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Sure, but Bluto was always (as far as I can recall) portrayed as a villain to defeat and not imitate.
It's like yeah...but do these characters specifically exist in the public consciousness anymore? Do they even air Looney Tunes in general for public mass consumption outside of a paywall (HBO Max) in 2021?
Critical analysis of content is always important so we can learn and grow from it, but this take isn't dissimilar from critical analysis of Betty Boop in 2021.
Critical analysis of content is always important so we can learn and grow from it, but this take isn't dissimilar from critical analysis of Betty Boop in 2021.
I see NYT is doing it's part to see how many pieces of children's media we can get conservatives riled up about simultaneously before they start realizing just how stupid this all is.
Pepe Le Pew was always a weird cartoon character. Having said that, if I remember correctly he'd always eventually get what he wanted, but the woman would then get aggressive herself, and he'd wind up running away terrified.
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I always thought Pepe Le Pew was supposed to viewed as an antagonistic Looney Tune, kind of like Yosemite Sam or Elmer Fudd; you're not supposed to like those ones & want to see them get safe's dropped on their heads?
I never remember watching them as a kid & thinking the skunk was the one you're supposed to cheer for in this situation. Maybe it's just been a long time since I watched a Looney Tune sketch.
I never remember watching them as a kid & thinking the skunk was the one you're supposed to cheer for in this situation. Maybe it's just been a long time since I watched a Looney Tune sketch.
Yeah, I know Mexicans who love Speedy. Also, Pepe is presented as Italian in France. Both characters are problematic for sure.
i have a vague recollection of this as well but that's all it is. Curious if that's correct or clouded by other things.
Idk about anyone else but I never thought that Pepe le pew was nothing but a creep and all he did was NOT how to approach women based on how she wanted to get away. I'd love to hear from the creators about what he represented. I can see speedy being a Caricature of Mexican people.
I see nothing wrong with Speedy Gonzalez. He's a mouse that happens to be Mexican.
Le Pew is a predator that happens to be French.
Le Pew is a predator that happens to be French.
I was about to post something similar. Even as a kid I saw him as a dick and not a character to be emulated.
This is it exactly. The "lovable perv" is the modern day Pepe' Le Pew, a bad character for exactly the same reasons.
Like a lot of people, Pepe always creeped me out when I was a kid. Like what is this dudes problem, nobody wants you around, heh.
Bluto was basically trying to kidnap and rape Olive Oyl in the early cartoons.
when i was watching the cartoons as a kid, i always liked speedy since he was a hero, thought pepe was creepy (but i thought that was the point, making fun of womanizers), and viewed slowpoke as a hero (didn't really "know" the stereotyping the character was portraying)
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Honestly, it's mostly animation historians or older people that watch these cartoons. I don't think too many children watch them anymore.
I'm part of classic film forums and I have spoke to animation historian Jerry Beck. When it comes to releasing these content, there is usually disagreement of how it should be done. On one hand film historians want to preserve work as they originally were, but on the other hand there are usually higher ups that want to censor works so it can be targeted towards children.
I mean the people being upset about the criticism, not the criticism itself.
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There are many more issues with the original Warner Bros Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons than Pepe being a rapist or Speedy(more accurately his settings) being stereotypical. Numerous cartoons have racial issues, most famously towards African Americans, but also numerous that are racist against Asians and Native Americans. There are jokes that are well ahead of their time as far as intolerance, such as suicide bombing Arabs.
These cartoons were made by people that were born over a hundred years ago and that have been dead for decades(Chuck Jones was the last of the major directors and he died in 2001). Also these cartoons were not really made for kids, they later became associated with children's entertainment after being placed in Saturday morning rotation for several decades. And that in and of itself presented numerous issues, many of the cartoons have been edited for content, whether racial or simple violence, since the 60s, and many over the years have been withheld from distribution, most famously the so called Censored Eleven.
Not to excuse anything these cartoons did but they are very much products of their time. Bugs Bunny appeared in blackface numerous times(so have other characters including Daffy and Sylvester), Tweety Bird briefly turns into a Chinese stereotype for a gag, Foghorn Leghorn portrays a Native American in a stereotypical manner(and proceeds to get blown away by the small chick), both Bugs and Tweety have taken pride in how many Native Americans they kill in separate gags, the list goes on and on. Nearly all of these jokes have been cut from the cartoons when they air on TV, if not having the cartoons rarely seen at all. Both Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd have been criticized over the years for their speech impediments being perceived as ableist. There's a lot of issues with these cartoons when you sit and watch them 70-80 years after they were originally made.
These cartoons were made by people that were born over a hundred years ago and that have been dead for decades(Chuck Jones was the last of the major directors and he died in 2001). Also these cartoons were not really made for kids, they later became associated with children's entertainment after being placed in Saturday morning rotation for several decades. And that in and of itself presented numerous issues, many of the cartoons have been edited for content, whether racial or simple violence, since the 60s, and many over the years have been withheld from distribution, most famously the so called Censored Eleven.
Not to excuse anything these cartoons did but they are very much products of their time. Bugs Bunny appeared in blackface numerous times(so have other characters including Daffy and Sylvester), Tweety Bird briefly turns into a Chinese stereotype for a gag, Foghorn Leghorn portrays a Native American in a stereotypical manner(and proceeds to get blown away by the small chick), both Bugs and Tweety have taken pride in how many Native Americans they kill in separate gags, the list goes on and on. Nearly all of these jokes have been cut from the cartoons when they air on TV, if not having the cartoons rarely seen at all. Both Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd have been criticized over the years for their speech impediments being perceived as ableist. There's a lot of issues with these cartoons when you sit and watch them 70-80 years after they were originally made.
