• Tom and Jerry cartoons now carry a 'racial prejudice' warning on Amazon
    49 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Viewers of Tom and Jerry may wince slightly when the unfortunate grey cat’s head is slammed in a window for the umpteenth time. But according to Amazon, the real danger to modern viewers of the classic cartoons lies in their inherent racism. People hoping to download the 70-year-old cartoons through the company’s video streaming service, previously known as LoveFilm, are confronted with the warning that they contain “some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society”. The notice is likely to refer to the portrayal of a black maid known as Mammy Two Shoes in the animated series. A thick-set, middle-aged black woman whose face is only shown once, the character is generally agreed to be a racist stereotype of a white family’s servant. “Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today,” the Amazon warning adds. The original series of Tom and Jerry short films was produced by the MGM film studio in 1940, running until 1957. Directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera made more than 100 of the animations, winning seven academy awards in the process.[/QUOTE] More info from this source: [URL="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/tom-and-jerry-cartoons-now-carry-a-racial-prejudice-warning-on-amazon-9767317.html"]http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/tom-and-jerry-cartoons-now-carry-a-racial-prejudice-warning-on-amazon-9767317.html[/URL]
While it was obviously portraying life and times of the era, I would be hard-pressed to believe it has a harmful effect on anyone watching today. It's not as much racist as it's a window to the past, and Tom & Jerry are certainly not enforcing or encouraging racism with their antics. Young children won't pick up on the societal implications and mature viewers are already aware of them. For all intents and purposes, it's a legendary cartoon series. I know I loved it and still do.
I came in to this thread thinking "Jesus fucking christ, even Tom and Jerry can't be left alone". But im quiet happy with their phrasing. [quote] “some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society”.[/quote]
Doesn't seem too surprising, doesn't Disney do the same with some of their cartoons.
Good, it's there, so label it. They shouldn't leave out an important detail like that, it is what you make of it, it's not like they're saying "WARNING: THIS CARTOON IS TERRIBLE BECAUSE" they're literally just stating a fact
I'd rather have a warning like this than to have them cut or edited to remove the "offending" material.
I got nightmares from one of the racist episodes as a kid, the stereotypes on a bunch of African tribals were so bad i didnt even see them as black people. when i asked my mum what they were and if they were real she said yes they were real, they were called "cannibals" and that they ate humans. For two years i thought there was a species of jet black humanoids with dog faces called cannonballs out there, and that they ate people.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;46139329]I'd rather have a warning like this than to have them cut or edited to remove the "offending" material.[/QUOTE] which would thus continue the idea that people are soft plushies that need constant pampering and are easily offended by basically everything
IIRC, they had the same warning run before a few episodes of Loony Tunes when Cartoon Network ran every single episode of them. It was a beautifully worded disclaimer.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;46139329]I'd rather have a warning like this than to have them cut or edited to remove the "offending" material.[/QUOTE] WB has a pretty damn honorable policy about this. [img]http://i.imgur.com/TYSw6HB.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=Drsalvador;46139372]WB has a pretty damn honorable policy about this. [img]http://i.imgur.com/TYSw6HB.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Kudos to the guy who wrote that, very well done.
Aw man, I thought Hannah Barbera was a woman all these years.
Better than Disney locking it away in the vault and pretending it doesn't exist.
When I grew up I just thought of her as the actual owner of the house seeing how she owned a fur coat and a ton of jewlery that she put on when she goes into town to play cards with her friends in that one episode. Never really gave it much thought really.
Pretty neat imo. This is more like a "Don't like it, don't watch it" attitude, which I think is in place when something isn't very offensively and deliberately "hatespeeching" against something.
Was this you, Reimu? :v:
[QUOTE=markg06;46139310]Doesn't seem too surprising, doesn't Disney do the same with some of their cartoons.[/QUOTE] Their old cartoons are packaged on [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Treasures]'Walt Disney Treasures' DVDs[/url] with Leonard Maltin commenting and presenting them and the ones that contain racist material have Leonard telling that to the viewer and explaining the context behind them.
[QUOTE=Drsalvador;46139372]WB has a pretty damn honorable policy about this. [img]http://i.imgur.com/TYSw6HB.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Beautifully said.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/pi5fbEl.png[/img]
[QUOTE=proboardslol;46140205][img]http://i.imgur.com/pi5fbEl.png[/img][/QUOTE] Is this from /pol/? Wouldnt surprise me given how forced the joke is
Let's face the facts people, the violence in Tom and Jerry led to violence in video games which leads to violence in real life now. [sp]jk[/sp]
i always assumed she was just a sassy black lady
[QUOTE=just-a-boy;46139293]While it was obviously portraying life and times of the era, I would be hard-pressed to believe it has a harmful effect on anyone watching today. It's not as much racist as it's a window to the past, and Tom & Jerry are certainly not enforcing or encouraging racism with their antics. Young children won't pick up on the societal implications and mature viewers are already aware of them. For all intents and purposes, it's a legendary cartoon series. I know I loved it and still do.[/QUOTE] aren't people trying to ban Tom Sawyer because of N-word Jim?
Reminds me of this intro by whoopi goldberg. [video=youtube;HCT1clqci3I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCT1clqci3I[/video]
[QUOTE=AntonioR;46140293]Let's face the facts people, the violence in Tom and Jerry led to violence in video games which leads to violence in real life now. [sp]jk[/sp][/QUOTE] now cartoons are returning to violence bringing blood and dismemberment along the way
I'm being literally raped by all these triggers :suicide:
Now if only Disney would follow in these footsteps with Song of the South, and stop trying to pretend the movie doesn't exist.
Are people really this soft that they need a trigger warning before watching cartoons. If society pampers to this then no one will ever grow.
[QUOTE=MillySoose;46141168]Are people really this soft that they need a trigger warning before watching cartoons. If society pampers to this then no one will ever grow.[/QUOTE] It doesn't exactly cost anything or hurt anything to note that the old cartoon has some racist shit in it before anyone potentially buys it. The warning message isn't even misleading about the content, it informs exactly what is in it. Much better than censorship There's no reason to have a problem with this, you're the one being sensitive.
[QUOTE=Perfumly;46141189]It doesn't exactly cost anything or hurt anything to note that the old cartoon has some racist shit in it before anyone potentially buys it. The warning message isn't even misleading about the content, it informs exactly what is in it. Much better than censorship There's no reason to have a problem with this, you're the one being sensitive.[/QUOTE] We really should warn people sensitive to political correctness about potential triggers like this. Poor guys are always having episodes.
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