Mammy Two Shoes.. Not Funny

[kofijamal]

That little April Fool's joke wasn't funny or cute. In fact, its pretty sad. I'm really offended and I hope next year and from this moment now the people in charge here will rethink any sort of ideas like this again.

[Brian Cruz]

Originally posted by kofijamal
That little April Fool's joke wasn't funny or cute. In fact, its pretty sad. I'm really offended and I hope next year and from this moment now the people in charge here will rethink any sort of ideas like this again.

You're gonna have to elaborate on that. What didn't you like?

[kofijamal]

Out of all the African-American characters you could have used, this character is one built on sterotypes of how African-Americans were seen. From the "Aunt Jamaya" look to the very poor English, this is just something that isn't funny.I'm sure you guys didn't mean or want to offend people. But I'm African-American and I just prsonally found this joke really offensive. It's bad enough were rarely are viewed as anything but as some sort sterotype in other forms of media. "Ever lovin' Mammy." "She pours herself a shot of "Ol’ Rotgut" whiskey."

[kofijamal]

My mistake, I pressed the wrong button. I hope this shows my side of this. I'm just someone who is very vocal when it comes to the way African-Americans and all people are viewed. Peace.

[Maxie Zeus]

Thank you for your feedback. We knew that any attempt to address that character -- even in a satirical way -- would run the risk of offending people.

The item was written for an audience of fans of classic cartoons -- the sort of people who love and appreciate cartoons that contain offensive stereotypes even while recognizing that such stereotypes are offensive. There are many genuinely great cartoons, such as "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves," that are kept out of circulation because of the stereotypes they contain, and this distresses most of the people in Toon Zone's audience. It's a loss to the art form and, in the eyes of many, it is analogous to the way "Ulysses" and "Lady Chatterley's Lover" were suppressed almost a hundred years ago for containing what was then perceived as "questionable" material.

We chose to satirize this situation in a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" sort of way, by imagining one of these "censored" characters reflecting on her own exile. As you say, there are in fact good reasons why this sort of character is kept off the air, and we only intended to show the necessary but tragic consequence: the loss of certain great cartoons and (in our imagined world) the ruin of the character's career.

That imagined career, in fact, consciously parallels the fate that befell many African-American performers in the postwar decades. When Hollywood finely woke up to the problem, it's response was not to replace offensive representations with inoffensive ones; it simply stopped representing African-Americans altogether. That was something else the satire was intended to bring out. Mammy, after all, was not "improved" in subsequent cartoons, she was simply dropped and replaced by white suburban women. The removal of negative stereotypes was an improvemet of sorts to be sure, but it was one that disconcerted the NAACP of the time. African-American performers were not given better roles, they were simply rendered unemployed and unemployable for most of the subsequent decade.

As for the way we wrote her up: If we had not portrayed this character as she was portrayed in "Tom and Jerry" we would have been guilty of a different kind of censorship -- of pretending that she had not been a grotesquely demeaning stereotype. Negative elements that we added -- such as the reference to "Ol' Rotgut" -- were intended only to illustrate the depths to which she had sunk over the years, to give her a richer background story, or as inside jokes to the cartoon cognescenti. (For instance, her supposed husband, "Prince" Chawmin', is actually a character from the aforementioned "Coal Black.")

But against these we also consciously strove to introduce elements that would elevate her. Thus, we invented for her a secondary career as a major -- and very successful -- talent agent in "Toon Town." This, we hoped, would show that beneath the unflattering surface was a woman of real talent and substance. That, after all, is the problem with stereotypes -- they are harmful and deceptive to the extent that they mask other and more substantive qualities that the person has. Satirical episodes involving Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and William Faulkner, were also intended to suggest surprising facets to the character.

The problem with Mammy Two Shoes as she is portrayed in the MGM cartoons, finally, is not that she is fat, or that she is foolish, or that she speaks funny, or that she is African-American. The problem is that that is all she is, and that this limited character is suggested as being emblematic of an entire ethnic group. The idea behind our satire was to take the exact same fat, foolish, funny-talking African-American woman and suggest that there were (or could be) solid and admirable qualities to her, and that she should be judged on those qualities. It pretends that the cartoon character is real, and was meant to show that as a real person she has (or should have) real dimensions -- as having strengths (and weaknesses) that are unexpected given her usual portrayal.

And in the same way, it was intended to suggest that the cartoons in which these stereotypes appear should also be judged according to the solid and very real merits that they have: on the liquid animation, on the stunning composition and character designs, on the tightly coiled stories and pungent humor, and on the beautiful musical scores. There are scores -- perhaps hundreds -- of lousy cartoons that are nothing but vicious attacks upon ethnic characters, and the loss of these cartoons is no tragedy. But there are many others of real beauty and quality that are similarly consigned to the phantom zone, and dismissed because of their surfaces -- by their passing use of ethnic humor -- and not on their aesthetic and artistic merits.

