"The art of cartooning is vulgarity," Bakshi asserts.

Astro Zombie — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:52:08 -0800

Coonskin. In 1975, animator Ralph Bakshi made a film, Coonskin, that so impressed the Museum of Modern Art that they immediately set up a special screening, causing Al Sharpton to lead the Congress of Racial Equality in surrounding the building in protest. Roger Ebert responded in surprise to the controversy, saying "What's going on here? It seems to me a fairly interesting movie (with a skillful and innovative mixture of animation and stylized live action) is being used as an philosophical Ping-Pong ball. Dozens of black exploitation films open every year, all of them freely using racial stereotypes and all of them heavy with sex and violence. But they aren't ambitious movies--they're intended only to kill an hour or two. Now comes 'Coonskin,' an attempt to do something really provocative and (God help us! ) even artistic, and suddenly it's the target in an ideological shooting gallery." But the Village Voice was less kind, saying the film was "the product of a crippled hand and a paralyzed mind." The films was dropped by its distributor and didn't really find an audience until it was released, with several new names, on home video. The film is a difficult piece of satire, mocking the conventions of Blaxploitation and deliberately borrowing images from America's racist imagination. But it's origins are in the folk tales of Uncle Remus, the tradition of the toast, the writings of Chester Himes, and Yoruba imagery. Additionally, the soundtrack is by the superlative Chico Hamilton. Richard Pryor, Spike Lee, and the Wu Tang Klan have all sung the film's praises. But why not see it for yourself and decide (YouTube links): Part one; part two; part three; part four; part five; part six; part seven; part eight; part nine; part ten.

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"The art of cartooning is vulgarity," Bakshi asserts.