So it's OK to show Coal Black and the sebben dwarves...

Fucking hypocrites!

See also Coal Black and Donald Duck and the Nazis

For all the moaning and wailing about the racism of "Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves", nobody seems to have noticed that this cartoon's treatment of women is every bit as biased and stereotyped as that cartoon's treatment of blacks.

What I don't understand is all the people here that don't want to see this sort of thing or who wanted Coal Black and the Sebbin Dwarves removed or banned. Should we just sweep everything under the carpet? Should we just try to forget how it used to be and how far we've come?

We're talking about deep deep DEEP racism that used to be in this country...and in my lifetime. Yes, in my lifetime there used to be places in this country where you couldn't even register to vote because of the color of your skin. Racism exists today for sure, but not on the level like what you see here an in that cartoon. Racism today seems to consist of not being able to get a cab or someone using the "N" word in a comedy club. Back then it was totally blatant and in your face with lynchings...actual murdering of someone because of their skin color with no arrests being made of the lynchers, even though you had witnesses and as we see here, photographs of the people who did it. The media back then wouldn't even give it a mention. Today if something remotely racist happens it's front-page story. Again, don't get me wrong...discrimination and racism still exist. But we have come a LONG way in a relatively short span of time.

Yet some here want to cover it up it seems. Don't show it. We don't want to see it. Let's forget all about it.

Again rick you are making a lot of assumptions about things he may have/should have experienced and that should have helped him see the light. He was born and grew up in a time that was very very different and I don't think its fair to say you or me know the facts that surround the making of this video. I can however read and find out as much as I can about the why the episode was created and make a judgement which you may or may not agree with.

A quote from this bob clampett site:

Coal Black is one of the clearest explorations and illustrations of this break with the Disney tradition. Rather than ignore the dominance of Disney's feature production it is a very deft, energetic and controversial parody of Snow White that illustrates the brevity, visual rhythm and rapid-fire pacing of the studio's best work (15). Nevertheless, it is probably more accurately viewed as a riff on rather than a parody of Disney's film. Unlike much of the Disney studio's work, Coal Black is a raunchy, contemporary, extreme and shockingly racist film (the racism of many Disney films is often less up-front and more cloying). It updates the Disney story to a contemporary war-time setting in which Queenie calls in Murder Inc. “to black out So White”, and to stop her from stealing the zoot-suited Prince Chawmin'. This is a cartoon widely regarded as a masterpiece in absentia, a seldom seen product of the sexual mores and ethnic stereotyping of its time. Nevertheless, many writers understandably go out of their way to both underline the ideological problems of the film – especially for contemporary audiences – and its extraordinary energy and vibrant style as a truly animated cartoon. As Terry Lindvall and Ben Fraser suggest:

Coal Black's brazenness earned the film much of its notoriety, but even as shocking as it is for its racial content, the aesthetic and musical brilliance, the unabashed raunchiness, and the pure cartooniness salvage it as a masterpiece for most audiences, even some black audiences (16).

part 2 below

Noted the first time and I'll post it here again:

"Clampett intended Coal Black as both a parody of Snow White and a dedication to the all-black jazz musical films popular in the early 1940s" [wikipedia]

As mentioned previously in this thread, a clip will almost always pass the 'racism test' if presented as a parody. It seems alot of folks haven't been able to get past the blatant ugliness to see the original intent...

This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. because its content was used without permission


An iffin' ya'll folks wanted to see that devisive, insensitve, offensive, and highly racist and predjudiced jigaboo cartoon, watch it while ya can, cause it looks like dis one is a gonna be banned by de censor mo' insideeeus, them here on the sift.
http://www.videosift.com/talk/Coal-Black-and-de-Sebben-Dwarfs-1943-Banned-Looney-Toons

'Banned' only indicates that it is taboo. And taboo is so effin' cool.

I think the Blackstronauts sketch is a wanna-be Chappelle in that its sole intent is to mock historic racial stereotyping. And the sketch is a middling to poor parody of Ken Burns and PBS. Failed comedy can also be somewhat toxic.

