Why is this Betty Boop cartoon considered Racist?
on you tube.com copy & paste this into the search bar to see the cartoon:
Banned Cartoon-Betty Boop
I know that the drawings of the black babies are racist but I am really confused about the watermelon.
why is the watermelon considered something racist?
I'm not too familiar with racist stereotypes.
You can see the clip of the 3 black babies @ 3:10
p.s.
are the babies in some sort of a cotton field or is it just me?
Tagged with: amp • betty boop • black babies • cartoon • cotton field • drawings • racist stereotypes • search bar • watermelon
Filed under: Betty Boop Cartoons
I am procrastinating at work, so I can’t get to You tube to see the clip….
But my guess is that what you’re seeing are what they used to call black babies, which is pickaninny. These images usually had them eating watermelon and sitting in a briar patch or cotton field. They would have bulging eyes, unkempt hair, big ol’ red lips and big mouths and ratty clothes.
It was/is a derogatory name and image for black children and was used to portray a denegrating stereotype of black people and there’s usually more than one baby, so it also re-enforces the stereotype that black women were these overly-sexed, promiscuous animals with no self-control.
It’s hard to pinpoint the watermelon thing. For slaves food was a precious commodity, so stealing a watermelon from a patch or chicken from a coop…..could become an easy way for whites to categorize blacks as thieves or perpetrate the image of this smiling, happy, simple-minded "darky" happily munching down on a watermelon. The myth of the "happy", watermelon/chicken eating slave.
Hope this helps a little.
People use the word racist so loosely nowadays that it has lost its real meaning. Black people just don’t like to be the topic of anything.
wow what a stupis show nyway
wow, i actually have the betty boop collection and never considered it racist
that was completely normal back then, it’s understandable and sad
but hey, we’ve gone a long way
just enjoy the cartoon and ignore the rest
A common racial stereotype in the south was of the black person sitting around eating watermellon (usually drawn to make the person look like an ape, since many racists believed they were sub-human, a earlier species from the evolution from ape to man). A such, such drawings are very hurtful stereotype, even if the artist is "nice enough" to draw the person as a human."
Anything that does not depict blacks having super powers is considered racist these days.
If white people had the same amount of low self esteem as blacks, there wouldn’t be any cartoons. The Simpsons and Beavis & Butthead are two examples. How long would they have lasted with black characters?
Hey Spookie….good point.
I am a black female and I must say that I agree.
And to answer your question, well…..I don’t think a watermelon is considered racist, its more like a stereotype that black people love watermelon. I’m not going to lie, I eat watermelon from time to time, and in case you’re wondering, I eat fried chicken too. lol