Comments on: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Mouse?

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Mouse?

jonp72 — Sat, 25 Jan 2003 23:12:33 -0800

Mickey Mouse attempts suicide and fights the Nazis. Minnie Mouse goes wild at National Lampoon, while Donald Duck has a drug problem. Read about a 1970s porn film, a series of underground comics, the missing black centaur in Fantasia, and all the other cultural history that Disney doesn't want you to see.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Sat, 25 Jan 2003 23:41:49 -0800

Mickey Mouse fights the Nazi Submarine! - great ears.....errr......link! One mouse to rule them all, one mouse to bind them.....

By: rudyfink

rudyfink — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 00:14:54 -0800

In my opinion, Disney is one of the more strongly litigious organizations in regards to their characters. I remember a report of a journalist who was writing a story on some world war era propaganda cartoons that Disney had produced. When the author asked Disney for comment he allegedly was refused and also sued. A friend of mine painted a mural with some children in a hospital in southern Mississippi that included some Disney characters. She hadn't thought much of it till the hospital received a very strong cease and desist. To this day she still boggles about how Disney ever even became aware of the mural in the first place.

By: jonson

jonson — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 00:30:02 -0800

I'm amazed that they would DENY that the black centaur ever appeared in Fantasia - great links, jonp72 - one quibble though: When you say "and all the other cultural history that Disney doesn't want you to see", I was expecting a link to a centralized repository of suppressed Disney history. Still, a bunch of great links.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 03:04:26 -0800

The dirty side of Disney: read the experiences of a Magic Kingdom custodian here. (link via BoingBoing)

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 03:18:13 -0800

I'm very sad I can't link to the video of Der Fuehrer's Face I have. It's quite an experience. (I can't find the codec for this one). It won an Oscar, you know.

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 03:47:43 -0800

Pretty_Generic: you beat me by seconds to posting that link. It reqires the VDO codec.

By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 04:58:57 -0800

Not to derail us too far, but Mickey wasn't the only one joining the war effort. This site lets you stream the infamous "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips", Popeye in "You're a sap Mr. Jap", and six other wartime cartoons. Dr. Seuss also created some editorial comics.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 06:13:58 -0800

And then too there is that naughty web favorite, the infamous audio clip of Donald Duck en flagrante delicto...warning - this sound clip is not safe for work.

By: anathema

anathema — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 06:32:58 -0800

mjjj, at this stage of the game I just assume that all your links are NSFW. ;-)

By: RunsWithBandageScissors

RunsWithBandageScissors — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 06:53:57 -0800

Gary--I remember seeing some years ago the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he is talking about the "slant eyes". It was shelved a year or so after that.

By: piskycritter

piskycritter — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 08:09:17 -0800

There was talk of using the image of Steamboat Willy in a protest of Disney's recent efforts to extend copyright. May be folks should use Sunshine instead. I expect it would mean Disney would have to defend itself and own up to the image, or allow the association/accusations to continue unanswered.

By: jonson

jonson — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 09:43:26 -0800

That's a brilliant idea, piskycritter, pitting Disney's overly letigious trademark group against their frightening, history disowning official face of Disney group. I wonder who would win?

By: lasm

lasm — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 10:29:09 -0800

Song of the South has also been unavailable for some time. Here's a petition to get the film released.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 11:05:21 -0800

An earlier thread about Song of the South and other "banned" Disney films. I'll also point straight to my comment in it, which still stands.

