The Editing of Tom & Jerry

[kybearfuzz]

Cartoon Network is running a Tom and Jerry marathon today. I used to love watching these cartoons for the most part. However, I find them more difficult to watch these days, especially since whoever owns the rights has been making them more politically correct. This entry might be a bit unpopular with some folks.

Tom's owner, referred to online as "Mammy TwoShoes," is a large black woman whose face we never see. In the cartoons as I remember them as a child, she had a very cartoonish voice. She used the word "ain't" a lot (I still do). A modern voice by another black actress has been re-dubbed over the original dialogue now. Certain scenes have also been cut from the cartoons because they were deemed politically incorrect as well.

One of the points that bothers me about this is that these are Academy Award nominated or winning cartoon shorts from the 1930's and 1940's that have been edited. I feel like someone is trying to clean up history, if you can view these cartoons to be historical. I often wonder how people would feel if they re-dubbed Butterfly McQueen's dialogue in her Oscar winning role in Gone With the Wind. I am bothered that the cartoons of my youth are being distorted.

As a child, I never thought the Mammy TwoShoes as a racial stereotype, only that this individual lady had a funny way of talking. I never though of Tom's charred face from the exploded tea pot as "blackface." I suspect that if young children watched the unedited cartoons today, they would likely not see these things either. I can't even buy the DVD's of these cartoons because they only sell the edited versions. By chance, I own a VHS copy of some of the cartoons that are the original versions and I'm sure it will be valuable someday as it is valuable to me already.

Comments

[polomex.livejournal.com]

There are some points I agree with you on, others I don't.

I don't think history should be re-dubbed. There are shameful cartoons out there of Donald Duck preparing to fight the Germans, of Popeye and his battle against the "Japs," and, as you have seen, 30s and 40s shorts that do not feature black people at their best. And as painful as these cartoons are to watch sometimes, I think they need to be kept intact because it speaks of the era, and it teaches us culture.

However, I think these cartoons should be kept in the educational realm, where there is an understanding that these are NOT politically correct, that these views are NOT the way we should view people today. Just presenting them intact as pure entertainment implies that "this is okay because it's funny."

You can watch these cartoons as an adult and separate the amusement from the racism because you're educated. Can a child do the same? Can a child watch these kinds of cartoons and still understand that not all Black people speak that way? "As a child, I never thought the Mammy TwoShoes as a racial stereotype..." Do you think that a Black child would feel the same way? I can tell you that I was not amused as a kid when my peers would come to me with what little Spanish they knew... from Speedy Gonzales. You're absolutely right: kids don't see the racism. They just accept and trust what they see on TV.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I suppose that a black child wouldn't appreciate them.

I know that the Bugs Bunny cartoon sets that are for sale on DVD were not edited and there is a warning on the packaging that they were not necessariy for children when sold. I do wish they would release Tom and Jerry the same way.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of problems with the white-washing of our history. Granted, most of the images of the past are darnright shameful (happy singing slaves in Song of the South) it's still a part of history. What is it... those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. I do agree with polomex that some caution needs to be made when exposing younger children to some of this stuff but it's still a very valuable and educational part of our history that should not be forgotten.

[cubtharsis.livejournal.com]

I actually just watched one of the Looney Tunes box sets and it begins with this really great intro done by Whoopi Goldberg about how important seeing the cartoons are in the original way they were broadcast. She talks about the importance of realizing why the humor is offensive and hurtful to people and how that type of humor at one point was acceptable in our history. Interestingly though she adds that while Warner Bros. did allow offensive humor they also were major players in hiring women and African Americans based on their talents as artists and voice performers.

I think it's sad that we can't be given the option of explaining or at least educating kids about why some things need to be watched with a critical eye. Kids have to start learning that lesson now because regardless of how blatant the messages that the media may be giving are if a kid can't learn to watch something critically they are being set up to fall for anything that someone with a bit of funding might want them to believe.