Why that wacist wabbit!

[laugh4me]

I guess that this is related to all the disappointment over the June Bugs fiasco, but I happened across this article which searching for something else. After I read it I just had to shake my head in disbelief.
It's an essay written by a univeristy student in Texas in which she analyzes Saturday morning cartoons and the messages they give us. She concentrates on Bugs, Daffy, Elmer, Sylvester and Tweety in her "incredible" analysis.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"In every show Bugs Bunny always has to be the star. When Daffy tries to be the star, Bugs does everything in his power to see that Daffy does not end up as the star of the show. This situation can be related to society in the sense that when a minority wants to climb up in the world, there is always a racist majority that is there to hold him down and push him back because they think that the top is not the place they should be (they should not be over the white man). Bugs Bunny also tries to make Daffy Duck look stupid in all of their cartoons.
...not only did Bugs outsmart Daffy Duck, he also outsmarted Elmer Fud. In other words, not only does the white man take advantage of the minority, he also takes advantage of his own kind.
... "why does Sylvester, a black cat, always getting used and abused by Tweety, a yellow canary?" Sylvester is always trying to eat Tweety, but in the process, Sylvester gets beat up by everything in sight. Sylvester is hit with everything ranging from a car that is passing by, to Spike (the dog), to Tweety himself abusing Sylvetster. Relating the abuse in this cartoon to society, we can say that a majority of the minorities are stuck at low paying jobs or even immigrant jobs that don not even pay enough to be able to survive in this white man's world. Minorities are used and abused by the American sys tem in a place where it is said that everyone is equal, but in reality we will never be equal. In all of these cartoons, Sylvester is made to look like a fool by everyone in the cartoon, and especially humiliated by Tweety himself. In all of the carto ons, Tweety drops or hits Sylvester with almost anything in sight: bottoms of bird cages, bowling balls, sinks, or just anything that will slow up Sylvester eating Tweety. In society the majority will do ever ything in its power to keep the minority at the lowest level they can. They create obstacles that are not easy to overcome by a minority and they try to stall our development. Thus, they are holding back the minority that is trying to reach the top and be successful.
...racism is present in Saturday morning cartoons. Although it may not be as obvious as other forms of racism, it is there and many people will try to deny the cha rges, and try to hide it in another form or fashion. ...Maybe one way to change events in the real world would be to cha nge our cultural and media representation. "


Here's the url for the complete essay (http://www.uta.edu/english/hawk/syllabi/semi/yuxdivia.htm) (The first section is pretty amazing too, but I left it out of this since it wasn't really about cartoons)
Now I'm sure that I said a few stupid things when I was this age, but this is truly amazing. It's quite possible that the environment in which she was raised (and school she attends) encouraged this victimhood and the tendency to see racism everywhere. I've seen others rise above such attitudes in the past and move on to succeed and I hope she does the same someday. But for now this is a little reminder of how some see racism everywhere and are incredibly hypersensitive about the issue.


Comments anyone??

[dendawg]

To quote Bugs himself:

"Why that dirty, good for nothing blankety blank blank..."
:mad: :mad:

It's patently obvious that this woman has not actually studied the cartoons in depth. That, and that she apparantly thinks of herself as the second coming of Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and Jesse Jackson.:p If she had even bothered to study them whatsoever, she would have come to the conclusion that, like most any other toon head here has, is that 99.99999% of all WB villains are self defeating The fact that daffy is not intelligent enough to defeat bugs is irrelevant to racism. If the author wants a racist toon, she ought to watch "All this and rabbit stew."

[DR. BELCH]

Next some college student will claim that doing your laundry is racist. Por que? "Because before you drop it in the machine, you separate the whites and the colors!" ;)

[Gossamer]

There people in this world who are so fixated on a particular "fact" that they find evidence of its existance in their breakfast cereal. Sadly, it is these people, in this case, that AOL-Time Warner is trying to appease. But they can never be fully appeased. *sigh* This is an example here. Look around. There are plenty of others. I'm disabled and have seen the mentaity up close and, while there is some merit in general to some of her comments, with cartoons in specific, she has trained a howitzer on a flea!

[L00nE2n]

Hi, my first post since I joined this group.

I think the author makes some analogies that might make an interesting political cartoon. I think her analogies are pretty much reversed however. Is it possible that she is led to her thesis in that Daffy and Sylvester are black animals? I think there are however some analogies between the cartoon society and the black society through the years.

