CMV: Older cartoons like the Looney Tunes have no obligation to include racist cartoons from the past in their current products. There is no historical or cultural purpose behind releasing this imagery to the general public. It does more harm than good.

By current products I'm assuming you mean either collection DVD sets or access to the episodes via some form streaming services the owners offer.

To start, I highly doubt these cartoons are ever going to be shown in their entirety for educational purposes other than some form of animation courses, rather the "education" argument was meant to be a topic about how censorship of history in general is never okay. If a history teacher or a parent wanted to paint a picture of how life and society was like during the early 20th century, they may very well decide to showcase some small clips of these cartoons. Would it be such a horrible thought for the teacher/parent to also show a clip of one of the questionable scenes, offering his own insight in order to provide proper context for both the period in history as well as the concept of racism in our culture's history? It would certainly be honest. Isnt it best to at the very least shine a light on these aspects rather than pretend they never happened and hope nobody ever stumbles on it themselves without the proper environment to help better inform them?

they are uncomfortable to watch and upsetting especially for black children

They are uncomfortable for you to watch. And it upsets you. It's best to not let your personal experiences and anecdotes dictate these topics and it is certainly not wise to project your emotions onto an entire group of people.

I dont think it makes kids racist per se

So then what is the apparent harm this causes? Is it exclusively your personal experience of vintage cartoons being tainted? These cartoons were from over 80 years ago, times from which contemporary media and culture reflected the subjects and atmospheres from these cartoons. These were times where cartoons were really big, even with adults, and I think it is safe to say this can still be the case for modern audiences, as the craftsmanship and artistry of these cartoons alone are still things people applaud to this day. To think people were making such fluid animations decades before we even had technology remotely comparable to computers is nothing short of amazing to me. If you are going to present these cartoons to the people of today as accurate representations of the culture of the 30s and 40s, it is best to just give them the whole unedited truth with proper context. That doesnt mean they still cant enjoy these cartoons even with the knowledge of these episodes, and we certainly shouldnt chastise anyone for doing so.

I believe the real reason many older cartoons remain unedited is because they are so intertwined into the original cartoons. Editing the racism would be a large portion of the content would be gone. It is because of laziness and profit

I've seen several vintage cartoons on television that were cut up and edited just to fit the time windows. The decision to not edit these cartoons cannot be of laziness as there is already several steps taken for adapting or compiling these cartoons whether it be for cable or streaming services, small screens or large LEDs, individual episodes with specific windows or collection sets on DVD or Blu Ray. If it is true that editing these particular ones would leave little to nothing left, then you've demonstrated a good point for why they shouldnt be touched this way at all, leaving you with a "take it or leave it" dilemma.

Secondly, the decision to include and not censor these episodes in collections, contrary to your belief, is a matter of essentially providing the complete package and not censoring the art. If I buy a collection, I expect to get the entirety as close to the original experience as I can get, warts and all. It's a common sentiment to not appreciate getting a butchered, incomplete product "adjusted" for different audiences as determined by random people with personal opinions. I'd hate to buy a "complete set" of one of my favorite shows only to find episodes missing because of nonsensical controversies brought about by holding an entirely different time up to current standards. Say what you will about the scenes and characters you find questionable, but there were hundreds of man hours put into each episode, made from the contributions of numerous talented people. Each one is a work of art regardless of the racism in specific episodes or scenes.

Finally, it just seems odd to me that you are okay with these episodes being preserved, but they can never be included in collection sets or basically be shown anywhere. Its almost as if you still never want them to ever see the light of day. You dont want to ban or censor them, cause that would be bad, so you just want no one to ever really see them unless they have the knowledge, willpower and effort required to know they exist and go dig them up. I think it's important to stop and consider what you actually want here.

/r/changemyview Thread