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 15:57:09 -0800

A friend of mine painted a mural with some children in a hospital in southern Mississippi that included some Disney characters. She hadn't thought much of it till the hospital received a very strong cease and desist. To this day she still boggles about how Disney ever even became aware of the mural in the first place. Here's some backstory on Disney's threatened lawsuit against three Florida day care centers who painted Disney murals with some attempt to explain Disney's litigiousness. When you say "and all the other cultural history that Disney doesn't want you to see", I was expecting a link to a centralized repository of suppressed Disney history. Good to notice, jonson. Actually, that phrase was my way of sneaking in a little editorial commentary. That being said, I wish I did have a "centralized repository" of stuff Disney has tried to ban, but I can't find any on the Web. However, the current debate on copyright law needs to focus on an important issue about how current modes of enforcing of copyright law allows entertainment conglomerates to whitewash parts of pop cultural history that they were a part of. This is especially sad when you consider that a journalist gets sued for merely asking about World War II Disney propaganda cartoons.

By: nonreflectiveobject

nonreflectiveobject — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 18:14:55 -0800

More stuff Disney doesn't want you to see: The Racist Geneology of the Mouse

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 22:47:56 -0800

"Uncensored Cartoons," a 90-minute collection of Warner Bros. stuff considered objectionable for a variety of reasons, is easy to find. "Black Anthology Vol. 1: Cannibals, Carusoes & Uncle Toms" is temporarily out of stock at facets.org but they'll get it to you within 4 weeks. "Blaxploitation Cartoons," a 60-minute collection of seldom-seen stuff from the 1930s and '40s, ships in 24 hours; just search for those two at the site. And scroll down at this site about the 'censored 11' for details about which video collections contain which objectionable cartoons. And for the record, times have changed enough so that a stunningly brilliant mix of animation and jazz like 'Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves' should be released immediately, discussed widely, and honored for the amazing - if exaggerated and stereotypical - artwork it is. Why are cartoons so much more of a flash point on this stuff than live-action flicks?

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Sun, 26 Jan 2003 23:43:37 -0800

Because they're more typically aimed at kids?

By: golo

golo — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 02:02:52 -0800

There's also "Russian Rhapsody". I remember as a kid watching this cartoon in which a bunch of russian elves sabotage a german plane on flight, and at the end it turned out that Hitler himself was piloting it. It was only after some years that I understood what it all meant. It had nice russian music.
Off topic, but the page where I found this is a nice colleciton of "Eastern Eggs" in WB cartoons.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 07:08:45 -0800

I scoured the IMDB page for Fantasia where The Memory Hole says there's an official denial of Sunflower's existence by Disney. Can't find it (or any mention of this controversy), but my web eyes ain't so good in the morning. Anyone?

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 07:17:37 -0800

PST- it's one sentence in the "other versions" section, I tried to find it to. I sort of would like other confirmation as well about this, seeing how open Disney and WB are about their admittedy racist past cartoons.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 07:23:38 -0800

Thanks XQUZYPHYR. Here 'tis, for other interested folks. I'd still want more confirmation. Maybe I should track down a copy of Cartoon Confidential.

By: betobeto

betobeto — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:34:31 -0800

A friend of mine painted a mural with some children in a hospital in southern Mississippi that included some Disney characters. She hadn't thought much of it till the hospital received a very strong cease and desist. Their army of lawyers would be more than busy in our country, where most of our public schools have Disney-themed murals...

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:44:38 -0800

Because they're more typically aimed at kids? But they're not, really. The primary audience for something like "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves" was never kids. Apparently, we've forgotten that somewhere along the way.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 19:54:03 -0800

I think that cartoons -- in general -- ARE more typically aimed at kids. So when a cartoon that's aimed at adults (whether it's "Coal Black" or "The Simpsons") comes along and is provocative in any way, it causes a bigger ruckus because to 90% of people out there cartoons=kidvid. ("And you're teaching our children to WHAT?")

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 22:33:56 -0800

But they're not, really. The primary audience for something like "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves" was never kids. Apparently, we've forgotten that somewhere along the way. It's easy to forget because in many cases they're the same companies and characters being marketed to kids today. Case in point (and because I found another movie link), Bugs Bunny putting on blackface to sell war bonds is a more shocking than if it were just some random cartoon character. Note that it doesn't explain the parents who brought their young kids to see South Park. That can only be explained by ignorance.