Will we ever see "Fresh Hare" or "Southern Fried Rabbit" on DVD? Still "in
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Will we ever see "Fresh Hare" or "Southern Fried Rabbit" on DVD? Still "in
In Fresh Hare, Bugs is facing a firing squad, and is asked if he has a special "last request." To which Bugs replies, in song: I wish I was in Dixie, horray-horray!, and the cartoon ends. Is there something about Dixie that's considered taboo?
Such is the take with Southern Fried Rabbit - this is a short I've seen on TV growing up in the 70's all the time, yet its on one of the "banned lists" and only available on Public Domain DVD's. Yosemite Sam is defending the South, and no yankee's a-gonna cross it. Yosemite is a confiderate soldier who doesn't know the war between the states is over. Bugs is considered a "yankee," so you can figure the rest. Now, for a "southern" cartoon, there aren't any black people depicted, so it isn't banned for that reason - so is it considered bad because of Dixieland?!
What's with Dixieland?
Such is the take with Southern Fried Rabbit - this is a short I've seen on TV growing up in the 70's all the time, yet its on one of the "banned lists" and only available on Public Domain DVD's. Yosemite Sam is defending the South, and no yankee's a-gonna cross it. Yosemite is a confiderate soldier who doesn't know the war between the states is over. Bugs is considered a "yankee," so you can figure the rest. Now, for a "southern" cartoon, there aren't any black people depicted, so it isn't banned for that reason - so is it considered bad because of Dixieland?!
What's with Dixieland?
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IIRC in Southern Fried Rabbit there is a scene where Bugs pretends to be a slave being whipped (saying "don't whip me massa) and then Bugs walks by dressed like Abe Lincoln and scolds Sam for whipping a slave.
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When Bugs starts singing "I Wish I Was In Dixie" Elmer, the firing squad and Bugs all morph into minstrel singers. I wouldn't doubt that this ending will come back after seeing "Does Anyone Have Any Castles?" (guessing the title) on the latest box set which freely showed old school black stereotypes (among other minorities). Disc 4 also had a great Cab Calloway (with dreadlocks!) tribute.
#5
Re: Will we ever see "Fresh Hare" or "Southern Fried Rabbit" on DVD? Still &quo
Originally posted by Buttmunker
In Fresh Hare, Bugs is facing a firing squad, and is asked if he has a special "last request." To which Bugs replies, in song: I wish I was in Dixie, horray-horray!, and the cartoon ends. Is there something about Dixie that's considered taboo?
What's with Dixieland?
In Fresh Hare, Bugs is facing a firing squad, and is asked if he has a special "last request." To which Bugs replies, in song: I wish I was in Dixie, horray-horray!, and the cartoon ends. Is there something about Dixie that's considered taboo?
What's with Dixieland?
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IIRC in Southern Fried Rabbit there is a scene where Bugs pretends to be a slave being whipped (saying "don't whip me massa) and then Bugs walks by dressed like Abe Lincoln and scolds Sam for whipping a slave.
Bugs as slave: "Don't whip me massa, don't beat this tired old body"
Bugs zips away and returns dressed as Lincoln: "What's this I hear about you whipping slaves?"
I can't remember what happened after that.
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While Warner has made it plain that the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melody cartoons they release will be uncensored, they have not made it plain that they will eventually release all the cartoons. My opinion is that the above cartoons plus several others will never see release on any format ever again, at least in this country (maybe Japan?). I hope I'm wrong.
Fresh Hare is available uneditied on the laser disc box set The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 2, side 2. I can't find Southern Fried Rabbit on any laser disc, domestic or Japanese. What's available on tape or bootlegs, I have no idea.
Fresh Hare is available uneditied on the laser disc box set The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 2, side 2. I can't find Southern Fried Rabbit on any laser disc, domestic or Japanese. What's available on tape or bootlegs, I have no idea.
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They'll probably take a while. Neither is that remarkable, although, Fresh Hare has a couple of good gags.
