Cartoons that have dealt with racism

[Zorak Masaki]

This is a serious topic, so lets not let it get out of hand. That said, what are some cartoons that have dealt with racism. Yogi's gang and superfriends both did eps about racism and prejudice (the eps mr. bigot and prejudice respectively) and there was a robocop ep called "the brotherhood" about a gang which was out to destroy all robots (though in that case the topic is done more subtlely). King of the Hill also had a couple of eps dealing with it (the ep where bobby wants to be a comedian and recites racist jokes, and the one where ladybird is accused of racism when she attacks the black plumber.

[tb4000]

Static Shock did a couple times I think, and JL did a subtle jab when they go back in time to Sgt. Rock era and GL is told he's a credit to his people. That was more funny than anything, but they handled it well.

[Jackson54]

The Simpsons made a few jokes about Racism





Mayor: I declare the highest state of emergency, code black!

(everyone gasps)

Lenny: Black, that's the worst color there is!

(turns to Carl, a african american friend)

Lenny: No offense, Carl

Carl: Eh, I get that alot.

[GWOtaku]

Of all things, the kiddy cartoon for Super Mario Brothers 3 did it. There was an episode where the koopas somehow manage to color everybody in the Mushroom Kingdom red or blue and devise means to pit one color against the other. This even works on Mario and Luigi, until everyone finally comes to their senses for some reason and realize how stupid they're being.

Geez, I can't believe I still remember this after all of these years.

There's also the anime Code Geass, where racism is firmly entrenched in the conquering evil Empire. Needless to say, its depicted as a bad thing. One soldier who thinks only "pureblood" citizens should be in the military ends up being paying the price for his views when he's accused of being multiracial and is disgraced.

I suppose Gundam Seed does this too with its futuristic prejudice between standard humans and genetically engineered and enhanced ones (coordinators). The anti-bigotry statement is made very clear, as prejudice went beyond persecution into a war that escalated to the point where both sides were literally prepared to destroy the other.

[Kentaro Doe]

In the Proud Family episode where Penny is assigned to live with an Indian family in the cultural exchange program, near the end Penny and the Indian family go to a resturant after fasting for Ramadan.

They run into Penny's family at the resturant, they have a good time together, and then they walk home together.

When they walk up to the Indian family's home, they see it's been vandalised and has the phrase "Go back to your country!" painted on it.

[Movie06]

In the Proud Family episode where Penny is assigned to live with an Indian family in the cultural exchange program, near the end Penny and the Indian family go to a resturant after fasting for Ramadan.

They run into Penny's family at the resturant, they have a good time together, and then they walk home together.

When they walk up to the Indian family's home, they see it's been vandalised and has the phrase "Go back to your country!" painted on it.

How come they never found out who did that? It's like the writer said "Hmm, let's slap on that sort of thing to teach kids something."

[Rolling Cloud]

The anime, Eureka 7 deals with racism since Dewey's racist against the Coralians.

Also Elfen Lied, since the humans (well, I shouldn't say every human. Mostly military figures) are racist against the diclonius.

[Antiyonder]

Of all things, the kiddy cartoon for Super Mario Brothers 3 did it. There was an episode where the koopas somehow manage to color everybody in the Mushroom Kingdom red or blue and devise means to pit one color against the other. This even works on Mario and Luigi, until everyone finally comes to their senses for some reason and realize how stupid they're being.

Plus there's that jab at real worlders for not making the same realization that made the episode.


JL did a subtle jab when they go back in time to Sgt. Rock era and GL is told he's a credit to his people. That was more funny than anything, but they handled it well.

That was in Legends where they met the Justice Guild. While the world was the early 2000s, they had a 1950s mentality.


Also, while X-Men used racism as a racial metaphor, the episode One Man's Worth has Bishop, Shard and an alternate reality Wolverine & Storm traveling to the 1950s to prevent the death of Xavier. While they're at a diner, the one of the employees notices and attacks them because of observing Wolverine and Storm showing affection (despite their race differences).

[Joe]

"The Sneeches" segment in the animated Dr. Suess on the Loose television special.

[Juu-kuchi]

There's a very nice scene in the anime Black Lagoon where Dutch, an African-American, talks on the phone with an old Nazi SS officer. You can somewhat feel the sort of seething tension disguised as somewhat congenial conversation. That is until the SS Officer calls him something derogatory term in German about his colour, and laments extensively at it is a shame that Dutch is black. The officer finally ends it with a stated resolve to make sure he (and any remaining Nazis) exterminates Dutch and his kind from the Earth. Dutch then promptly destroys the phone.

