Rupert Bear racism

The representation of black people in cartoons of the early 90’s all the way up till the end of WWII, was generally derogatory, they were mostly shown as near black in colour with huge pink lips and soles of there feet, they also generally had wild or spiky hair and usually didn’t speak English. They were featured in such children’s books as Rupert bear and Noddy and were even given characters including the hotly debated Golliwog. The Golliwog has been featured in his own children’s books ad was the mascot and featured on the Robertson jam label until it was removed in 2001. The term golliwog is now known as an “overtly racial comment. Golliwog cannot be interpreted in any other way.”(12) Rupert bear features the character coco that is a black girl who comes from ‘Coon Island’ she doesn’t speek English as Rupert is seen stating that, “this is quite absurd, I cannot understand a word” also they live in mud huts on the island and generally are shown as lesser creatures almost tribal in a sense. Although the representation of black people has improved vastly in the media there are still certain instances of racism that get picked up on such as the New York post’s cartoon that depicts police shooting a chimpanzee that was likened to Barack Obama. The cartoon “prompted accusations that the Post was peddling a longstanding racist slur by portraying the president…as an ape”(13) this however is a rare case and in general the worlds outlook on any race has improved.

(12)Mark Duell

(13)Oliver Luft