The banned/heavily edited cartoons that are more likely to hit DVD soon are terrific ones like Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, Clean Pastures, Tin Pan Alley Cats, and the first few Inki the Caveman cartoons.
The banned/heavily edited cartoons that are more likely to hit DVD soon are terrific ones like Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, Clean Pastures, Tin Pan Alley Cats, and the first few Inki the Caveman cartoons.
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I think "Fresh Hare" is a public domain title because I have seen it on those VHS tapes of public domain cartoons that they sell at dollar stores. It's on this DVD release:
Classic Cartoons
info:
http://66.212.113.170/movies.htm
available at amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd
These DVDs that have public domain cartoons, like this one, usually have the cartoons uncensored. I just bought at Walmart last week a copy of "Cartoon Classics, Volumes 1 & 2" by Brentwood Home Video, and it had several Little Audrey cartoons, and they did not cut out the black maid character.
Classic Cartoons
info:
http://66.212.113.170/movies.htm
available at amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd
These DVDs that have public domain cartoons, like this one, usually have the cartoons uncensored. I just bought at Walmart last week a copy of "Cartoon Classics, Volumes 1 & 2" by Brentwood Home Video, and it had several Little Audrey cartoons, and they did not cut out the black maid character.
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I have "Fresh Hare", "Southern Fried Rabbit", "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" and "Mississippi Hare" (among others) on a bootleg vcd. I hardly doubt Warners will release these again. They're racist, no doubt about it. A child (despite any race) would be confused to see some of these insensitive images.
I own the vcd as a remembrance of how things used to be...I won't let Warners sweep these cartoons under the rug.
It would certainly break a lot of kids' hearts to know that Bugs spewed racial epithets.
I own the vcd as a remembrance of how things used to be...I won't let Warners sweep these cartoons under the rug.
It would certainly break a lot of kids' hearts to know that Bugs spewed racial epithets.
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Originally posted by JIF
...
It would certainly break a lot of kids' hearts to know that Bugs spewed racial epithets.
...
It would certainly break a lot of kids' hearts to know that Bugs spewed racial epithets.
1. Where was it decreed that Bugs Bunny shorts from 40's were intended for kids.
2. Is it any less an issue that John Wayne, Erroll Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and any other movie icon from the 30s, 40s and 50s "spewed" the same racial epithets at that time?
3. It all has to do with context.
You can not rewrite history by censoring 'historical' items with today's sensiblities.
If the powers that be think it will make them money without much backlash, WB will release the "race" cartoons without hesitation.
Last edited by garolo; 11-18-04 at 08:25 AM.
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Bugs Bunny shorts may not have been intended for kids, but let's face it, kids watch them. Growing up, I watched them, every morning, faithfully.
Personally, I had a father who spouted racial prejudices with religious fevor, and while I've joked as a kid with my friends against other races, I never really was prejudice. So if my father couldn't convert me, certainly a cartoon couldn't.
Personally, I had a father who spouted racial prejudices with religious fevor, and while I've joked as a kid with my friends against other races, I never really was prejudice. So if my father couldn't convert me, certainly a cartoon couldn't.
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Originally posted by Buttmunker
Bugs Bunny shorts may not have been intended for kids, but let's face it, kids watch them. Growing up, I watched them, every morning, faithfully.
Personally, I had a father who spouted racial prejudices with religious fevor, and while I've joked as a kid with my friends against other races, I never really was prejudice. So if my father couldn't convert me, certainly a cartoon couldn't.
Bugs Bunny shorts may not have been intended for kids, but let's face it, kids watch them. Growing up, I watched them, every morning, faithfully.
Personally, I had a father who spouted racial prejudices with religious fevor, and while I've joked as a kid with my friends against other races, I never really was prejudice. So if my father couldn't convert me, certainly a cartoon couldn't.
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Originally posted by Buttmunker
Bugs Bunny shorts may not have been intended for kids, but let's face it, kids watch them. Growing up, I watched them, every morning, faithfully.
Personally, I had a father who spouted racial prejudices with religious fevor, and while I've joked as a kid with my friends against other races, I never really was prejudice. So if my father couldn't convert me, certainly a cartoon couldn't.
