Forbidden Animation by Karl F.

Cohen
Literary Review

For my research for animation, I felt that there was a gap in my research and I found
that the gap was politics in animation.

I therefore went to the library and found a book called Forbidden Animation: Censored
Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America by Karl F. Cohen.

In the book, I found useful information about racism in animations and how stereotypes
in the early 1930-1940s affected the animation in question. For example, black people
would be depicted as ‘cannibals’ in animations. 1 This implies that at the time, white
people would see black people as ‘savages’.
I found some more interesting information that I never knew before reading the book,
which was the controversy surrounding Disney’s Song of the South released in 1946.
Song of the South depicts life on a plantation in the 1800s using live action and
animation. When released many critics found that the film was offensive and racist to
African-Americans. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
said that “the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery”
and that it “gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship which is a
distortion of the facts.” 2

I have never seen the film before so I watched a clip from the film that supports this
view as the slaves in the film seems ‘content’ with their situation and subordinate
towards their master.

I found this particularly interesting as it shows an insight of how much society has
changed as being called a racist is now an insult but being racist decades ago was
completely normal and expected of higher classes and the general white public. The
book also mentions that an animator working in New York in the 1930s said that it was
very common for his co-workers to make jokes about other people’s nationalities by
calling them racial names. 3

This casual racism towards friends and co-workers is very inappropriate in my view as
in our generation calling a friend a racist and offensive name is disgusting but in the
1930s it’s normal to be that unsuitable. This shows how much society and people’s
views have changed over time.

Politics also appeared in animation in the form of propaganda. Such as Tokio Jokio, a
Looney Tune cartoon made in 1943. I found this useful as I have never heard of this
cartoon before and by reading this book, I have watched the cartoon and seen racial
stereotypes of the Japanese, such as having large teeth and lips and having a high
pitched voice. By making fun of the Japanese in this cartoon, the Americans are making
fun of and belittling them.

By reading this book, I have learnt about how politics and culture affected animation,
from racist stereotypes in Disney films and cartoons of the time, to using stereotypes for
propaganda.
Racist stereotypes in animation have discontinued, such as the controversy in Song of
the South (1946) “persuaded Disney to avoid using African-American stereotypes in future
productions”. 4

It’s interesting to find out that this made Disney discontinue racist stereotypes,
especially African-American stereotypes, in productions as it shows how much of an
uproar people had with the film.

In 1993 with the release of Aladdin, there was criticism with the way the film portrayed
Arabics and that the main characters had American accents while the supporting
characters, such as the bad guys, have foreign accents. 5

This surprises me as Aladdin is a relatively modern Disney film and I’ve never noticed
the racism in it before and looking at a different perspective, I can see now how it could
be racist towards Arabs as the good guys have American accents while the bad guys,
such as the guards, have foreign accents.

In conclusion, this book has taught me that racism was a constant presence in animation
and that animation has adapted and has changed with the general public, learning to not
be causally racist towards ethnic minorities which was normal decades ago.

1F. Cohen, K (1997). Forbidden Animation Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted

Animators in America. United States of America: McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers. p50.

2F. Cohen, K (1997). Forbidden Animation Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted

Animators in America. United States of America: McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers. p60-61.

3F. Cohen, K (1997). Forbidden Animation Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted

Animators in America. United States of America: McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers. p50.

4F. Cohen, K (1997). Forbidden Animation Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted

Animators in America. United States of America: McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers. p68.

5F. Cohen, K (1997). Forbidden Animation Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted

Animators in America. United States of America: McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers. p74.