[Daxdiv]

Teen Titans "Troq" comes to mind. Seems everyone in the galaxy hate Starfire's race due to them being of the peaceful sort, and they have a slur for it, the afformention title. Also Cyborg saying him being discriminating agaisnt due to him being half robot is just covering up for the fact that he black.

[Classic Speedy]

Might I say, those aforementioned Static Shock and Teen Titans episodes were excellent. I still love that exchange in the TT episode:
"You're one of the few good ones. (everyone coldly stares at him) What? It's supposed to be a compliment."
"So why does it still feel like an insult?"

[Movie06]

Yeah, I like how Static Shock and Teen Titans on the whole issue. And I like that exchange in one of the last scenes of that episode of Teen Titans.

[Blackstar]

Of course, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids did a racially driven episode.

It was one of the later episodes, after Fat Albert and the gang were bused to an ethnically diverse school. Two students (on black, one white) were running against each other for student body president. Each of them tried to play the race card to persuade other students belonging to the same race to vote for him.

[Patchwork]

Teen Titans "Troq" comes to mind. Seems everyone in the galaxy hate Starfire's race due to them being of the peaceful sort, and they have a slur for it, the afformention title.

I always thought that episode managed to handle the subject a lot better than most childrens' cartoons.
I really love the fact that Val-Yor differs from the standard unlikeable jerky racist that normally serves as the antagonist. Before you realize that he's exremely prejudiced towards Tamaranians, he seems like a likeable stand up guy.
His animosity towards Star starts out subtle and slowly becomes more apparent as the episode goes on. He's a fairly realistic prejudiced character, IMO, especially towards the end when he calls Starfire "one of the good ones". It's also pretty noteworthy that he doesn't do a moral 180 and suddenly learn his lesson at the end and decide to be tolerant and wonderful, he's the same racist jerk he always was.


Also Cyborg saying him being discriminating agaisnt due to him being half robot is just covering up for the fact that he black.
I'd not so much say it was covering up the black analogy, as it was more keeping in step with not directly reffering to actual, real-word racism. It's a lot less complicated that way. Still, it desn't take a genius to notice the analogy in that scene.

I really love the start of it as Cyborg cheerfully call her "Troq", thinking it's a term of enderment, not getting what it really means, not unlike how certain... other words are tossed around carelessly.
But that bit might just be me over anylizing

[Movie06]

I really love the start of it as Cyborg cheerfully call her "Troq", thinking it's a term of enderment, not getting what it really means, not unlike how certain... other words are tossed around carelessly.
But that bit might just be me over anylizing

Sometimes in real life, that happens.

[Patchwork]

In the Proud Family episode where Penny is assigned to live with an Indian family in the cultural exchange program, near the end Penny and the Indian family go to a resturant after fasting for Ramadan.

They run into Penny's family at the resturant, they have a good time together, and then they walk home together.

When they walk up to the Indian family's home, they see it's been vandalised and has the phrase "Go back to your country!" painted on it.

That ending was embarassing to watch. Seriously. It was tacked on, had nothing to no with the storyline at all, and was rediculously preachy. And I usually like badly done social commentary (because I'm a masochist), so that's saying something coming from me.

Also, they weren't Indian, they were just Muslim. Never mentioned their actual nationality



Sometimes in real life, that happens.
Well yes, I'm aware of that. What I meant was I wasn't sure if what I read out of particular bit was intentional on the writers' part. (And if it was indeed intetional, major kudos to them.)

[I.R Joey]

Teen Titans "Troq" comes to mind. Seems everyone in the galaxy hate Starfire's race due to them being of the peaceful sort, and they have a slur for it, the afformention title. Also Cyborg saying him being discriminating agaisnt due to him being half robot is just covering up for the fact that he black.

True, that was a really good episode, but they did cop out with Cyborg.

Exosquad: Great show that really dealt with the issue of prejudice. The Neosapien's desire to be treated as equals was understandable.

Gargoyles: Alot of fear and paranoia. All of the "Hunter's" stuff as well as the stuff with the Klan like Quarrymen in TGC.

American Dragon in a round about way with the Huntsman.

There was a really good episode of Buzz Lightyear written by Greg Weisman that dealt with Mira having an interacial (in the most literal sense) relationship.

[Movie06]

Well yes, I'm aware of that. What I meant was I wasn't sure if what I read out of particular bit was intentional on the writers' part. (And if it was indeed intetional, major kudos to them.)

It probably was the writer's intention all along with that episode.

[Umino]

Surprisingly, Mahou no Mako-chan had an episode that dealt with racist discrimination. Not something you'd expect from a 70's magical girl show. It also gave us some anime renditions on a few familiar (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/CutyFlash/MAKO-CHAN/mako1-1.jpg) faces (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/CutyFlash/MAKO-CHAN/mako2-1.jpg).

