Anyone who remembers watching episodes of classic American cartoons namely Tom & Jerry, probably has no recollection of the racial prejudices in many episodes, but they were definitely there. As kids, we probably just accepted them as fact.
These days many episodes of the cartoons are considered totally unsuitable for kids TV, based on the discriminatory messages they contain, but they are available to rent and buy online.
Now iTunes and Amazon have both added warnings to their Tom & Jerry content, saying that they may contain derogatory references to certain minorities, that were frequently used in those days, adding that they were wrong then and are wrong today.
The warnings echo the original warnings on the DVD collection, in which Whoopi Goldberg delivers a similar message, but she also includes women: ‘The Tom & Jerry episodes come to us a time when racial and ethnic differences were caricatured in the name of entertainment. While humour may have been the intent of such caricatures, they also have the effect of revealing society’s unfair and hurtful representation of people of colour, women and ethnice groups. Some of the cartoons here reflect prejudices that were common in American society especially when it came to racial and ethnic groups. These prejudices were wrong then and they’re certainly wrong today.’
When William Hanna and Joseph Barbera got the rights to the series back in 1975 they went to networks to pitch the cartoon and were literally laughed out of the meetings, with executives saying they would be crucified by the public if they screened such racially insensitive material.
We assume episodes/DVDs are generally purchased and viewed by nostalgiac adults and not the impressionable young minds of 2014, and while we appreciate that iTunes and Amazon are mindful of the material, we wonder if they plan on putting this warning on every TV show and movie containing outdated racial and sexist prejudices? Which is probably most of them when you think about it. Let’s be real, if you had to warn about material containing sexist behaviour towards women ‘that was common in American society’ you’d have warnings on every TV show that aired until the 90s. And some even since then.
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.