2nd Silly Symphonies Treasures.
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 2:44 pm
The second set of Silly Symphonies on the Treasures collection has been discussed frequently here on the forum. I'd like to express why I think they are being held back until a later date.
The issue of race is a sensitive subject here in the United States and I think that Disney has a strategy so that they can release these treasures at a pace so as to not offend any one group to severely. The first wave was void of any controversy minus the short segment of the Jewish Peddler shown on the first edition of Silly Symphonies.
The Second wave had Goofy shorts full of gun and bomb violence, uncivillized behavior such as Mickey forcing a kiss on Minnie and Goofy smoking while gambling in a seedy room. There wee also blackface gags and "Mammy" being spoken. Offensive, but not rising to the level of some of thethings we will see in wave 3.
These will contain shorts where Donald is dressed as a Nazi, Heiling to pictures of Adolph Hittler and Goosestepping in an Ammunitions factory. It will also show some of the most grotesque caricatures of Japanese soldiers, ala commando Duck. I am not one who thinks these should be locked away but to deny they may cause controversy would be to deny the sun will rise tommorow. On the Mickey set shorts such as Pluto's Dog House with the paintbrush scene, and more gun play from Mickey Mouse. We will also see the first appearance of Black stereotype "Steppin Fetchit" in the Donald short "The Autograph Hound" All stuff that Disney has tried over the years to avoid offending anyone.
Now back to the second set of Silly Symphonies. Some of the most heinous examples of racist caricatures are contained in these shorts. Black face gags and characters saying mammy abound. Asians and other ethnic minorities fare no better. I believe that Disney is trying to soften the blow, or shock value of these cartoons, by releasing more tame objectionable material first.
There is a second point however. Many of these shorts have never or rarely seen the light of Day in over forty years. MY guess is a lot of restoration needs to be done. If any of you have a copy of "A Walt Disney Christmas" videocassette take a look at how grainy and sometimes dark the prints for Night before Christmas and Santas Workshop are. They are in desperate need of cleaning up.
For an example of the controversial stuff Disney incorporated into these shorts I will include a still on my avater from Santas Workshop. This chracterappears and exclaims mammy with outstretched arms and then proceed to stick her posterior on a rubber stamp saying OK and then waves her posterior in our direction. Not funny, not enlightened, but typical of Disney output at the time.
The issue of race is a sensitive subject here in the United States and I think that Disney has a strategy so that they can release these treasures at a pace so as to not offend any one group to severely. The first wave was void of any controversy minus the short segment of the Jewish Peddler shown on the first edition of Silly Symphonies.
The Second wave had Goofy shorts full of gun and bomb violence, uncivillized behavior such as Mickey forcing a kiss on Minnie and Goofy smoking while gambling in a seedy room. There wee also blackface gags and "Mammy" being spoken. Offensive, but not rising to the level of some of thethings we will see in wave 3.
These will contain shorts where Donald is dressed as a Nazi, Heiling to pictures of Adolph Hittler and Goosestepping in an Ammunitions factory. It will also show some of the most grotesque caricatures of Japanese soldiers, ala commando Duck. I am not one who thinks these should be locked away but to deny they may cause controversy would be to deny the sun will rise tommorow. On the Mickey set shorts such as Pluto's Dog House with the paintbrush scene, and more gun play from Mickey Mouse. We will also see the first appearance of Black stereotype "Steppin Fetchit" in the Donald short "The Autograph Hound" All stuff that Disney has tried over the years to avoid offending anyone.
Now back to the second set of Silly Symphonies. Some of the most heinous examples of racist caricatures are contained in these shorts. Black face gags and characters saying mammy abound. Asians and other ethnic minorities fare no better. I believe that Disney is trying to soften the blow, or shock value of these cartoons, by releasing more tame objectionable material first.
There is a second point however. Many of these shorts have never or rarely seen the light of Day in over forty years. MY guess is a lot of restoration needs to be done. If any of you have a copy of "A Walt Disney Christmas" videocassette take a look at how grainy and sometimes dark the prints for Night before Christmas and Santas Workshop are. They are in desperate need of cleaning up.
For an example of the controversial stuff Disney incorporated into these shorts I will include a still on my avater from Santas Workshop. This chracterappears and exclaims mammy with outstretched arms and then proceed to stick her posterior on a rubber stamp saying OK and then waves her posterior in our direction. Not funny, not enlightened, but typical of Disney output at the time.