[Racattack!Force]

That ending was embarassing to watch. Seriously. It was tacked on, had nothing to no with the storyline at all, and was rediculously preachy. And I usually like badly done social commentary (because I'm a masochist), so that's saying something coming from me.

That ending came out of nowhere for me. When I first saw the episode, I was utterly confused. Maybe because I live in a densely black populated neighborhood (with a few hispanics here and there) and never had to deal with racism...

[I.R Joey]

[quote=Patchwork;2841499]That ending was embarassing to watch. Seriously. It was tacked on, had nothing to no with the storyline at all, and was rediculously preachy. And I usually like badly done social commentary (because I'm a masochist), so that's saying something coming from me.

Also, they weren't Indian, they were just Muslim. Never mentioned their actual nationality

[quote]

I'm pretty sure there was a comment about someone in the house watching a show in Urdu (spelling?) which would more than likely mean that they were from Pakistan.

Did that episode come out before or after 9/11? I saw it after.

[DarthGonzo]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Tiny Toons short "Clyde and Prejudice" yet.

[FightingDreamer]

Regarding Val-Yor in Teen Titans: I think it's interesting that he doesn't seem to think of himself as a racist, which is true of many people with such a mentality in real life. And yeah, the "So why does it still feel like an insult?" is a great line.

[tb4000]

Regarding Val-Yor in Teen Titans: I think it's interesting that he doesn't seem to think of himself as a racist, which is true of many people with such a mentality in real life. And yeah, the "So why does it still feel like an insult?" is a great line.

well, no one will ever out and out admit that they are, and most people that are racist never think they are. They just view people a certain way, usually negative, but it's been ingrained in them. They may not be bad people, but it was what they were taught or learned from experiences.

[Daxdiv]

I'm pretty sure there was a comment about someone in the house watching a show in Urdu (spelling?) which would more than likely mean that they were from Pakistan.

Did that episode come out before or after 9/11? I saw it after.


I think it came out afterwards which sort of made the topic relevent. Since I always assumed the people who tagged the pakistan family were those who thing "All Middle-Easterns are evil/terrorist/can't be trusted" ultra-extremist Americans, and a reason to give that "motivational speech" at the end to fit the moral. Also the first act had a character making fun of them, while another told her to shut up. (I haven't seen the show in a while, so I'm not going to bother to look up their names)

[cyde]

Teen Titans "Troq" comes to mind. Seems everyone in the galaxy hate Starfire's race due to them being of the peaceful sort, and they have a slur for it, the afformention title. Also Cyborg saying him being discriminating agaisnt due to him being half robot is just covering up for the fact that he black.Rats. You beat me to it.

[pseudowudo]

There were two episodes that dealt with racial prejudice in 'She-Ra' and 'He-Man'

In 'The Crystal Castle' & Troll's Dream' there was a deep prejudice against the Etherian Trolls by other Etherians when the Troll king, told She-Ra about his people's offer to aid the rebels against the Horde was met with distrust,fear, and hate, which resulted in the Trolls becoming xenophobic, and when a Troll was sent by the said King to see Adora and her shock at the rebels behavior as a result, in the end, they worked out their differences and became allies and friends.

'Sky War' & 'Underworld' were episodes which also dealt with the racism between two species: the Adreenids and the Avionans, the Subternian races, the Caligars and the Speleeans and how with the help of the Masters, they resolved their prejudices with each other.

[Anthonynotes]

There's a direct-to-video film about how Martin Luther King's influenced modern times, involving two kids who (somehow) enter an alternate timeline where MLK never existed and the US is still under "Jim Crow" laws. Had a bit of a "Capt. Planet" feel to it in retrospect, but otherwise was OK. (Said film's also one of the first cartoons I commented on on Toon Zone many years ago, back when it was just the "Warner Bros. Club"...).

-B.

[Don_East]

Speaking of Captain Planet, there was an episode that involves the Planeteers trying to find three nuclear bombs hidden in Belfast, South Africa, & the Middle East. It has Wheeler meeting with a Catholic and a Protestant, Ma-Ti & Gi meeting a jew and a muslim, and Kwame & Linka meeting a white man & a black woman. Each one had a detenator to the bomb in their respective regions.

[Movie06]

Wasn't there a Captain Planet episode that takes place in Belfast?

[Don_East]

Wasn't there a Captain Planet episode that takes place in Belfast?
Just mentioned it.

[Antiyonder]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Tiny Toons short "Clyde and Prejudice" yet.

What happened in it?

[tb4000]

What happened in it?

Acme Looniversity gets a new student named Clyde, who is a robot. Montana Max starts to make fun of him for the way he looks and acts, as they don't have any other robotic students there.

