This controversy is certainly not new; Cartoon Network faced it a few years back during their annual “June Bugs” marathon, and ultimately shrank back from airing any cartoons featuring racially sensitive material. Many of these cartoons remain unavailable and unseen and there is a strong contingent of viewers who see this state of affairs as inequitable. As a lifelong animation fan, I share their concerns to a degree. I find censorship deplorable. The fact that adult animation fans cannot view certain cartoons is a farcical concept. The offensive cartoons are a product of the age in which they were made; animation’s humor was originally derived from vaudeville, the minstrel show, and other common entertainment.

Racism was an inherent part of that humor, and ethnic and racial stereotypes persisted into the ages of film, radio and even the early days of television. It has long been my position that these cartoons could be shown if appropriate disclaimers and/or explanations for the content were added to the viewing experience. If that sounds to some like of a variant of PC, it is still a better alternative than suppression and censorship. The majority of these cartoons would prove to be much ado about nothing in any case. I have seen virtually every “politically incorrect” cartoon that Warner has produced and few of them are appreciably better or worse than the studio’s “acceptable” fare. In the case of the Bosko cartoons, they are considerably below that standard and are far more boring than offensive.

There is one particular cartoon in question that is the frequent subject of Internet and popular chatter concerning LTGCs past and future. That would be Bob Clampett’s 1943 short, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, which does not fall into the category described above. Coal Black is a lightning rod, a cause célèbre, and the centerpiece of arguments for and against censorship of racially sensitive cartoons. It is arguably the capstone of Bob Clampett’s career as a director, and is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest cartoons ever made. It is also castigated as one of the most racist. This much maligned/much admired short does (if one looks strictly to history as an arbiter) belong in LTGC Vol. 1 or a future volume of LTGC, but at present the chances look slim indeed.

Considered as one of Bob Clampett’s (left) greatest achievements, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is also viewed as a racist work. Photo © 1999 Bob Clampett Productions Llc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce in any form. Sketch drawn by animator Rod Scribner. Courtesy of Bob Clampett Collection.

This presents an interesting dilemma for Warner Home Video. If the LTGC project rolls on and Warners continues to package four-disc sets of its 1,300-plus cartoons, fans will continue to look for Coal Black and other notable omissions. As I have stated in past columns, the sophistication and knowledge base of even casual animation fans is growing at a steady pace. That fact is one of the reasons that LTGC Vol. 1met with a number of gripes concerning omissions, restoration quality, cover art, etc., even though it was the start of a project unparalleled since the heyday of laserdiscs. As the volumes roll on and certain cartoons are omitted for content, completists are certainly going to start calling for them.

One can envision scenarios where Warner Home Video is forced to either omit these shorts entirely and cease the project after a certain number of volumes, or to finally release them all in one set since they were not deemed acceptable for inclusion in earlier volumes. In the first case some fans will be unsatisfied and bitter due to not getting a complete collection while other fans will accuse Warners of stooping to censorship. In the second case Warner Home Video would be releasing the cultural equivalent of weapons of mass destruction. The company, intending to give fans an animated extravaganza from their archives, may have unwittingly started down a path that would eventually be lined with wolves on both sides.

There are a number of ways that the unpleasantness could be avoided, possibly to everyone’s satisfaction, but it involves effort and risk on the part of both dedicated animation fans and the powers that be at Warner Home Video.

One complaint voiced by animation scholar Jerry Beck is the lamentable fact that Hollywood executives and television programmers see classic cartoons as children’s fare rather than priceless pieces of cinematic history. “I try to convince all the companies that I talk to that these are not just old cartoons,” related Beck in a recent conversation with this writer. “Cartoons — `equal sign’— Kids; that’s the way all Hollywood sees animation, and TV programmers look at classic cartoons as the equivalent of kids’ shows — old kid’s shows. To them, Looney Tunes or Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse, Casper — that’s just not something you run for kids today. The classic cartoons at the studios,” Beck noted, “are not part of the regular library of films. They’re under the Family Home Entertainment department. Those cartoons are seen as not being “on trend” like The Powerpuff Girls or SpongeBob SquarePants. We need people in general to think of these classic cartoons as classic film.”