Coach Ben
Coach Ben
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Cool Animation!!
I just can't resist sharing this with you. Here is an animated commercial from Germany, probably made in the 1950's. It may have been shown in theaters. It shows how even the most exquisite music gets destroyed when your radio has bad tubes! Just change to Telefunken tubes and all will be well. Great, classic, carefully done, hand-drawn animation, with a great soundtrack. All RIGHT!!!
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A wonderfully produced animation no doubt, but it does unfortunately remind us of the rather uncomfortable truth concerning political correctness in classic media. I am of course referring to the use of blackface to represent jazz music.
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda like seeing Donald Duck in the infamous "Der Fuehrer's Face" by Disney, or Warner Bros' "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves". It's always a bit jarring to be reminded of the fact that beloved animation studios have in the past resorted to racial stereotypes without any sense of irony.
Fortunately they are few and far inbetween, but when it does happen it don't half catch you off guard. It certainly did with me just then. >_>
Yes, such stereotypes do exist and they are indeed very unfortunate. Thank you for mentioning it here. And, I didn't mean to seem disrespectful by posting this film.
DeleteMany Japanese comic artists often use racial stereotypes when depicting their own people. They give the characters slanty, slit eyes, thick glasses, flat noses and buck teeth. However, no Japanese thinks a thing about it, because the artists themselves are Japanese. I imagine that if a non-Japanese drew such pictures, it could cause really big problems.
The worst caricatures of blacks are done by whites, and many are done out of spite or arrogance. Some, like the tubes in this commercial, have been added without much thought or malice. It is a fact that there were many all-black jazz bands at the time it was made, and that got figured into the equation as well.
Pictures of racial stereotypes are an important part of the problem, and I think we tend to judge them by WHO made them. And if we judge a drawing by the race of the artist, then we are, unwittingly being racist in another sense of the word. It's like reflecting a mirror in another mirror.
Regardless of the race of the artist, my biggest fear as a caucasian man is to one day look in the mirror and see either Popeye, Elmer Fudd, or Homer Simpson (all stellar examples of the ugly caucasian male) staring back at me.
That's a cute clip. All the characters look adorable. jeje...☺
ReplyDeleteThe radio tower holds the little music note so tenderly... : )
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