Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: tired

The Censored Eleven

You don't fix the mistakes of history by pretending they didn't happen.  You fix them by studying them to see why they happened and how you can keep them from happening again.  Stereotypes are an important part of history.  They show us some of the dumb stories that our ancestors told themselves.  Old stereotypes often make modern people uncomfortable because they are a much louder version ... of dumb stories people are still telling today.  We need need those examples to show us how far we've come, and how far we have left to go.

"The Censored Eleven" refers to a list of cartoons that Warner refuses to release.  These are the ones with black caricatures.  Some of them, like "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves," are true classics -- as glorious for their music and humor as they are wretched for their social dynamics.  Some, like "All This and Rabbit Stew," are reminders that the Looney Tunes razzed just about every group of people they ever featured; you can see the comparison across different characters.  All of them are valuable pieces of animation history, and American history.  They should be released, preferably in a collectors' edition with commentary by animation historians and by black culture historians.  That would be very useful not just for collectors, who prize similar examples from Looney Tunes history, but also for college teachers in film or Afro-American studies.

"Free the Black Looney Tunes!" is a discussion of the issues surrounding these cartoons. Link courtesy of my partner Doug.
Tags: discussion, entertainment, ethnic studies, networking, news
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  • 3 comments
msstacy13

msstacy13

August 11 2010, 23:50:16 UTC 10 years ago

This isn't the first time we've disagreed,
but I don't think there's much more I could say.
daev

daev

August 12 2010, 04:26:20 UTC 10 years ago

John McWhorter, the author of that article, was a friend of mine when I was in Linguistics grad school at Berkeley. He's a great linguist and teacher. He is a black man, but at the time he was focussed mostly on his research into the grammar of pidgin & creole languages, and didn't talk much about African-American culture.

I think I might have seen one of those Black Looney Tunes at a "Spike & Mike Festival of Gross Animation" that they have every year at the U of I, along with Fred & Barney teaching kids to smoke. You can always attract a crowd of eager college students by promising something that's been censored for offensiveness!
ysabetwordsmith

Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

August 12 2010, 04:31:25 UTC 10 years ago

>>He's a great linguist and teacher. He is a black man, but at the time he was focussed mostly on his research into the grammar of pidgin & creole languages, and didn't talk much about African-American culture.<<

That sounds utterly fascinating.

>>I think I might have seen one of those Black Looney Tunes at a "Spike & Mike Festival of Gross Animation" that they have every year at the U of I, along with Fred & Barney teaching kids to smoke.<<

Some of them do get shown occasionally.