Bugs Bunny shorts may not have been intended for kids, but let's face it, kids watch them. Growing up, I watched them, every morning, faithfully.
Personally, I had a father who spouted racial prejudices with religious fevor, and while I've joked as a kid with my friends against other races, I never really was prejudice. So if my father couldn't convert me, certainly a cartoon couldn't.
Despite being intended for an older audience, Bugs Bunny is beloved to children today...Certainly the insensitive imagery in "All this and Rabbit Stew" (Black stereotypes such as lazy, gambling, shuffling & inarticulate buffoons run rampant) and "Bugs Bunny Nip the Nips" (Bugs calls the Japanese "Japs", "bow legs", "monkey face", and "slant eyes") are unsettling to both young and old.
And if these cartoons are meant to be for adults, it begs the question...just what kind of adult would appreciate these images?
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I would enjoy seeing them just to see how bad were back then in contrast to now.
But when it comes to anti-Japanese cartoons...thats a difficult issue.
On the one hand i have grown up in a time where the Japanese are a really close ally to the US, i know that the images shown are wrong.
However, I was not alive when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and as such I don't really have the right to criticize someone for feeling angry about the event.
The Disney and Looney Toons anti-war cartoons are a product of people's opinons at the time. Good or bad, they really should just be viewed as a window in the thoughts of people who made them.
Besides, these stereotypes are just as dated as Bugs dressing up as a popular movie star from that time period.
But when it comes to anti-Japanese cartoons...thats a difficult issue.
On the one hand i have grown up in a time where the Japanese are a really close ally to the US, i know that the images shown are wrong.
However, I was not alive when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and as such I don't really have the right to criticize someone for feeling angry about the event.
The Disney and Looney Toons anti-war cartoons are a product of people's opinons at the time. Good or bad, they really should just be viewed as a window in the thoughts of people who made them.
Besides, these stereotypes are just as dated as Bugs dressing up as a popular movie star from that time period.
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By the way, it looks like Warner isn't THAT worried about racial stereotypes...
Have You Got Any Castles has a long clip from Clean Pastures (which is one of the Censored 11) and also has an Uncle Tom's Cabin gag. Here's some screenshots:
(This is a reference to The Little Colonel's famous stairway dance between Bill Robinson and Shirley Temple. This is a characture of Robinson.)
(Cab Calloway characture from the "Clean Pastures" clip.)
(Fats Waller characture from the "Clean Pastures" clip.)
(Uncle Tom punches Rip Van Winkle near the end.)
Also, the Bob Clampett documentary has a few clips from Tin Pan Alley Cats, which was banned:
(I'm not sure who the trumpet player is supposed to be, but the cat in the 2nd capture is a characture of Fats Waller. This cartoon was NOT made as any sort of racist cartoon, but rather a tribute to the jazz at the time.)
Have You Got Any Castles has a long clip from Clean Pastures (which is one of the Censored 11) and also has an Uncle Tom's Cabin gag. Here's some screenshots:
(This is a reference to The Little Colonel's famous stairway dance between Bill Robinson and Shirley Temple. This is a characture of Robinson.)
(Cab Calloway characture from the "Clean Pastures" clip.)
(Fats Waller characture from the "Clean Pastures" clip.)
(Uncle Tom punches Rip Van Winkle near the end.)
Also, the Bob Clampett documentary has a few clips from Tin Pan Alley Cats, which was banned:
(I'm not sure who the trumpet player is supposed to be, but the cat in the 2nd capture is a characture of Fats Waller. This cartoon was NOT made as any sort of racist cartoon, but rather a tribute to the jazz at the time.)
Last edited by PatrickMcCart; 11-21-04 at 11:22 AM.
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Yes, I have "Clean Pastures" and "Tin Alley Cats" which are perfect examples of how Looney Tunes negatively portrayed Blacks as Mame singing, Revival clapping, two-step dancing, craps shootin' sinners all destined to go to hell.
