Tom And Jerry Racist?

[fm93]

You are so full of crap. You didn't even know who "Mammy Two Shoes was until you read the OP article.

Ha! Oh, please. I was an absolutely rabid Tom and Jerry fan when I was a kid. I used to binge-watch episodes for hours upon hours. I'm VERY well aware of Mammy Two Shoes. So you can stop making these presumptuous attacks on me any time now. You know not of what you speak.

Please show me a clip where she is "so subservient to her white family" and "content with her status as a slave"

To be clear, Tom and Jerry itself doesn't portray her in that manner. The name "Mammy" does come from minstrel shows, and that's what I was referring to in my earlier post--the historical archetype, not the Tom and Jerry character. In minstrel shows, maids who portrayed the Mammy character did indeed exhibit those behaviors.

[fm93]

In all the episodes I have ever seen, they never even showed her interacting with anyone other than Tom. In some of the episodes it seemed that she owned the house.

Correct. As I clarified to Sparko, I was referring to the historical Mammy from minstrel shows, not Mammy from Tom and Jerry. The Tom and Jerry creators aren't portraying her in the minstrel show manner, but nevertheless they are using her as an artifact from a racist performance, and that's why Amazon warns of racist elements.

[mossrose]

I think Gone With the Wind should be trashed.

[Christianbookworm]

Ha! Oh, please. I was an absolutely rabid Tom and Jerry fan when I was a kid. I used to binge-watch episodes for hours upon hours. I'm VERY well aware of Mammy Two Shoes. So you can stop making these presumptuous attacks on me any time now. You know not of what you speak.


To be clear, Tom and Jerry itself doesn't portray her in that manner. The name "Mammy" does come from minstrel shows, and that's what I was referring to in my earlier post--the historical archetype, not the Tom and Jerry character. In minstrel shows, maids who portrayed the Mammy character did indeed exhibit those behaviors.

Minstrel shows?

[Sparko]

Ha! Oh, please. I was an absolutely rabid Tom and Jerry fan when I was a kid. I used to binge-watch episodes for hours upon hours. I'm VERY well aware of Mammy Two Shoes. So you can stop making these presumptuous attacks on me any time now. You know not of what you speak.

so you are a rabid fan of racist cartoons? Got it.

By the way, can you tell me where in the cartoon she is called "mammy two shoes" since you are such a fan.

To be clear, Tom and Jerry itself doesn't portray her in that manner. The name "Mammy" does come from minstrel shows, and that's what I was referring to in my earlier post--the historical archetype, not the Tom and Jerry character. In minstrel shows, maids who portrayed the Mammy character did indeed exhibit those behaviors.

riigggght. keep doing that back-pedaling. We are not talking about other characters. We are talking about this one in this cartoon. She is not shown subservient to anyone. In fact I don't recall ever seeing any "white family" in the cartoon.

So can you tell me how the cartoon is racist for depicting a black maid? Or perhaps it was her house, since they don't show her working for anyone.

[fm93]

so you are a rabid fan of racist cartoons? Got it.

The racist elements weren't why I was a fan. Tom and Jerry (the characters) themselves were the reason I watched, and they didn't involve racist depictions.

By the way, can you tell me where in the cartoon she is called "mammy two shoes" since you are such a fan.

None of the episodes that I saw ever explicitly called her "Mammy Two Shoes." That's partly because many of the episodes tended to feature little to no dialogue besides her shrieking "Thomas!" whenever Tom sprung a failed trap for Jerry. Nevertheless, it was actually BECAUSE I was such a fan of the show that I read up about the background and history of it and consequently learned her name.

riigggght. keep doing that back-pedaling. We are not talking about other characters. We are talking about this one in this cartoon. She is not shown subservient to anyone. In fact I don't recall ever seeing any "white family" in the cartoon.

Right. And if you go back and read my original post, you'll notice this:

It's the style of depiction, not merely having a black maid. Again, "Mammy" is from minstrel shows, which were created specifically to mock and lampoon black people. In the slavery days, slavemasters were known to sexually exploit their somewhat lighter-skinned female slaves. Minstrel show writers tried to whitewash this fact. They [referring to the minstrel show writers] de-sexualized the maid by depicting her as obese and old and exaggerating her dark skin tone. In other words, they[still referring to the minstrel show writers] made the character represent everything that society considered ugly back then. They[still referring to the minstrel show writers] also made her extraordinarily subservient to her white family and portrayed her as being perfectly happy and content with her status as a slave. It was an attempt to propagate the myth of the happy slave, to suggest that slavery was a humane and benevolent institution. They wanted to convey the idea that black women were unattractive and fit only for service labor, and the slaveowners were kind-hearted individuals who took them in for that purpose.

I can't be backpedaling when I was talking about the minstrel Mammy all along.

So can you tell me how the cartoon is racist for depicting a black maid? Or perhaps it was her house, since they don't show her working for anyone.

The cartoon itself is not racist. The depiction of Mammy in Tom and Jerry isn't all that terrible. But nevertheless, Mammy Two Shoes is clearly influenced by Mammy archetypes from minstrel shows, and as such, the cartoon does contain elements that were taken from a racist context. That's what Amazon has been warning people.

[Cerebrum123]

Correct. As I clarified to Sparko, I was referring to the historical Mammy from minstrel shows, not Mammy from Tom and Jerry. The Tom and Jerry creators aren't portraying her in the minstrel show manner, but nevertheless they are using her as an artifact from a racist performance, and that's why Amazon warns of racist elements.

If they used the character in a non-racist way, wouldn't that be more of a redeeming aspect for the cartoon? I mean, taking something that was once used in a bad way, and taking away the negative aspects isn't exactly a bad thing.

[Christianbookworm]

Again, what on earth were minstrel shows??? Black face???

[mossrose]

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/.../minstrel-show

[KingsGambit]

If you've ever read Huck Finn, I think there's a minstrel show in there.

[mossrose]

My gracious! When you do a search for minstrel shows there are gazillions of sites that talk about it and even have images and videos and everything!

Scandalous!

Shut down the internet!

[KingsGambit]

Shut down the internet!

Mossy's gone Amish!

[Sparko]

The racist elements weren't why I was a fan. Tom and Jerry (the characters) themselves were the reason I watched, and they didn't involve racist depictions.

So the cartoon isn't racist after all. Make up your mind

None of the episodes that I saw ever explicitly called her "Mammy Two Shoes." That's partly because many of the episodes tended to feature little to no dialogue besides her shrieking "Thomas!" whenever Tom sprung a failed trap for Jerry. Nevertheless, it was actually BECAUSE I was such a fan of the show that I read up about the background and history of it and consequently learned her name.

*cough*bullcrap*cough*

Right. And if you go back and read my original post, you'll notice this:


I can't be backpedaling when I was talking about the minstrel Mammy all along.

More crap. You clearly wanted to imply that the mammy character in Tom and Jerry was racist. But as usual, when someone actually calls you out on your crap, you backpedal and claim that wasn't what you meant at all.

The cartoon itself is not racist. The depiction of Mammy in Tom and Jerry isn't all that terrible. But nevertheless, Mammy Two Shoes is clearly influenced by Mammy archetypes from minstrel shows, and as such, the cartoon does contain elements that were taken from a racist context. That's what Amazon has been warning people.

And yet you cannot tell us one example of racism in the cartoon.

[Christianbookworm]

Why not ask some actual African-Americans about Tom and Jerry?

[Bill the Cat]

Why not ask some actual African-Americans about Tom and Jerry?

My friend Kirk is a Mormon who married a white lady from South Africa. She is a real African-American. She doesn't think it is racist.