1001 Animations: Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs

Show: Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies
Episode: N/A
Year: 1943

Writer(s): Warren Foster


Wow, this is going to be a tough one to tackle. I guess I should point out Coal Black's accolades first. This isn't just number 21 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons, but among the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes ever made. It is also probably the most well known and infamous among the legendary "Censored Eleven" cartoons that are considered so racist, only the 3 within the Public Domain have ever seen home releases. At the time, much like how DreamWorks takes inspiration from Disney today, every cartoon company, ESPECIALLY Warner Brothers, was very envious of their success and wanted to become the next Disney. Warner Brothers got their fame from Looney Tunes because they were the closest to truly parodying Silly Symphonies very well, and in doing so evolved into their own style of cartoon comedy, which helped broaden the horizons of animation. I'll get around to tacking some of their successes like I Love to Singa later, but for now, we've got to delve into major controversy.

 

What you have to remember before you tear this short apart for being racist is the fact that it was made during a time where segregation was on the rise in America. African Americans often had to degrade themselves in order to make an honest living; essentially, they were still slaves, but they were getting paid minimum wage for their work and in some case were taught to read and write, though not all were very lucky. I don't have time to go into the major specifics of African American history since the end of the Civil War, but many performers from the 1800's to the 1970's used a form of entertainment called blackface, wherein they would mock African Americans in many different ways. Be it the wandering minstrel, or just making them into clowns. Standards are constantly evolving in human society, and what is acceptable and what is unacceptable are constantly changing. Back in the 40's, this might've been the funniest thing ever due to their views on race and such.

 

But we as a society have moved in past this medium and are far more respectful of our African brethren since those days; among other examples to lampoon such times, we gained The Boondocks in the early 2000's, and these are frequently mocked in other media such as Drawn Together and Family Guy. Not exactly in the best ways, mind you, but we handle them a lot better than back in the day, and they are nowhere near as frequent. Just remember Warner Brothers wasn't the only company making these kinds of cartoons, and African Americans weren't the only race getting this treatment, especially during World War II. Oh yeah, this cartoon is also war propaganda, notable during its time that it became the first time African Americans were able to enlist in the US Armed forces. Creating such platoons as the Tuskegee Airmen.

 

Now onto the cartoon itself: even for its time, the animation is rather fluid and bouncy, reminding me of what Kennedy Cartoons would make in the 90's with things like Tiny Toon Adventures. It is able to mix Blaxploitation with a nice dollop of WWII propaganda to make one of the more unique Disney parodies at the time with Warner’s own take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Its swinging jazz jive will have you getting up to dance, and honestly, some of its jokes are funny even today. Racist? Oh yeah, but it does hold up a lot better under the microscope than most of the Censored Eleven; hell, most WWII cartoons in general. It does help (or make it worse, whichever) that 3 out of the 4 voice actors in this short were African American, so they've already got it handled a lot better here than most cartoons that did stuff like this. 

 

And speaking of the voice actors, be sure to take a listen for Mel Blanc's Yosemite Sam voice 2 years before his debut in Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs. While it does have a lot of backlash to its name, it's one of the funniest musical cartoons I've ever seen. Make your own judgments on what you feel about this cartoon and others like it. Some people are tolerant to stuff like this, some aren't. I think maybe I'll review the Pokémon episode "Holiday Hi-Jynx" next to continue the discussion, maybe not as the next review, but soon enough.

 

I bet you're all wondering where the shorts director Bob Clampett stands on it? He had thought of doing an all black jazz cartoon two years prior after speaking with the legendary Duke Ellington (1899-1974). He "took great pains" to make it "as true to black life as possible." Clampett himself was an admitted jazz fan, and he even went to Club Alabam, a Los Angeles area black club, to get a good feel for its music, even hiring only black musicians to do the shorts score, or as many as Warner would allow. And although it doesn't technically use an all-black cast with Mel Blanc voicing the Sebben Dwarfs, I can see Bob Clampett's intentions. He's also admitted he can't really tell the difference between black and blackface, which is fair considering blackface had been around for over a century at the time. Matter of fact, even in the 70's and 80's when the short got its infamy, he STILL defended it: 

 

"There was nothing racist or disrespectful toward blacks intended in that film at all […] Everybody, including blacks had a good time when these cartoons first came out. All the controversy […] has developed in later years merely because of changing attitudes toward black civil rights that have happened since then."

 

I don't see the cartoon as racist either; granted, I am white, but even so, I don't see what the big deal is. Oh, I KNOW what it is, it’s the stereotypes, but this is far from the worse thing I've ever seen; it clearly wasn't trying to be malicious or offensive. And honestly, compared to its other kin of the Censored Eleven, it has to be the most lively and cartoonish. We shouldn't be hiding these long forgotten gems under the rug simply because standards have changed, for better or worse; these need to see the modern age in one form or another. Not necessarily on TV, but maybe get around to releasing them on DVD in the future. I don't even care if it's MOD (made on demand), just do it.

Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves is owned by Warner Brothers and Turner Broadcasting.

1001 Animations is from

Regulas314