With her Bugs and Daffy analogy, I think it is Bugs who is the "black man" who suceeds in spite of the "white majority" (i.e., Elmer, Yosemite, Taz, Marvin) trying to kill him. Actually, I remember in "Hare Do" a theater showing different prices for men, women, and rabbits. This could be compared with segregation, separating the rabbits from the men and the women. In "Pre-Hysterical Hare," when Bugs predicts the outlawing of rabbit season, he could be predicting the end of slavery, or the end of the legal persecution of intelligent beings. Yosemite Sam saying "I hates rabbits" could be like a racist saying "I hate n-gg-s." Daffy could be Black too, and is obviously equally hated in his society, if not more so, but does not represent his entire "race." He always tries to move up, but is held back by either the white majority, his own ineptitude, or both. And of course there is Bugs' expression "What a maroon." A maroon was in fact a term for a slave. I've always thought it was just "Brooklyneese" for "moron," but you never know.

Sylvester and Tweety it can be argued are like slaves: despite their intelligence, they are owned. Of course Granny treats them a lot better than the white masters treated their slaves, and they certainly never try to revolt against her, but what it all comes down to is the ownership of intelligent beings.

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner could be the less intelligent slaves that White race suspected were true of the entire race. They are obviously very primitive creatures, who live in a society in which the only method of food gathering is to catch it and kill it. Because of their primitive nature, the White race did not consider the Black race worthy of their own independence.

Has anyone read the original book "Roger Rabbit?" It actually uses cartoon characters as metaphor for Black people in a White majority society.

[laugh4me]

I keep expecting to have my 4-year old offend someone in public one of these days.
One of his favorite expressions is "Alright!" but when he says it, it sounds more like "All white"... :)

[Larry T]

People are generally nihilists- most of society has been taught "killjoyism", denying themselves the opportunities to actually enjoy something.... LIKE CARTOONS!!

And of course, there's the rampant notion of self-hatred which we're all brought up with, which I'd be almost certain is the reason why she wrote on this subject to begin with (it's a proven fact that most people who enter the psychiatric field do so because they themselves need answers to their own problems... see where I'm going with this?)

I completely agree with GregL's statement about how she likely resides in an environment which promotes hypersensitivity about issues to help oneself deal with one's self-appointment of victimization. I have met many people with this same attitude ("Government workers WANT me to be on welfare so they will protect their own cushy jobs", "I'm overweight because there's addictive formulas added to fast food and snack treats ",etc.... these are ACTUAL excuses people have said in total seriousness in my presence..... they're blaming someone else for their current state of affairs, it's a lot easier than doing something about it).

Personally, I find it a sad day when someone has to resort to historical cartoons to prove a current political standpoint... there are so many other sources of better material for that. Besides, in one of the Freleng transcript interviews I read that Sylvester was colour modelled after a comical harlequin!! Black/white suit and a big red clown nose.... think about it.... And Bugs Bunny is grey isn't he? A mix between black and white. He's not a white rabbit...he's grey!!! And does that mean that in any cartoons where Daffy Duck is the protagonist, it's secretly a production exercising minority rights?? I'd bet she'd have a heyday watching Popeye cartoons... why, he's a white man wearing a white sailor suit who comes out on top almost all the time.... it CAN'T have anything to do with the fact that he takes abuse until he gets fed up with it and then fights for himself.

I, myself, am also a member of a minority group, and I never watched cartoons with the notion that someone is secretly programming me with propaganda (well, except for the OBVIOUS ones that SHOULD have been used for the thesis)......:cool:

[DR. BELCH]

Larry T.:
I'd bet she'd have a heyday watching Popeye cartoons... why, he's a white man wearing a white sailor suit who comes out on top almost all the time.... it CAN'T have anything to do with the fact that he takes abuse until he gets fed up with it and then fights for himself.
No, it won't be that, Slick. It'll be, "What exactly is in that brawny arborman's spinach can? Whenever in a tight spot, he whips it out, consumes the contents, and gains the physical power of ten men! Why, I believe that isn't spinach--it's drugs! He shouldn't be eating it; he should be rolling it in tiny papers and smoking it!"
Popeye will instantly go right up there with Cheech and Chong, Woody Harrelson, and the Beatles (cf. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") as a supporter/paragon of illegal substance abuse. ;)

[happyheathen]

Popeye will instantly go right up there with Cheech and Chong, Woody Harrelson, and the Beatles (cf. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds") as a supporter/paragon of illegal substance abuse. ;)

You forgot Jefferson Airplane!!! How COULD you?!