And Chuck Jones claimed Pepe's self proclaimed ladies man personality was based on one specific person, a co worker in the Warner studio
en.wikipedia.org
Tedd Pierce - Wikipedia
Space Jam 2 is coming out this summer and there's been some form of a new Looney Tunes show airing on Cartoon Network & co for almost every year since 1990.
They also were/sorta still are the mascots of Six Flags
Believe it or not there were complaints about them even during their time period. The Tom and Jerry character Mammy Two Shoes was retired in 1952 due to criticism from NAACP.
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Oh I believe it for sure and I also had no idea this happen so thanks for that.
Its crazy how alot of harmful stereotypes on stuff like food products finally had to change last year.
I never got that from his character as a kid. I always thought it was a slam against the French and that the main part of the "joke" is that he has no clue that he's a skunk and therefore stinks. He's also dumb because he never understands that it's a cat he's chasing and not another skunk. I never took him as a protaginist at all. Regardless, he was not a favorite character of mine. I liked Yosemite, Foghorn, Daffy, and for the most part Bugs.
This same criticism of "racial stereotypes" happened before with Speedy Gonzales. To the point where his cartoons were removed from the air.
And then LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) literally had a campaign to bring him back. Because he is incredibly popular among Hispanic people.
Basically, white people decided he was a racist stereotype and actual Hispanic-Americans told them to fuck off... in 2002.
And here we are again.
Oh yes, that happened
Max Landis is writing a Pepe Le Pew movie, even though that sounds awful
In April, we reported that Warner Bros. was thinking about making a Speedy Gonzales movie, despite the fact that he’s generally seen as a rather offensive ethnic stereotype here in the United States. He’s less controversial in Mexico, though, where Speedy Gonzales actually speaks Spanish instead...
news.avclub.com
How is this not the onionOh yes, that happened
Max Landis is writing a Pepe Le Pew movie, even though that sounds awful
In April, we reported that Warner Bros. was thinking about making a Speedy Gonzales movie, despite the fact that he’s generally seen as a rather offensive ethnic stereotype here in the United States. He’s less controversial in Mexico, though, where Speedy Gonzales actually speaks Spanish instead...
the 1941 Walter Lanz cartoon "Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat" was originally released without any real resistance, but a re release of it in 1948 was heavily protested, and it was soon banned from distribution by Universal. It's now in the public domain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrub_Me_Mama_with_a_Boogie_Beat
the 1944 Chuck Jones Looney Tune "Angel Puss" was protested upon release, it was never pulled from it's theatrical run but also never re released. It was later banned in the 1960s as part of the Censored Eleven. Other cartoons on this list, such as "Tin Pan Alley Cats", also have documented protests to their original releases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Puss
I don't disagree with a lot of the sentiment, but it's not really a hot take. This is something that was talked to death years ago, I don't even think they portray Pepé or other Speedy Gonzalez characters in that way anymore.
To be fair, this is a black writer commenting on the racist portrayal of the side characters in Speedy shorts and not Speedy himself. This is a valid criticism as while Speedy himself was good, he was portrayed as an example of exceptionalism compared to the rest of the heavily stereotyped cast. Of course, there was an easy solution to this problem that ultimately happened: remove the rest of the cast in subsequent adaptations. It's just that corporate America is always going to take the easy out at first rather than putting in actual work to fix an issue.
But broadly speaking, yes, white people love telling minorities what should and shouldn't be acceptable for them.
I.. can't disagree with Pepe. I love Speedy but agree that the secondary characters on that show are very problematic and negative stereotypes.
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Yeah, he's also pretty popular with Latinos in the US.
I recall some announcement years ago that Speedy Gonzales was not gonna be used in new Looney Tunes content and a lot of Mexican-Americans were not very happy about it.
My Dad had a decal of Speedy Gonzales on his car.
I do agree that those cartoons had a lot of negative Mexican stereotypes with the other mice featured on the shorts, but Speedy Gonzales himself (the fast mouse that outsmarts the big cat) is very much loved.
Always felt it was a weird character (Pepe) but is this backed up with some actual evidence or...? Because couldn't you just as easily say "well Looney Tunes taught an entire generation that shooting or violently maiming each other is totally acceptable solution to problems"?
Since people keep bringing up the characters around Speedy Gonzales I think it would be useful to know from a Mexican perspective how those characters were perceived instead of having presumably white Americans read from a wiki.
My parents would always point out how X family member was like X character in the cartoon and how not to emulate the bad ones. Speedy Gonzales was the aspiration while the others were vices to avoid.
Mexican media itself is always full of "problematic" characters to juxtapose with the heroes. It's not just heroes good and villains bad. It's usually a direct mirror on the problems with society.
Just look to El Chavo del 8 who's basically the hero orphan boy who lives in a barrel. It's a live action show where all kids are played by adults. Probably the most iconic character in Latin American history.
There has been complaints like that. That's why Tom and Jerry were turned into friends in the 1970s cartoons.
Literary analysis (much less an opinion article) doesn't require evidence of its effects on people. The point is to draw from the source material to support the thesis. Thus this article's focus on these harmful stereotypes that still exist in culture through popular media. Showing the actual effects of such stereotypes or proving the real world harm would come from a scientific analysis, not a literary one.