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
THANK YOU FOR THIS WRITE UP THIS COON IMAGE IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THE ANALYSIS OF RACIST CARICATURES!! THANKS
ReplyDeleteFunny how you comment about racist slurs against Obama - the inference that he's black - yet conveniently ignore the fact that he isn't black but is mixed race. How about castigating those who ignore the white half of his heritage and insist on calling him black? Oh sorry I forgot. Only non whites are allowed to jump on the anti-racist bandwagon aren't they, while evil ol' whitey is perpetually blamed for things that non whites have partaken in for thousands of years - being slave traders for example. But hey, let's conveniently ignore history lest the wheels come flying off the bandwagon.
ReplyDeleteMixed race IS black. But apart from that, an excellent piece of whataboutery you've written here.
DeleteBTW - I'm white, and I've just jumped on the "anti-racsist bandwagon". Is that a problem?