Well, it’s certainly not THE KIDS IN THE SHOE.

Looks like somebody graduated from the John K school of perverted, acid trippy, creepy animation, with a bit racism, and a fart joke thrown in. Yuck. No sir, I don’t like it.

I really would like to think that people will someday learn that emulating the animation of “good ol’ days” can be done without emulating the backwards, socially outdated racism, sexism and generally ignorant thinking that we have been trying to leave behind for decades.

This is a great old song by The Inkspots, there’s nothing racist about it. All the voices were from the 30s recording, and that was the way those guys actually talked. The old style caricatures and black and white are both done for the same reason: they wanted it to look like an old cartoon. (The more 40s style animation is actually anachronistic) I love Mama’s voice, the way she says “Here” sounds like Eric Cartman form South Park.

The cartoonist is from Ecuador. Maybe you guys don’t know how things are in Latin America, but people still make racial sterotypes on TV and in Children’s shows there. It’s more of a cultural divide. (Remember that Memin Penguin controversy a few years ago? Or when CN banned Speedy Gonzales? It wasn’t the Mexicans complaining, I’ll tell you what…)

The point of the caricatures isn’t to bring back the stereotypes of the old days, or the racism, the point is to make a joke and look old fashioned. Stop being so racially sensitive, America! (or the world…) It’s ok to laugh at offensive racial jokes every once in a while!

It’s all in good fun. By the way, I hate how everyone thinks John K invented that kind of animation. Anytime someone attempts it people accuse them of being a Spumco ripoff.

>I really would like to think that people will someday learn that emulating the animation of “good ol’ days� can be done without emulating the backwards, socially outdated racism, sexism and generally ignorant thinking that we have been trying to leave behind for decades.

How about that backwards oversensitive PC thinking we`ve been saddled with for the last 30s years that we still haven`t gotten rid of?

Well, it has it’s moments. I like the funny drawings, the tone of the humor is not always the best. The mother coming back at the end is not well-staged, just cutting to a rendered close-up of her face doesn’t communicate well and doesn’t really make the story point. There should be a funny beating scene in there!

I see it as a period piece. If the characters had no ethnicity to their design, yet the audio remain the same, would you still see it as racist?

From what I’ve learned talking to music aficionados, if the song was created by and for a Black Audience, the movement and art are funny, –get this– BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST PLAIN HUMOROUS- on their own merits. Overthinking and giving credence to accusations of racism, as if it is taking place in present day to ridicule anyone with an African lineage is as offensive to me as the cartoon is to those acting offended by it. Tolerance is a river that runs in both directions.

Loved it. Great low-rent, quicky cartoon. Hilarious.

Is Elmer Fudd a stereotype that should offend white males?

I don’t like pieces like that simply because 95% of the entertainment value is due to the music, which the cartoonist has just “borrowed” without even crediting the song writer or performers.

If you turned off the sound, how great would this cartoon be? It would be pointless.

The imagery is merely on-the-nose representations of what is going on in the soundtrack. When the music sounds like a guy playing a bass … wow! the animator had the imagination to draw a guy playing a bass for that part! When a performer interjects a spoken comment… by golly, the animator drew a person with his lips moving! The music just about makes all the timing and cutting decisions for the animator.

It’s freeloading on the creative work of the musicians. It’s the “illustrated radio” that Chuck Jones talked about.

beck just summed up all you need. It’s FUNNY. It doesn’t need to be a work of art to be posted here surely? It’s just a fun piece of animation made to kill some time. People around here need to get their heads out of their arses and quite taking everything so seriously.

Well, maybe if I didn’t knew the two songs before … but I knew them, and so for me it’s just “another quite crappy Flash cartoon”. First, I’d never cut those songs. The “Mama don’t like” tells its own story and is quite funny. Second, these songs deserve much better animation. Doing this in an elaborated rubberhose style would be really hard (and JK just wrote about that, coincidentially). Third, the design isn’t good enough for my taste.

Please people, spare me the Carlos Mencia-esque “I’m being oppressed by the PC police” speech. As if PC ever had an effect aside from an odd 5 minutes during the 90′s. I’ve heard more people complain about being stifled by political correctness than actual gripes about being politically correct. 30 years- come on. The 80′s was full of offensive crap. Have you watched Eddie Murphy “Raw”, it’s funny but nobody even bats an eye when he makes some pretty wretched AIDS jokes.

Nobody is saying this song is racist, but the fact that the animator heard the song which obviously sung by black people, and then thought “hum what would go good with this- gee BIG FLAPPING LIPS”. That’s what’s racist. And lazy faced fellow in the cartoon is also an old time stereotype.

Don’t try to draw a comparison to Elmer Fudd- that’s just playing dumb. Do you really think you can compare the Anglo Saxon white male experience in this America to that of the Black experience. You do realize there is no history of white faced minstrel shows, right? If Elmer Fudd were a drunken red nosed Irish stereotype, then you might have some weight behind your argument, but he’s not and you don’t.

