An internet friend and I share a deep interest in a specific type of internet culture. Our correspondence is exclusively sending one another really bad illustrations of childhood cartoon characters in street wear and people in off-brand character suits dancing (this was all sparked by our mutual love of this Bugs Bunny meme). While searching for more memes, my friend sent me this screenshot.I responded, "He's black, duh." Advertisem*nt Advertisem*nt
Tasmanian Devil
Tweety Bird
Goofy
Max
Spongebob (he's white passing)
Bob (from Reboot)
Elmo
Cookie Monster (West Indies)
Zaboomafoo
Arthur (half)
Brain (From Arthur)
Muffy (half)
Lola Bunny
Babar
Luigi (From Mario)
Jerry (Tom and Jerry)
Some Ninja Turtles (Michelangelo, maybe Raphael)
Scrappy Doo
Woody the Woodpecker
The Pink Panther
Optimus PrimeIn case you're not convinced and think I'm crazy, I'm not even close to the only one who thinks this way. In fact, I don't know a single black person in my life who hasn't attributed race to non-human characters. The only time a black person I talked to about this didn't understand what I was saying were times when we would disagree on which characters are black (Foghorn Leghorn is a major point of contention).Earlier this year, Noisey published a piece stating A Goofy Movie was a black millennial classic. The piece argues that from an aesthetic point citing various indicators of the movie's blackness. "From the white female protagonist being a light skinned black girl named Roxanne, to the white boy named Bobby (voiced by Pauly Shore) getting in just as much trouble as Max, but somehow feeling way less worried about his parents finding out." It all makes so much sense.
It's also a much discussed topic online. On Twitter, Alyson, known as fillegrossiere, has tweeted extensively about the topic. After tweeting that Bugs Bunny was black, Alyson tells me, "Several men [tagged] me to let me know Bugs Bunny was a rabbit." Asking how she knew who was black (her characters, like many, include Skeeter from Doug, Goofy and Max) she said, "I'm not sure. It just seems obvious to me who's black." Advertisem*nt
Piccolo via. YouTube
Speaking to Lisa Nakamura, a professor at the University of Michigan and author whose work focuses on race and how it's portrayed online, believes there are plenty of reasons why white people aren't familiar with the concept of racializing cartoons. Advertisem*nt
But also, why would they need to understand the need to identify with non-human characters by attributing them to a race? When it comes to entertainment, white people never have to imagine themselves as being the stars of movies or shows because they always already are.
In a Tumblr post, New York City-based artist Jayson Musson argues that Panthro from ThunderCats is an unsung African American hero. As a child in the 80s, Musson explains to me that alongside Panthro, Papa Smurf and ET (the alien) are also black. "I don't care what anyone says." For Papa Smurf, "He was just way more chill than the other smurfs, he's like their dad," he tells me. "I'm sure it has a lot to do with overtly black characters not being considered remotely marketable. In my childhood, it just wasn't on the table."Another method of characterization most people I spoke to mentioned was that none of this was forced upon them—these characters weren't overtly coded as black. "It has to be embraced and not performed or shoved into the minds of kids," Musson tells me. "For me, it was something I had to understand myself." Advertisem*nt
Optimus Prime - Image via. YouTube
For the last week, I've been thinking about Bugs Bunny and other characters being black almost non-stop. And while on the surface it's an extremely funny and silly thing to think about— there's also a layer of sadness that goes beyond silliness. Like Nakamura mentioned, it comes down to literally not seeing ourselves reflected in what we loved.I have nine nieces and nephews and most of them are at the age where they now have their own favourite television shows and characters they love. When I watch TV or Netflix with them, it's obvious things are slowly getting better when it comes to diversity. I see more children of colour in movies and cartoons, though not as much as there should be. Still, as I become more aware of how affecting a lack of representation has been in my own childhood I make an effort to pick shows and movies that have overtly black or non-white characters. I want them to be able to see themselves on a screen.Babysitting my niece one day recently, I wanted to put on a movie and scrolling through Netflix for kids was unbearable — there were about a dozen movies aimed at little girls starring blonde, white princesses. We put on Home, an animated film from Dreamworks about a girl named Gratuity "Tip" Tucci, who goes on the run after aliens invade Earth. Upon noticing the movie starred a young black girl, my niece was overjoyed."Wow!" she exclaimed, "She looks like me!"Follow Sarah Hagi on Twitter.
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