"White Rabbit" Forever!!!

[PorkyandDaffy]

This is pure bullcrap! The person who wrote that article obviously doesn’t have enough of a mind to do an analysis of these cartoons.:mad:

[Patrick McCart]

That essay is fluff.

There is NO racist cartoon in my opinion.

Here's how you figure it out:

Watch "All This and Rabbit Stew" and imagine Elmer Fudd is in the hunter's place.

Here's a comparison:

Both hunters have a weird voice (Stew's hunter has a high squeaky voice while Elmer has his pwonounciatwon twoubles)

Both hunters are hunting a wabbit.

Both hunters get outsmarted by Bugs (usually for Fudd).

The ONLY racist *gag* in the cartoon, of course, is the craps gag. At that time, that was the "hot" joke of the time.

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is NOT racist by default since African-Americans lend their voices to the characters! Clampett's original idea for the music was to have REAL jazz musicians provide the score! This is racist?!?!?

Also, how is Clean Pastures racist? The character design by default isn't racist since cartoon charactures are usually abstract (take a look at Hollywood Steps Out...Clark Gable didn't really have ears THAT big!)

The problem is that AOL is doing the wrong thing. By sweeping these cartoons under the rug, they're obscuring history. They should be airing these cartoons in regular rotation to show how different animation was at those times.

If you are offended by a cartoon, I pity you. Even the most "racist" cartoon like Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips should be enjoyed as a reminder to how times were. By lying, editing, and defacing, it's just making things worse.

After all, why the heck should someone get worked up about a 60-year old cartoon?

[PorkyandDaffy]

There is a difference between "racial" cartoons and "racist" cartoons. In my opinion, it's the latter that "racial" cartoons get mistaken for.

[Jack]

The odd thing is, this person has not considered the cartoons where Daffy wins, or where Sylvester wins, or is a hero. There were some good examples made after 1948, but this person obviously only watched one episode that included "Rabbit Seasoning" (tuning in late and missing the first 4 or 5 minutes, no doubt), and then *maybe* watching 5 minutes of "Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries".

I truly hope this person flunked whatever class this was written for (bad grammar, misspellings(like Elmer "Fud"), and an overall uneducated essay. To successfully try to "analyze" a group of cartoons, you study many examples and do research about the times they were made in, the creators, ect. But this person wrote an entire essay after one sitting of the "Bugs N' Daffy Show".

If she REALLY wanted to try and make a case for racism, she would have looked toward Bosko (who, if you are very tired, and squint a little, looks black), or Coal Black, or even tame little Inki.

She never thought that maybe Daffy was black because he started life as a black and white cartoon character. Or that Sylvester is black AND white (oh-no now the cartoons are saying interracial relationships are bad:eek: ), and that black cats were the norm in the 1940s, when Sylvester was created. And Tweety isn't white, he's yellow, :rolleyes: so maybe he's a racist caricature of a gay Asian man (he has effeminate qualities).... :rolleyes:


Jack

[DR. BELCH]

--Tweety (or Orson, as he was called on the first model sheets, cf, "A Tale of Two Kitties") was originally pink and naked as a...well, as a jaybird. (Maybe that's where the expression comes from.) Tweety doesn't insult Asians--he insults newborn babies!
I wonder what this pointy-headed theoritician in Texas would make of Pepe Le Pew's repeated attemps to seduce an unwilling female cat. I can see it now: Chuck Jones written up as a pandererhttp://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/glasses/pimp.gif and advocate of sex crimes against women. http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/funny/gorgeous.gif

[Joe Tully]

This is incredibly poor writing, and not just from a cartoon fan's view, but the view of anyone who knows anything about writing. She has no evidence to support her claims, and instead of gathering information to point herself towards a hypothesis, she first creates a hypothesis (cartoons are racist) and invents evidence to support it. The writer fails to mention any arguments against her case, which a good writer would bring up and then present evidence to dismiss it. There is only one piece of "evidence" (character color) which is incredibly weak. Bugs is grey, so why does the writer assume he is "white"? The essay relies strongly on plot summary. The introduction is mostly off-topic and points out the obvious and irrelevant. Clearly, it's some kid who watched cartoons the night before her paper was due and thought that they would make a good topic.
Wow, I should be an English teacher. I give this kid an F.

[PorkyandDaffy]

Also kinda weird that she didn’t mention the Speedy vs. Sylvester shorts. I’d love to see how she would tie that in with some sort of Mexican vs. Blacks theory.