‘It Never Happened’: Animation and Censorship

Animation is, if anything, a medium of expression, and an uninhibited one at that. Consequently, cartoons have, in recent decades, come under fire for containing offensive material. Obviously, due to political correctness and, well, basic moral principles, a lot of these cartoons have since been censored. While some have been subtly edited, others have, frankly, been cut to shreds. Some even remain banned from public viewing, which has notably attracted some opposition from animation fanatics. The question is, are these films finally ready to be released from the vaults?

Racial stereotypes in cartoons are perhaps more prolific than you might think, as are the film cuts. MGM’s His Mouse Friday (1951) sees Jerry the mouse cake himself in soot to disguise himself as a tribal cannibal. The cartoon remains available; however the dialogue of the cannibals themselves has been muted. Disney’s Make Mine Music (1946) has never seen a completely uncut video or DVD release, being as it allegedly contains ‘gun violence’. This example is particularly baffling as there are many subsequent features in their canon that contain far more violence.

These are but a couple of examples, however; cartoon censorship goes far beyond that. One cannot discuss the subject of censorship without at least alluding to Warner Bros’ ‘Censored Eleven’, a collection of cartoons banned from distribution and home video release due to their heavy inclusion of racial stereotypes. A few years ago, Warner Bros apparently voiced their intentions to release them from the vault, but as of today they are yet to see daylight. Their censorship in contemporary society is perhaps understandable. Sunday Go to Meetin’ Time (1936), directed by Friz Freleng, contains probably some of the more conspicuous and offensive examples of racial stereotyping, boasting mammies and minstrels galore. On the other hand, some of these cartoons are regarded as being amongst the best the studio ever produced. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, Bob Clampett’s acclaimed 1943 swing-driven parody of Snow White, despite its censorship, continues to be upheld as one of Clampett’s masterpieces. It’s therefore unsurprising that these shorts are in high demand amongst animation enthusiasts.

Warner Bros’ reluctance to unearth these shorts is understandable. It’s a brave move on their part should they choose to proceed, being as their release raises a highly controversial issue – the debate as to whether these cartoons can be viewed as products of their time, or whether they should remain buried due to their offensive material. Although none of these cartoons are available on home video, the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, intended for the adult collector, has been known to showcase cartoons featuring racial stereotypes, though admittedly these depictions are far more sporadic and insubstantial than those present in the Censored Eleven. Notably, Volume Three contains a brief featurette hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, explaining that while these depictions are wrong, to erase them is to deny that they ever occurred. Subsequent releases see Goldberg replaced with a disclaimer displaying a similar message. Despite this, the subject of the distribution of more offensive cartoons, in which racial stereotypes are more prominently represented, remains a controversial one. Yet surely the ideology proposed by Goldberg and the disclaimer likewise applies in this context.

It’s a profoundly controversial debate, one whose eventual outcome will not appease everybody. Of course, distributing these films unedited would likely prove problematic, particularly if younger audiences were exposed to them. However, I’d personally like to think that we, as a society, are mature enough to put things in perspective and look back on these films historically, as products of their time. By keeping these cartoons concealed from public viewing, we are essentially denying that these caricatures were ever created, and that, in my opinion at least, is equally wrong. I believe and understand, of course, that this censorship serves a moral purpose, but I also believe that this censorship is also somewhat problematic. As long as these stereotypes remain entombed in the vaults, nothing prohibits us from blindly claiming they never existed. Is that not, in itself, morally questionable?