Just in time for your holiday shopping: A classic collection of Warner Brothers cartoons, The Censored 11, is being discussed for release on DVD.
I know the title sounds like a scandalous collection of maybe closeted actors from the silent era, but they are actually animated shorts with racially charged images.
In 1968, United Artists made a stash of Warner Bros. cartoons available for television, but due to the politics of the era they withheld 11 that were deemed unfit for broadcast because of their racist content. Those 11 shorts, including one of the most infamous titles, “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs” (this is not a typo but historically accurate Ebonics), were essentially locked away in a vault for decades
I find this topic fascinating for multiple reasons. You guys know that when I am not fighting crime as a columnist, I chair a film program. The debate on the release of the Censored 11 is ongoing with passionate stances on both sides. Some argue that these films are extremely racist and should never see the light of day. Others argue that this is part of the history of animation and should be studied as an important era in this art form.
I tend to lean toward the later.
Birth of a Nation is one of the most racist films ever made, yet its director, D. W. Griffith, is still hailed as the Father of Film in most traditional film programs. I have shown this film to students but used the opportunity as a teachable moment to discuss others who also contributed to the genre – people like filmmakers Oscar Micheaux, an African-American who produced films around the same time as Griffith.
The real question is, what statement are we trying to make as a society by trying to censor historically racist content?
There was a similar debate earlier this year during television episode of “The View.” Apparently there was a forthcoming edition of Mark Twain's “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” that replaces the N-word with the word "slave."
Whoopi Goldberg was incensed. “When you read Huck Finn, and you read the relationship between Huck and Jim -- who Huck does not see as anything but his running buddy -- it is an extraordinary story," she said.
Whoopi basically believed that the editor had no right to tamper with a classic.
Can we apply the same editing to most rap lyrics that refer to women as bit---s and replace that with diva? Are we prepared for this line of censorship? If we go down that road, then we could witness the demise of BET, The Source Awards, Little Wayne and the entire series of “Basketball Wives.”
I don’t know about you but I am much more concerned with contemporary references. I believe part of the problem is that our youth have no historical concept of how these stereotypes and derogatory images are so insidiously entrenched in our culture and how they continue to have negative implications.
Case in point: One of my African-American male students asked me to review a short script for a class assignment. His script included themes exploring thug behavior, crime, a disdain for education and copious amounts of the “n” word thrown in for good measure.
My first reaction was to assess the logistics of delivering an open-hand slap to the mouth without leaving a visible mark for future witnesses. I instead took a deep breath and asked him several pointed questions.
Do you act like this? Do you speak like this? Do you hang around other people who conduct themselves this way? He sheepishly answered no to all of the above.
I continued, “So you don’t talk this way or act this way or interact with people who conduct themselves this way. So why, when given an opportunity to tell any story of you’re choosing, did you opt to write about such clichéd and stereotypical characters?”
He had no answer, but I did.
This young brother is a perfect example of how historical stereotypes continue to have contemporary negative connotations. The real nefarious power of racism is that the oppressed begin to consume, believe and eventually portray the same negative ideology without question or examination.
So I say let’s open the vaults and inspect these dusty distressing artifacts in the hope that they provide a keener insight into where we come from, who we are and maybe what we can ultimately achieve. What say you?