But it's "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" which particularly punctuates the racist sentiment at that time. After a white slave trader whips Uncle Tom into submission, the poor slave retorts, "my body may belong to you, but my soul belongs to Warner Bros."
But it's "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" which particularly punctuates the racist sentiment at that time. After a white slave trader whips Uncle Tom into submission, the poor slave retorts, "my body may belong to you, but my soul belongs to Warner Bros."
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Yes, I have "Clean Pastures" and "Tin Alley Cats" which are perfect examples of how Looney Tunes negatively portrayed Blacks as Mame singing, Revival clapping, two-step dancing, craps shootin' sinners all destined to go to hell.
But it's "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" which particularly punctuates the racist sentiment at that time. After a white slave trader whips Uncle Tom into submission, the poor slave retorts, "my body may belong to you, but my soul belongs to Warner Bros..
But it's "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" which particularly punctuates the racist sentiment at that time. After a white slave trader whips Uncle Tom into submission, the poor slave retorts, "my body may belong to you, but my soul belongs to Warner Bros..
A lot of the "stereotypes" were formed by films such as Green Pastures and other films of the era, anyways. Now, without that context, they look awful.
That retort in "Uncle Tom's Bungalow" is a reference to the Marx Bros. film, Animal Crackers, by Mrs. Rittenhouse to Jeffrey Spaulding.
Now, some of the racial cartoons are tasteless...but as a result of the tastelessness, they're not very good. Angel Puss, one of the Censored 11, is an awful cartoon. All This and Rabbit Stew is borderline with the hunter... but he's essentially a black Elmer Fudd. Just as stupid, too. Jungle Jitters and The Isle of Pingo-Pongo aren't even "racist" since they basically poke fun at the jungle tribes in Africa. The Inki cartoons (none of which were banned, by the way) are actually quite cute.
The truth is, these sort of gags are no worse than showing an Irish cop with a Paddy O'Brien accent or an Italian chef with a Stromboli accent. After all, shows like Saturday Night Live make fun of people's accents and behaviors all the time.
Perhaps looks are exaggerated, but a lot of the time, the people parodied actually sounded like their charactures. Eddie Anderson's Rochester character really did sound like the "My, oh, my, tattletale grey!" charactures. Fats Waller's voice was well parodied in several cartoons. Is it any different than making fun of Bill Clinton or John Edwards by using that exaggerated southern accent?
Last edited by PatrickMcCart; 11-22-04 at 12:44 AM.
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Originally posted by JIF
And if these cartoons are meant to be for adults, it begs the question...just what kind of adult would appreciate these images?
And if these cartoons are meant to be for adults, it begs the question...just what kind of adult would appreciate these images?
I think these and the Brer Rabbit Disney toons should be available, not for kids but for those who want to see them. Disney could do a Disney Treasure Disk, and have features and commentary about the times the toons were made. WB could do that very same thing with the Bugs bunny and Warner Brothers toons.
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And if these cartoons are meant to be for adults, it begs the question...just what kind of adult would appreciate these images?
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The number one reason people want to see these images -
because they are funny.
Let's not forget that comedy is poking fun of things and people. Everything is made fun of in the WB cartoons. White, black, overweight, skinny, smart & stupid. You could be part of any group and be offended watching these cartoons.
Race is the only one focused on. I'm not sure if any of the gags were done to hurt people, personally I just think they wanted to make people laugh.
I respect people's feelings, and I know I can never feel the way they feel, but I have no problem being poked fun at, as long as the people doing in aren't doing it to be malicious.
because they are funny.
Let's not forget that comedy is poking fun of things and people. Everything is made fun of in the WB cartoons. White, black, overweight, skinny, smart & stupid. You could be part of any group and be offended watching these cartoons.
Race is the only one focused on. I'm not sure if any of the gags were done to hurt people, personally I just think they wanted to make people laugh.
I respect people's feelings, and I know I can never feel the way they feel, but I have no problem being poked fun at, as long as the people doing in aren't doing it to be malicious.
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I heard sometime back that they made a cartoon where the coyote caught the roadrunner, cooked him and ate him. If this is true is it available anywhere?