[Mad Mod 49]

The Static Shock episode on it was indeed good, though I still cringe whenever I hear Richie yell at his dad for "You and your stupid racism!" Sheesh, not very subtle dialogue, is it? :sweat:

[Patchwork]

The Static Shock episode on it was indeed good, though I still cringe whenever I hear Richie yell at his dad for "You and your stupid racism!" Sheesh, not very subtle dialogue, is it? :sweat:

Yeah, that line keeps ruining my perception of that episode. It had lots of very good stuff in it (I favor the part at the dinner table where Richie's dad compalins aboput rap) but whenever I think of that epsiode that line is all I hear.

[zoombie]

I just saw a movie on Cartoon Network that indirectly dealt with racism. A early 90's called "Cats Can't Dance", it was about animals trying to make it in Hollywood, but has to put with the prejitice of humans. The movie takes in the 30's, it is clear to me the animals represent minorities particularly African American.

The female lead did remind me of Dorthy Dandrige (I think that is how you spell her name). The main villain resembled Shirley Temple, are they trying to say Shirley Temple was a raciest?

[strawberryjuice]

Never watched this show regularly, but wasn't there that one episode of the Proud Family? where she was passed out or something and had this huge dream dating back to times of racism?

something like that...

[Daxdiv]

Never watched this show regularly, but wasn't there that one episode of the Proud Family? where she was passed out or soemthing and had this huge dream dating back to times of racism?

something like that...


You mean that episode where Penny slided on water and was magically transported to a time where everyone she knew was in a desegregated America, and everyone was thinking that Penny was crazy because she was from the future and listing many invention from black inventors? Yeah that counts since the white kid did have an racist look before even knowing Penny on a personal level.

[strawberryjuice]

You mean that episode where Penny slided on water and was magically transported to a time where everyone she knew was in a desegregated America, and everyone was thinking that Penny was crazy because she was from the future and listing many invention from black inventors? Yeah that counts since the white kid did have an racist look before even knowing Penny on a personal level.
yeah thats one!

[Racattack!Force]

The female lead did remind me of Dorthy Dandrige (I think that is how you spell her name). The main villain resembled Shirley Temple, are they trying to say Shirley Temple was a raciest?
No, I think they were saying that she was Hollywood's biggest star back then.

[zoombie]

No, I think they were saying that she was Hollywood's biggest star back then.

I was half kidding. Though I don't know anything about her, so who knows.

[Tinytooncrazy]

How about the 1987 Teenage Muant Ninja Turtles they certintly din't mention racism but speciesim does that count particular the turtles on trial epsiode dioes this count

[zoombie]

The third season of Gargoyles after the world discovered, they had to deal with prediges. The Querreymen were like Ku Kux Klan. The episode when Goliath goes on trial is really bladent about that symbolism. Not to mention in their own time in the 10th century, they were treated like second class citizens. And it had reverse racism from Demona, if the Querrymen are the KKK, than she is one of those Black Panther people.

[Hordesman]

How about the 1987 Teenage Muant Ninja Turtles they certintly din't mention racism but speciesim does that count particular the turtles on trial epsiode dioes this count

It always struck me as being horribly unfair that they had to live in the sewer, wear trenchcoats and goofy rubber masks to go out, and get criticized when all they did was fight crime. They definitely lived like an oppressed minority.

[Zen Man]

I guess you could say Who Framed Roger Rabbit referenced racism a little. Though the toons were allowed to work, they were primarily treated as second class citizens by humans and for the most part confined to ToonTown. Also Eddie Valient's dislike for toons and how he later overcomes that with Rogers help is also examined throughout the film.

[J-man]

I guess you could say Who Framed Roger Rabbit referenced racism a little. Though the toons were allowed to work, they were primarily treated as second class citizens by humans and for the most part confined to ToonTown. Also Eddie Valient's dislike for toons and how he later overcomes that with Rogers help is also examined throughout the film.

About time somebody mentioned that one.

Also, one of the first episodes of American Dad dealt with anti-Muslim racism, with Stan being more than suspicious, convicting really, but ending as trusting them, IIRC.

Also, one could say Drawn Together tackled racism, just in very cynical and unhelpful ways.

And finally, South Park has done episodes either fully or mildly based on racism/religious differences with a sharp comedic taste. More or less the episodes dealing with these things end in favor of the group/person under attack.

[cyde]

speciesim......like when Robotech's The Zentraedi regarded humans (the earth people) as Micronians.

[Itchy]

Boondocks deals with racism on a regular basis.

[FGfan]

X-Men TAS - well it was never exactly racial, it did so on an allegorical level - humanity's hate for mutants, etc.

For all you CP haters, that occasionally dealt with racism, even if it did occasionally seem that.