An iTunes and Amazon warning about potentially racially disturbing content in some early episodes of the legendary Tom and Jerry has led to a series of questions about the famous cartoon and other television shows that play on racial stereotypes.
The warning, which notes that the animated shorts reflected the prevailing perspectives of the times they were made, explains that "Some of them may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong and are wrong today."
Tom and Jerry was produced in the 1940s by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc. The short animated film features different squabbles between its two main characters Tom and Jerry - a cat and a mouse.
This cartoon series is one of the most memorable throughout the world therefore news that it contains racially sensitive material has made headlines. The episodes where the scenes in question appear center around an African-American maid called Mammy Two Shoes. Although Mammy Two Shoes did not play a big role in the storyline, critics argue that her presence in the famous cartoon propagates a negative stereotype nonetheless. However, some commentators have noted that Mammy Two Shoes is an innocuous character, who only appeared briefly in the play.
Reports indicate that Warner Bros has sought to correct this issue by replacing the middle aged African-American Mammy Two Shoes character with a Caucasian maid in the subsequent remaking of the series. But the former Mammy Two Shoes has been maintained in the original version of the Tom and Jerry play.
In 2005, Whoopi Goldberg was recorded giving an introduction to the cartoon series in which she explained that the racially sensitive material "come to us from a time when racial and ethnic differences were caricatured in the name of entertainment."
But "Removing Mammy Two Shoes would be the same as pretending she never existed," the comedian argues.
There has been an ongoing debate about the use of stereotypes in entertainment. While some opinionists argue that this trend is negative as it misinforms and perpetuates incorrect perspectives about particular groups in society. Others say the use of stereotypes in entertainment can defuse the sour connotations they carry.
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