A local theater called the Alamo Drafthouse is showing some banned cartoons from the 1930's and 40's tomorrow. What are your opinions on the offensive/violent cartoons from Merrie Melodies or Warner Brothers that have been banned from television or re-edited due to politcal correctness. I believe that these cartoons should be made public. They are a part of history, good or bad. Here's a link to the theater's site. Take care.
Eugene
thay should be shown. people are being coned out of there freedom of speach because of the banning of simalar material. if it is ofencive lets all be ofended to gether, or suffer being black listed later.
there is a great deal of native american folklore that has been lost due to it's suposive ofensive content. who knows what wisdom was lost with it. america has skellitons in its closet. and we must face them or be parraized by them.
two more thoughts
the 30s and 40s were a time when black listing hapened baning somthing from that time seems to be backward to me
as long as these viewings are for edgucation and ther historical significants. i'd hate to think that they were being shown for childrens entertainment or some kkk raly not that im under that impresion, im not but people do weard things. there intentions are so skewed. to ban these peices is rong. but viewing the should be done fore resons that are good, not because sex/black/native american/comunist/violent( insert "isim" here) jokes are funny.
steping of my soap box and shuting up.
here are the links taken from that site , for better viewing pleasure , mon ami
http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=2374 < THE HISTORY OF RACIST ANIMATION
http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/ltcuts/mgmcuts.html < A Guide To Censored MGM Cartoons
www.devilsgarage.com
I think Fox News is 1.000 times more offensive than anything I ever saw on South Park. I'll let my kids watch it and Ren & Stimpy and I really don't think they will turn into racists, murderers, smokers or anything else.
It's funny how people give so much credit to the inffluence of culture and art into people's minds. How come nobody ever says that the Beatles should be banned because of what Charles Manson did.
danielpoeira.org
Why no uproar about the anti-French sentiments going around in the last few years. Seems it depends on the times and who's in power as to what's unacceptable. I really dislike that Jack-In-Box ad for one. No one is banning it.
As to Hispanic humor, what do the critics think of Cheech and Chong. I loved their films, but bet they are not acceptable any longer either.
I am against censorship in any form. If people are raised at home with morale values, then no propaganda or form of expression can really influence their sense of what is right or wrong. It's only those with no well formulated sense of right and wrong that are influenced by some sort of societal group attitude.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
There's a difference when a member of a culture pokes fun at the culture, as opposed to someone from outside the culture doing it.
Cheech and Chong were always more about drug humor and "scoring with chicks" humor than hispanic humor though. And maybe it's me, but I still find their humor "acceptable". In many ways, it's not significantly different than many of the teen comedies of today.
I loved those movies when they first came out too, and was concerned about my son (16) watching them. He has a different perspective though - he sees them as showing how stupid one can act when one's mind is altered. An inintended consequence when the films were made, I'm sure, but an interesting development. Who would have guessed that C&C's movies would be an anti-drug message 20 years down the road?
Tommy Chong was just arrested not long ago, and he still has his sense of humor. So only one of the same race can have a go at the humor surrounding that race or culture, back to my question about the French...how come they are open game right now. And I am pretty sure Jack of "Jack In the Box" isn't French.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
Maybe it's because the French are not a major part of the population is my guess. Remember the Taco Bell chihuahua? There was a big stink about that.
Probably because there is a large hispanic population in the U.S.
What was wrong with the Chihuaha? I had a chihuaha at the time and I thought the commercials were great, plus I bought a lot of their little figurines and stuffed animals....what a crock... Maybe we should start a dumb Texan campaign...but not sure it would take off, after all who can get attached to something so stupid.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
There were some hispanic groups that got offended by the Taco Bell ads. I'm hispanic and could care less. I thought they were kind of funny. But you'll always find some groups that make big deals out of nothing.
You cannot satisfy everyone... There will always be some group who raises a stink, no matter what you do. For example, gay rights people rose a stink about "the Lion King"s Scar... Said he was portrayed as a lowly, lonely homosexual, rejected by every other "normal" animal (poor him)... The Hyenas in the same film were scrutinized because they were all minorities, shunned by the rest of the kingdom... The only place THEY belonged was with the homosexual. There are a GREAT MANY examples of this crap in almost every animated film. I suppose that because they are made for kids, they are scrutinized a great deal more than live films.
However, I do understand why some of the old flicks are no longer Saturday morning material. Ever see "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs"? That was just so racist it was not funny. The black characters in that looked like monkies. There was a hitman for hire who would kill Japanese people for free... Not exactly appropriate material for our youth to be watching.
HOWEVER... To play them in a theater is a completely different matter.... Give the people the choice to see it or not. Yes, they are sometimes offensive, but that was the times. Back then, it was normal to be a redneck racist (unfortunately). It is a history lesson to see how we as people have evolved over time (George W. excepted of course). These films are classics, and any animation buff/historian should be privy to them.
Cheers
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
One last thing. What is offensive about the taco bell ads? The fact that a Chihuahua has a Mexican accent? For crying out loud!!! in that case, i should lobby against "Brother Bear" for making fun of a "Canadian" accent wit their moose characters.... Although... I can count on one hand how many paople I have ever heard actually talk like that, and I have lived all accross this country of ours.