The distinction I would make is that Coal Black is BOTH failed comedy and a very intentional and odious celebration of entrenched racism while Blackstronauts, Borat, Chappelle are only samples of failed comedy (at worst).

But we should have a vigorous discussion of videos like Coal Black and ultimately leave it up to the votes.

I'll defend Southerners (well . . . not KKK and Fundie Southerners) from hate cartoons as well. And I agree completely that comedy traffics in stereotypes and that stereotypes are often essential tools of comedy. But it is crucial for comedic value that the comic recognize that the stereotype is either false or grossly exaggerated.

The community's tolerance for comedic stereotypes is (or should be) conditioned more by the tone or cultural context of the piece rather than the particular stereotype used. I don't see Coal Black as comedy because it completely buys into and promotes the stereotype.

it's doing it with google video too. as I was reading your post i noticed that the coal black video was loading. I haven't verified this with youtube yet. I just checked the queue page and only the google video preloaded, not the ones from YT.

grspec:

What could this lil' toon do to be more hateful? Drag a couple of the sebben behind a pick-up truck? You get away with more with animation (even much more in Japan . . .yikes raping penis monsters), but still . . .

However, I do think the community should discuss/argue about/debate the intent of pieces such as this one when applying its guidelines. There are pieces that "make fun" of other races to explode stereotypes and challenge traditional power structures (Chappelle, Voltaire, anything that Sacha Baron Cohen touches) and those pieces that "make fun" to subjugate and humiliate minorities (Coal Black, Nippin the Nips, anything that Andrew Dice Clay touches).

grspec, I think that you are doing a disservice to skillful and thoughtful satire when you argue that all pieces use racial stereotypes with the same purpose.

But the intent of the creators of these types of pieces are worlds removed from the intent of Coal Black. I will provide an exemption, not for "historical significance", but for intentional satire or parody.

Chappelle is eviscerating the racist impulse, while Coal Black fully and deeply supports it.

Whoa. Upvote for being a significant work, but that was incredibly hard to watch. The energy and creativity are certainly there, but I literally had my hands over my face for large swatches of the movie.

Wikipedia

In addition, Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman:

Because the film is a cartoon masterpiece, a cultural tour de force of 1940's America, and a vital example of how animation is often able to capture a nation's social nuances in ways that live-action films can never hope to do, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs should be seen by animation fans and anyone else interested in the evolution of our cultural mythos. There is, however, a problem. The film contains what are today considered shockingly racist images. In fact, one might say that in some circles its reputation is blacker than coal. Defenders of this short are quick to point out that the cartoon was made without malice, meanness of spirit, and with the full cooperation of black performers who by all accounts found the cartoon hilariously entertaining. It has been noted that Clampett, by insisting on using Watso, Beals, and the Dandridges, struck a blow agaist the inherent racism of 1940's Hollywood. Again, the concept of black men (though in caricature) wearing US Army uniforms while performing heroic deeds has been lauded in some quarters as one of the few depictions of blacks in that sort of role during the war years. Beacause the country adopted racist attitudes, it has been reasoned, cartoons carried these images forth, as did radio, stage, and movies. For good or ill, such were the times.

Yet for many, the coat-of arms bearing dice and switchblades, the dice that serve as Prince Chawmin's front teeth, the wild-eyed jitterbigging, the black dialect, and the thick-lipped caricatures mark this cartoon as far from harmless. Even though Clampett may have meant to show the Teutonic Master Race that even the blacks they despised were a formidable foe to reckon with when gathered under the American flag, the racist images speak only of contempt, bigotry, and ridicule. Some feel that this cartoon is so offensive to African-Americans that it should be consigned to the censor's vault for all eternity, lest any showing of it at all spark an outpouring of anger, shame, and outrage among blacks and indeed, all who rightfully seek to eradicate racism from our society.

"Clampett intended Coal Black as both a parody of Snow White and a dedication to the all-black jazz musical films popular in the early 1940s"

"it is one of the most controversial cartoons in the classic Warner Bros. library, has been rarely seen on television, and has never been officially released on home video. However, it is often named as one of the best cartoons ever made, and is considered one of Clampett's masterpieces."

[Wikipedia]