We are sorry if our intent was not successful, and sincerely apologize for having caused you any distress or offense.

[kofijamal]

Thanks Maxie and Brian. I gave all of what your saying a lot fo thought before, during, and after I did my second post and after reading your post. I love Tom and Jerry and in the fun of Tom and Jerry I toally ignore her. I hope I didn't mean to sound mean or rude, I vist this site enough a day I should have mail sent here. But I guess it just struck a cord in me. And even with cartoons today, there are few African-Americans in cartoons that seem "real" or something I or the children I work with can relate to. My girlfriend raised several of the same points you did and I can see her face now when see reads it later on tonight. (She'll tell me that she was right and I just had too much caffeine yesterday.) Thanks again and Peace.

[John-Paul]

What joke? I missed that one!

[Matthew Hunter]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, kofijamal. Lots of times, the humor surrounding classic cartoons can be a bit controversial. I know that first-hand, as I have been trying through my petition to negotiate with the Cartoon Network over Speedy Gonzales. Their argument is that the Speedy cartoons are full of bad stereotypes of Mexicans. Most Mexicans I've heard from (there are over 1200 signatures, a majority of them Hispanic signees) actually feel the opposite way. They actually consider Speedy to be a hero, and are more offended by his removal. I mean, it's SPEEDY GONZALES, he's pretty popular. :rolleyes: Yet, one Mexican-American poster on the TTTP had a different idea, his argument was that the cartoons perpetuate derogatory views of Mexicans, and he didn't want to see Speedy returned. I think my view was right, personally, and I think the backing of L.U.L.A.C., Hispanic Online, and even Rush Limbaugh proves it. But my point is that no matter what, stuff like this causes controversy. I did not write the "Mammy" article, but I thought it was funny. Many of us, including Maxie and myself, are huge fans of 'classic era' cartoons, those of Warner Brothers, MGM, Fleischer, etc. In some of these cartoons, there are some unpleasant signs of the times, that black Americans,, Native Americans, Hispanics, etc., were often ridiculed because of their unique racial traits. In the case of MGM's "Tom and Jerry", William Hanna and Joe Barbera were not, at least based on my observation, trying to create a deliberately derogatory stereotype with Mammy, something that, perhaps, Tex Avery and Friz Freleng were sometimes not careful enough with at Warner Bros (hence "All This and Rabbit Stew" and "Sunday Go To Meetin Time" respectively). Mammy is a stereotype, but she is the boss of the household. It was rare in that time in Hollywood to see an African-American in an exclusive, authority role. I do not know how I would feel if I were in your place, kofijamal, but the way I look at it is in context. It is a little outrageous NOW, but at the time, I do not think that anyone found a character like this offensive. I remember when they ran Mammy Tom and Jerry toons uncut on a local channel here in Fort Worth, back in the late 80's sometime,when they picked up a syndicated (by Turner I assume) package of MGM cartoons and ran them in afternoons. CN already censors them now, and I'm afraid no local station would have the balls to air that stuff now, not because the content is offensive, but because they are afraid that it will be viewed out of context. I think it is silly to censor cartoons, and Mammy Two Shoes is hardly deserving of a place in the racist/banned pile of classic film. However, if it must be done, the cartoons must still be made available in some format, for their historical interest to social and Hollywood historians and to classic cartoon buffs who want them for a collection . I am sure you have heard of the Warner Bros. "Censored Eleven". These are the (deemed by WB) worst of Warners' various pokes at African-American culture. some, like the beautifully scored black and white "Hittin the Trail For Hallelujia Land" and Bob Clampett's all-black (and black VOICED, I might add) "Coal Black and De Seben Dwarfs", are misfiled in this category, IMHO. Others, like the aforementioned Avery and Freleng cartoons, are tough to swallow for me, and I'm white! Do I think they should be on TV or video? Yes. Do I think they should be on either medium without some major historical disclaimers? Heck No. I hope that helps you understand where we come from on that issue. And as for your being offended, we appologize. That certainly wasn't the intent :)
-Matthew

[Lucky Bob]

BTW, I know where you can find one of the censored 11 online. Try broadcast.com.

[Pilmedium]

I happen to be offended by people who take down classic cartoon characters, or just the cartoons. I see Mammy Two-Shoes simply as a character used for entertainment.

[Maxie Zeus]

This is not a discussion forum, so I'm closing the thread.