyping in popular media in the first half of the 20th century. Radio shows, movies, and comic strips were filled with caricatures of Blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, and many other ethnic groups. It is to our great credit that we have evolved as far as we have since then, but we should preserve our history and not try to rewrite it in some Orwellian attempt to excise those parts of it that we now find abhorrent.
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Some examples of Banned, Racist and Censored cartoons:
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The writer W P Malcomson is the author of the popular book Behind Closed Doors (released 10 yrs ago) and has spent 17 years comprehensibly studying the subject. Malcomson is a former member of the Orange , Arch Purple and Black (rising to the highest degree in the Royal Black Institution - the Red Cross degree). Purchase direct: Inside the Royal Black Institution |
The Ministry of Defence in London has just paid out £14 million in compensation to hundreds of Iraqis who were illegally detained and tortured by British forces during the five-year occupation of the south-east of the country, demonstrating the British have broken their promises and undertakings to the international community once again.
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