Scrub
Me Mama with a Boogie Beat
Well,
this is certainly racist...Found
this little racist gem via Reddit and it is pretty bad.
-Red
Lips and dark skin are in full effect here: Actually, it might even
more offensive because missing teeth and sheer laziness.
-Lazy
Town: Yes, this town is called Lazy Town, just like the one with the
little girl that tries get people to workout . This one is full of racist
characters while her town is full of puppets.
-The
Light-Skinned Woman: This is probably where I need to explain
something a little bit more. The way they draw and animate her is
completely different from the rest of the characters in the short
film. They draw her with a real figure and pretty features. Sure
she's a black person, but she has white features, which makes her
better than the rest of the people in town, or that's what they're
trying to imply.
High-Yellow
(light-skin women) were seen as being a higher value to black men
than dark skinned women back in the day. It was a sort of status
symbol in a way. My grandmother was so light that she could almost
pass for a white woman. I know that my grandfather married her for
her light-skin. These are the same issues we have with black people
saying, “You got 'good hair'”. Meaning it is straighter than
usual(thus white).
Let
me say it in a better manner with this quote from Weird Wild
Realm.com, ((I
doubt anyone thought about it when designing this beauty, but among
the traits they selected was the fact that she's a "yaller gal,"
only a half-shade short of passing for white, derived from the
standard racist assumption that white people are prettier than black
people. And to make sure this lie is believable, every truly dark
character in this cartoon is designed to be ugly.
))
And,
the fact she is the one that “teaches” them how to be productive
and fun is a little crazy too. A light-skinned city girl comes into
a backwater town and teaches them the proper way of boogie-ing. Even
today, lighter toned black women are viewed differently than darker
ones.
-We
also get the big girl with the crossed eyes and the watermelon eating
guy: Oh, boy.
-Should
these cartoons be banned?: Nope, I think they need to be watched and
discussed because they are a product of that time period (1940s). We
need to compare these toons to the ones we have today. And the
animation did pave to way for even better animation.
I
would say we've come a long way, but I remembered the character of
Mr. Popo...
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