And just because the animator isn’t from America does not excuse the content. Ignorance does not excuse racism. Just because something hateful is embedded in a culture does not negate it being hateful. That’s comparable to excusing any hateful action against blacks in the past as merely “part of the culture in America” at the time. “Remember how they would sick the canine unit on civil rights protesters back in the 60′s- oh they weren’t racist, that was just the way American culture was at the time”.

When it comes to humor, I’m not one to back down. I’ll dish out some jokes that most America would find pretty offensive. But this isn’t satire, this isn’t irony, this is just straight up racism.

And his follow through on the flapping lips isn’t even done well.

You guys, um….are all going gooney! It’s a cartoon! Lighten the —- UP, will ya!??

OK– Now I’m just plain pissed off. I have seen many Marlon Brando inspired characters– all with big lips, because MARLON HAD HUGE LIPS. He was not African American. BEN says
“When it comes to humor, I’m not one to back down. I’ll dish out some jokes that most America would find pretty offensive. But this isn’t satire, this isn’t irony, this is just straight up racism.”

If you believe that– then by your own thinking Elmer Fudd is also a racist stereotype. A general caricature of Anglo-American Male’s is redneck, gun-toting fools who would rather shoot first and ask questions later, remember Dick Cheney’s Hunting Incident? “Be Vewy Vewy Quiet, I’m Hunting Wawyers!”

My Hispanic friends and relatives love Speedy Gonzales, Time Warner has used him in Three Regional Ad Campaigns for Six Flags. I don’t think he’s a slap in the face of Cesar Chavez– I don’t think Fat Albert is a slap in the face of Martin Luther King Jr. We must move forward and that just means respecting each other– laughing with one another and loving our stereotypes in a healthy way CAN be done. Don Rickles taught me that—- Ya Hockey Pucks!

Wait…scratch that…I mean a program like *photoshop.* Or any computer program, for that matter.

The ONLY thing likable about this cartoon is the music! Try watching it silent and I guarantee you’ll push the STOP button! But…everyone has different tastes. So no offense to those who like it.

As for ‘uffler’s’ comment, All I can say is…..racial humor can be funny if it’s clever and not mean spirited. Racism is NEVER funny as far as I’m concerned….Unless you feel the Klu Klux Klan is just an earlier version of Monty Python…..just my two cents.

i agree with Rick F. if handled properly, racism (or at least pointing out ALL OF OUR differences) can be pretty funny – as long as it comes from a good place.

I still prefer the cartoon that I originally heard a modified version of the “Mama doan “llow” song.I think it may have been a Fleischer cartoon,involving a bunch of kids playing with home made musical instruments.
As for Speedy Gonzalez,he was pointedly referred to as a Texas mouse throughout my childhood.Go figure!
Leave the racist stereotypes to the old cartoons,where they reveal the attitudes of the time when they were made.

Since it doesn’t look as if any other black folks have commented yet, I thought I’d add my two cents:

After 40+ years of seeing stereotypes like this in cartoons, from the dawn of animation through today, I’ve just gotten used to it. No amount of protesting will change anything, so I, and I suspect most black people, just roll with it these days. Sometimes, it’s kinda cool, like the Mills Brothers bit in Tex Avery’s ‘Magical Maestro’ (which I note has enough racial stereotypes to offend *everybody*), but usually, it just is, and we roll our eyes and wait for something better to happen. To be frank, blacks have been stereotyped in visual media for so long, I don’t think we *expect* a decent portrayal any more.

For the record, I will be showing the short to my (black) friends, whereupon we will then most likely make a number of biased and stereotypical comments about the talent, relative intelligence, and parentage of the animator. I mean, it’s only fair, isn’t it?
–that was a joke, kids.

Slightly off topic: are the Country Bears of the infamous audioanimatronic Jamboree meant to be racial stereotypes of stupid, fat white people who only like depressing music and gun violence?

this guy made his own cartoon and spent time on it. that is more than can be said for probably 80 percent of the people that commented on this post. i commend him for making a cartoon and i look down upon the people that feel they need to critique the hell out of every single thing that doesn’t meet their standards.

you guys should try making your own cartoons once in a while (all by yourself) and see how far you get.

What is racist about this short? It’s just a bunch of characters dancing around. If they were colored green and red would you say the same thing? Or pure white for that matter? Yeah I don’t think so!

To David – At least Mark and I qualify as having actually MADE cartoons. I don’t know if that amounts to the remaining 20%, but having been through it, we can offer “constructive” criticism since we do have credibility and knowledge that the average fan does not have.

To Andrés “Makinita” Silva:

You know what would be REALLY funny bato?

A cartoon about Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales and your own president Rafael Correa, portrayed as the 3 Stooges!

PS: Oh I forgot, there’s a law in Ecuador that prohibits insulting or making fun of the president. Qué poca madreeee… :-(

What is this racist nonsense! As one of the few African American animators in this business I DO NOT find this funny or even drawn well.
I love Cartoon Brew but this is not cool.

ray – that is why i said 80 and not 100. I know there are people out there that have indeed made and worked on their own shorts. constructive criticism is no doubt a good thing. But as for the rest of the commenters i’d much rather seeing them putting their energy towards something productive than tearing down dudes who ARE trying to do something.

