Jazz, Sex and War Cartoons

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This is playing at a nearby theater on Tues. I'm gonna try to make it!
Jazz, Sex and War Cartoons
Director: Various, Country: USA, Runtime: 90, Rating: NR
Not for kids.
Throughout the 1930s and ’40s, cartoons were a standard part of the moviegoing experience, bringing laughter to audiences across the country. But many cartoons delivered a darker message as well, bound up in the racial, sexual, and cultural stereotypes of the period. Here’s a look at some of the best of them - best in the sense that they’re well (sometimes brilliantly) made, even if they are completely lacking in political correctness. The program is specially created and hosted by film curator Dennis Nyback, who drew the films from his vast collection. Many have been suppressed or hidden, as they don’t always sit well in today’s culture.
https://tickets.burnsfilmcenter.org/php/calendar.php?month=6&day=13&year=2006&sid=&cmode=0"(g=2

 

[KAT]

not for kids eh???? I wish i could make it

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

What I don't get is that the 30's and 40's are considered a realitively conservative period of time but yet they could express opinions and have cartoons made for the masses that would now be considered very taboo. It seems that, in some ways, the period of time we live in is more conservative than that of the past.

 

[Doh!]

Absolutely true in some areas. If "All in the Family" were produced today, NO WAY would it make it past the censors -- even though it was making a statement against bigotry.

That said, children's entertainment in the '70s was pretty watered down compared to, say, the original "Superman" TV series. In the '70s, showing guns onscreen was considered taboo in children's programming, whereas two decades previously, I'm sure Lois Lane was slugged at one point by a pistol-packing thug or two.

 

[Wild Root]

Oh, bring on the toons! You know, I think as a people, we have become too soft... and, too uptight about things... yes, the golden era were rather conservative, but, people were free more so in those days to practice the freedom of speech... yes, in most cases it was limited to the color of his or her skin but, Hollywood and film makers were pretty free in many respects... cartoons to people back then were taken lightly because they're just cartoons, silly drawings and images on paper... you can kill a toon as many times as you want, they always come back!

I enjoy watching these kinds of toons, they portray a different look on the period... some may be offended but, I look at it as history and can laugh and learn many things from them.

In those days, if some one didn't like something, they'd just not watch it or what have ya... today, if some one doesn't like the color they painted the super market, they do what ever possible to have it changed! Just the kind of world we live in today I guess.

But, bring on the tooons!

=WR=

 

[Doctor Strange]

Keep in mind that many of the cartoons from the war years were meant as morale builders for the boys in uniform (and the hardworking home front folks). There was a definite looseness/craziness/propaganda aspect, and the censors didn't look very hard. (Not that *anybody* looked very hard at cartoons in those days: they were largely under the radar.) Especially in the first half of the war - when the allies were in deep trouble - *anything* that would give folks a lift/laugh was sanctioned, and if it fit in with the propaganda of the time, so much the better.

Of course, a lot of this stuff is hard to watch now. The Superman cartoon "Eleventh Hour" is a particularly humorless, grim, and disturbing film, as Superman commits acts of sabotage against the Japanese each night at 11PM (some of which have huge body counts) and it's portrayed as heroic... Laugh-riot stuff like the Warners cartoons of the period are a lot easier to handle, though watching Bugs Bunny disguised as an ice-cream vendor hand out "Good Rumor" pops that are really hand grenades to Japanese soldiers is also pretty appalling! (This is in the disgraceful "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips".)

Of course, I could go off on my anti-PC rant about how current audiences should know all about this stuff vs. Hollywood prentending it didn't happen, but you've all heard that one before...

 

[Pilgrim]

There are a number of now-banned Warner Bros. cartoons from the WWII period. Some used stereotyped caricatures of Hitler, Goering and other German types, others had Indian or black caricatures.

Popeye, Bugs Bunny and many other cartoon characters interacted with Axis characters in ways that are now either seen as inappropriate for kids, or no longer very relevant to today's audience.

From most of our own memories, you won't see Quick Draw McGraw on TV, as his sidekick Baba Looey is much too "Mexican" stereotyped for current tastes. Same goes for the 17 "Tijuana Toads" cartoons that used to show in theaters before movies began in the 1960's and 70's.

Here's a comment from website http://dfe.goldenagecartoons.com/tijuana.htm

"Tijuana Toads" was one of the handful of the series selected to be shown in NBC's "Pink Panther Laugh and the Half Hour and a Half Show" in 1976. Unfortunatly, NBC refused to air the series because of the blatent Mexican streotypes. They solved the issue by renaming the toads as Fatso and Banjo, and redubbing all their dialogues. The series was also renamed, as "Texas Toads". Other changes including reanimating scenes to either get rid of Mexican themes or to remove violence, which was then outlawed in animation.

So I think part of the reason is that some cartoons from these past ages have lost relevance to today's audience, and others might be (or almost certainly would be) offensive to some audiences.

 

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Well, unfortunately something came up (doesn't it always), so I couldn't make this
I hope it comes around again!