Down with Brother Bear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
...but I digress.
Otherwise, I agree with Wade! ;)
Splatman :D
SPLAT digital
Maybe all East Coasters should be up in arms about the Red/Green show on PBS. I for one really enjoy it, and really liked the Taco Bell ads as well, wondered why they cancelled that campaign, now I know.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
dogs only sell tacos for so long thats why they stopped
as for the kidds mabye i was misunderstood. i have a dauter and most people i know that have kids (mostly her freinds parents) will sy "oh heres some cartoons go watch them and stop talking to me". i would never act in this way but so many people do, and they realy could care less about what is on tv. as for disney i find the whole body of media offesive, just for the plain fact that it is all bent at selling somthing else. the movies sell mechendice and happy meals. the tv shows sell movies and happy meals. the entertainment level is pritty low. pixar is another story but the'll be on there own soon and i cant wate to see what hapens. disney is now just a marketing blob tring to sell it self to make the blob larger and larger.
sorry for ranting
kids shuoud see more than sticky sweetness and mine does but we know what she watches, and she loves to see that disney crap. but shewaches it once puts it down and always comes back to watching dr.who and i couldent be prouder . hehehe
the hit man that kills japanese for free i think that this shew how much we have evolved over time. have geoge lucas diditaly take out the japaneese guys and put in french men and it will be cleen. pop cuclue is just as dirty as its ever been it just has a fresh coat of "white" paint.
Say, that's an interesting bit of trivia about Lion King's Scar. Most people know, of course, that Scar's supervising animator is gay himself, as are some other of Disney's top men. Somehow I feel that puts accusations of a general anti-gay tendency at Disney on shaky ground. But as you said, we can't stop people from forming their own conclusions.
On a related note, since Scar's supervisor is German as well, I've heard complaints about "Be Prepared" and it's marching Nazi-hyenas. Again, and apart from the fact that Scar is a ruthless villain and no hero - why would a homosexual person glorify anti-semitic pomp?
Many of the WWII cartoons (The Führer's Face, Blitz Wolf) are rarely shown on German TV and never at times when kids might watch them, at least not to my knowledge. I was lucky enough to see some of them when we still got Cartoon Network and some others as part of our History Of Animation classes at school.
It's not like it's forbidden to show them in Germany and perhaps Daffy Duck tricking Hitler into ordering his cronies to commit suicide might startle younger kids so I understand why they have misgivings about including them in their afternoon line-ups. But I strongly agree that since many cartoons portray the political circumstances of their time, even those with a less than flattering view on certain groups or countries during specific periods can be valuable historical documents.
Personally, I wouldn't fuss about the WWII cartoons. "Hitler ist ein shtinker? Dat's no military sekret!" As someone born and raised in Germany, I think many of them are absolutely hilarious.
Tommy was a victim of our ongoing "war on drugs". He was the highest (no pun intended) profile figure they could nail, so they went after him. And not for drugs, no no; on a parephenalia charge. So why isn't the tattoo parlor downtown being raided on a regular basis? They openly sell paraphenalia. If this is the standard, all of downtown Berkeley should be leveled :)
I didn't say that only a member of a given race can poke fun at that race; I said that it tends to be more acceptible if it comes from within rather than without. Look at stand-up comedy; blacks tell jokes about the black experience, whites joke about being white, etc. And there's always a group that it's "o.k." to joke about even if you're not a member of that group. Currently, it seems to be the French and conservative Christians that are on the hook.
Being married to a French-Canadian Catholic as I am, my home life is one big laughfest these days... :)
The French-Canadians are the EASIEST by far to make fun of (I too am married to one ;) ).
Cheers!
"Don't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard" - Paul Simon
No DON"T LEVEL BERKELEY! I would have no place to get coffee! And then I would have to drive my car in a straight line, with out concrete pillars in the middle of the roads and changing one way streets. That takes all the fun out of california.
Don't do nothing because you can't do everything.
I grew up with the Merry Melodies, never knew they had been banned.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I agree with making these public.
I'm sure there are other just as offensive and or politically incorrect cartoons out now. The question of how the U.S would have turned out if "The Birth of A Nation" was never released has always been discussed, and although it is a rather harsh depiction of a certain point of view, it was, and is the point of view of someone, and we have many lessons to learn from this. I believe this film framed the importance of film of any kind.
To ban anything such as this, is to ban evolution.
-Gio
If they are the Merry Melodies I remember, they weren't banned because anything obscence they must have been censored for political reasons...and what those might be that would warrant censorship...who knows during these times. Time the youth of Amercia stood up and protested like I did in the sixties. Time they got off their butts and worried about their freedoms and stepped away from the Xbox and banal Instant Messenger crap.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I really hope you're speaking in generalities.
Look at Family Guy or South Park. They are both very offensive. I think that they're both funny. I think that networks let those shows pass because they KNOW what they are making fun of. The old cartoons didn't know that they were offending anybody when they were depicting african-americans in black face makeup and so on. But when I saw some of thes Looney Toons when I was a kid, I didn't know they were offensive. I just thought they were funny.