As long as the majority of people working in animation are complacent turd polishers working on shows/films for executives (void of creativity/fun) then the poor quality of animation content will continue.

Well, whether or not the guy was just trying to be funny, or racist, he got people to notice his stuff.

Some old timer once told me, “If you want to get noticed, be the best at what you do….but if your not that good, piss off a ton of people and you’ll achieve the same effect.”

…it’s definitely not words to live by… but apparently it works.

I have given thought to ask Milton Knight’s permission to draw Hugo Chavez as his character Hugo.
Funny,I always thought that the poor quality of animation lately had more to do with the quality of the writing,not the animators or storyboard artists.
I’d love for Ecuador to have it’s own animation studios,as long as they don’t produce endless variations of Condorcito.What happened to the argentinian and mexican animetion studios?The only latin outfit I’ve seen function lately is Spain’s Milimetros.

Zee, by your own mentioned standards, you have no right to lecture anyone either- you and I aren’t black but in mixed race relationships, it still doesn’t make us Black, nor give us the right to act holier than thou. According to studies on racial tolerance, there are the same % of racists in every racial sector of mankind. So, calling one racist because they are tolerant and not outraged, but caucasian, hispanic, asian, et al- well is by definition racism itself. Defending one race, while taking swipes at another race, which you are spouting- THAT’S RACIST. I understand it can be upsetting to see less than flattering portrayals of your race– that’s why I never intend to watch the movie, DELIVERANCE- absolutely just as demeaning to Anglo Saxons as blackface can be, and Joe Jitsu can be and GoGo Gomez, to the races they depict. BS is the intolerance and browbeating that your uninformed (AKA ignorant) opinion ignites.

I’m still waiting for someone to tell me how this is racist. I’ll even settle for why it is offensive. And don’t assume anything that isn’t shown to you in the short. This isn’t a Ralph Bakshi film where you know the characters are African American because they are presented as such. ie they tell you they are.

…Well, after this one, nobody better complain about Coal Black or The Brothers Matzohreilley again :p

Brothers Matzoreilly are, Jewish, Irish, and Chinese– I’m one of those
and I love these guys. Confusion say- Luck of the OyVey!(sp)

“If you turned off the sound, how great would this cartoon be? It would be pointless.”

…similar sentiments here suggest that the music was “slapped on” just as an excuse to make this sorry piece. This is not a good argument. If it were, then Fantasia with all it’s “unoriginal” music and Warner’s use of their music properties, including Raymond Scott’s stuff, would render all those cartoons some sort of bastardized works too. –Not to mention the stuff that Fleisher’s did with Cab Calloway/ Louis Armstrong music to excellent effect, etc.

I’d like to know who made the rule that animation has to follow an original score to be legitimate.

It’s official. This really is the decade of sanctimonious chest-thumping. Everyone spends so much time trying to prove that they’re better than everyone else that they forget that maybe, just MAYBE, they have a few flaws of their own. Hopefully in the next decade people won’t be in such a rush to shame and ostracize each other.

Are the caricatures in that rap video just as offensive as the caricatures in “Mama Don’t Like…”? Are the caricatures in the rap video not offensive because it has a positive message?

I like both shorts, especially “mama.” I love music from that era, no matter what race. I also like caricatures, no matter what race. They are caricatures. All cartoon characters are. People have to take into consideration that caricatures are all about exagerrating features to make the piece funny. If you look, both are exagerrating the same features, just differently.

Is one more acceptable than the other because its more modern? I personally don’t think so. One is telling people to read, the other is playing around with a great song.

David McG- Several commenters here that have seen beyond the 18th century thinking, are African American– You know the saying about when you ASSUME… right? There are 4 characters in the video, 2 are characteristically slow, dumb and lazy- the other 2 are not, so you lump all 4 characters together when you say Lazy as all character inclusive. You also exagerate their lip-size.
To top it all off you imply that ONLY white people are racist, when racism is in equal %’s in every country and culture- making it a human nature trait that is not tied to race.Funny – Lazy is a choice, not something your’e born as. You perpetuate the very stigmas and stereotypes you claim to be appalled by– Too bad you’re racist about White people, in the words and assumptions you make about them.

This is great. I think who ever did this had a lot of fun, acting on the feeling you get from really loving a song (the ink spots is great BTW). That’s what we need more of this animation for fun instead of perfect, political correct, commercial value with nicely clean lines and clean curves and neat rendering and people spending half their life at the workdesk.

ManekiNeko: Totally agree

DavidMcG: I would hang out with “lazy black cartoon characters with lips half the size of their faces” over you any day, slapping the bass, forgetting mama is coming home. They seem like a cool crowd I’m loving them, can’t see any racist in having fun with them.

Matt B. said it best, and I agree (also because I’m African-American)-

I’m all for no holds barred in animation-but seriously, don’t use it as a damn crutch for this kind of garbage. We’re were way past the offensive blackface days.