/Filmcast E-Mails

A History of Racism

Hey guys I thought I’d drop you guys a line about something I’ve learned about recently. What are your opinions on studios releasing from their archives former works that are racist or otherwise offensive to mainstream audiences? I got thinking about this when I heard that Warner Brothers would be releasing a blu ray version of the complete Looney Toons collection but that this collection would not be including the Censored Eleven, eleven animated shorts that were animated between 1930-1945 that include extreemly racist depictions of African and Asian Americans. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6918

But apparently at the New York Comicon in 2010 it was announced that somewhere somehow in 2011 these shorts were going to be released in DVD format for the first time since they were banned by the studio in 1968.

Now personally I am not the sort of person who really really needs to see a set of racist animated shorts but the idea that films that some mega-studio doesn’t like could simply be lost forever or the fact that any mention or discussion of them could be removed from the historical record at the whim of some corporation trying to control its image ( I.E. Disney with The Song of the South) seems like something that should be discussed.

Also there appears to be some debate as to whether some of the Censored Eleven are actually offensive at all as in the case of Tin Pan Alley Cats and Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs as apparently the director of these shorts was very active in the jazz scene and brought in specific jazz muscians to be the models for the characters and was attempting the shorts to be a celebration of their music. Both of films by the way, are often listed amoung the greatest animated films ever made but haven’t been avaible for public viewing since 1968.

I’ve found that access to some of the shorts is availble on youtube right now. Here you can watch some yourselves: http://www.museumofuncutfunk.com/The_Museum_of_Uncut_Funk/The_Censored_Eleven_-_Banned_Cartoons.html Here is a short history of the Censored Eleven from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censored_eleven I first heard about this whole thing last week and would be very interested to hear your opinions. Also I understand that this is kinda long so feel free to cut it up where nessisary if you decide to bring it up.

Eirik (Eye-rick) in San Mateo CA