Doctor Strange
I'll Lock Up
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- 5,228
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- Hudson Valley, NY
Alas, it's true that for every brilliant "Coal Black" or "Tin Pan Alley Cats" (another amazing Clampett-directed cartoon of the same period) there are many more weaker films, some of which are indeed maliciously racist. And there were plenty of members of the audience in those years (and alas, even relatively recently) that thought they were a total hoot... and accurate.
As much as those of us here may revere the past, there were a lot of deep-rooted inequities and prejudices that are hard to reconcile with American ideology, and they turn up all over the culture. But they should not be swept under the rug, but instead be shown and understood for what they were. If you don't know the full truth about your past, you're on shaky ground.
Banning films, etc., that are rife this stuff is no solution: creating a Disneyland Main Street image of an impossibly simpler and kinder America does the folks who lived through those years, warts and all, a great disservice. And unique films like "Coal Black" deserve to be shown and known...
Which is why, in my own small way, whenever I have taught cartoon appreciation, run film festivals, or just brought some films to a friend's party, I have made a point of showing it. And ironically, the gutless cowardice of venues like Cartoon Network, who won't show it even in the middle of the night with a Leonard Maltin or Jerry Beck explaining it, have made it one of the rare jewels of my film collection!
As much as those of us here may revere the past, there were a lot of deep-rooted inequities and prejudices that are hard to reconcile with American ideology, and they turn up all over the culture. But they should not be swept under the rug, but instead be shown and understood for what they were. If you don't know the full truth about your past, you're on shaky ground.
Banning films, etc., that are rife this stuff is no solution: creating a Disneyland Main Street image of an impossibly simpler and kinder America does the folks who lived through those years, warts and all, a great disservice. And unique films like "Coal Black" deserve to be shown and known...
Which is why, in my own small way, whenever I have taught cartoon appreciation, run film festivals, or just brought some films to a friend's party, I have made a point of showing it. And ironically, the gutless cowardice of venues like Cartoon Network, who won't show it even in the middle of the night with a Leonard Maltin or Jerry Beck explaining it, have made it one of the rare jewels of my film collection!
