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Pippi Longstocking and 6 other supposedly racist children's characters

clownboy said:
The story of Little Black Sambo was on all the placemats at Sambos, and the waitresses even brought me crayons to color mine in with. I wasn't the only kid who used to eat there, in fact most of the others weren't white like me. Don't recall that being a problem as these were all kids I played with in my Grandpa's neighborhood. Didn't make me feel superior, except in my coloring skills. Never had the urge to enslave someone or order folks around.
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It's sorta like someone showing up to a costume party in black face or dressed as a Klansman. Things like that are tasteless and it takes a person who is socially off to find "entertainment" value in it.
 
HenryChinaski said:
It's sorta like someone showing up to a costume party in black face or dressed as a Klansman. Things like that are tasteless and it takes a person who is socially off to find "entertainment" value in it.
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Guess this is out then:

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Rocketman said:
OMFG!


Say it ain't so, Pippi
Books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have long been banned in many schools and libraries over alleged racism. Could Pippi Longstocking be next? According to one theologian, Astrid Lindgren's classic children's novels about the pig-tailed adventurer feature unsavory "colonial racist stereotypes." Pippi joins a long list of surprising children's characters who have been accused of racism. From Babar to the Smurfs, here's a look:

Pippi Longstocking and 6 other supposedly racist children's characters - The Week
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Well, yes, they are products of their times, products of their hegemony, and ought to be analyzed in such ways. For instance, if conservatives are going to probably correctly perceive certain outspoken New Left assumptions in films like Pleasantville, then such legitimate observations can be had toward many products. Just because it is old and cherished by a previous generation does not mean it is to be free from critical analysis.
 
CRUE CAB said:
Don't you know all literary works, history especially US, is all racist. All white people, unless you marry a black are racist. All laws are racist. Just look how many innocent blacks are in jail.
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Pippi Longstocking is Swedish. Babar is French. Tin-Tin is Belgian. Pokemon is Japanese. Read any of them sometime.
 
Hatuey said:
Pippi Longstocking is Swedish. Babar is French. Tin-Tin is Belgian. Pokemon is Japanese. Read any of them sometime.
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But they are read and loved in the US. And the older ones have been here for dang near 100 years.
 
CRUE CAB said:
But they are read and loved in the US. And the older ones have been here for dang near 100 years.
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So what? Are we incapable of engaging in literary criticism once the thing is popular?
 
Rocketman said:
OMFG!


Say it ain't so, Pippi
Books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have long been banned in many schools and libraries over alleged racism. Could Pippi Longstocking be next? According to one theologian, Astrid Lindgren's classic children's novels about the pig-tailed adventurer feature unsavory "colonial racist stereotypes." Pippi joins a long list of surprising children's characters who have been accused of racism. From Babar to the Smurfs, here's a look:

Pippi Longstocking and 6 other supposedly racist children's characters - The Week
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what better way to address our past than simply act like it never happened
 
In the name of freedom and liberty, I think the children's section of every library should be stocked with a full assortment of erotica
 
Manc Skipper said:
Why am I not surprised by those leaping to the defence of black kids showing slavish deference?
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Probably because your first reaction to people pointing out that this is a weak means to deal with the past is race bait?
 
sangha said:
In the name of freedom and liberty, I think the children's section of every library should be stocked with a full assortment of erotica
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You mean like Heather Has Two Mommies? :mrgreen:
 
Fiddytree said:
So what? Are we incapable of engaging in literary criticism once the thing is popular?
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criticism and analysis are great things, banning them from access is another step altogether, IMO. In fact, the later tends to make the former more difficult
 
CRUE CAB said:
But they are read and loved in the US. And the older ones have been here for dang near 100 years.
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Really? Babar? Tin Tin? I'd give you Pokemon at best. That's not even the point though. The point is you erroneously claimed " All US Literature is racist" even though the article points out some racist colonial powers - France's quest into Africa (Babar), Belgium's little playground in the Congo(Tin-Tin) - and notoriously racist society like the Japanese as other examples. Look, don't try and save face - we know you haven't even read these all so "loved" "US books" much less have any idea what they're about.

They've been talked about by scholars for decades in the case of Tin-Tin. Herge's depictions and Tin-Tin's attitude is clearly grounded in not "at the time" racism, but racism which is still present in some aspects of Belgian culture. This is a fact accepted even by the creator. In the case of Babar, it's a whitewashing of France's little adventure in North/Sub-Saharan Africa. These things seem benign to somebody who is clearly ignorant of the books. However, they're still harmful as they perpetuate apologist attitudes towards far more complex issues. Essentially, it'd be like the British creating a cartoon showing George Washington to be a big meanie who needed to be spanked.
 
apdst said:
Does Joseph Goebbels have a T?
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Nope. But it has an "S". Just like apdst. Spurious comparisons are fun! Remember! Goebbels had common sense! If you have common sense! You're Joseph Goebbels! Humor? You're Hitler. You eat noodles? You're Mao! Lol. Seriously yo, quit the nonsensical comparisons. You'll get called on it every time. Because you're a conservative right? ;)
 
Hatuey said:
Really? Babar? Tin Tin? I'd give you Pokemon at best. That's not even the point though. The point is you erroneously claimed " All US Literature is racist" even though the article points out some racist colonial powers - France's quest into Africa (Babar), Belgium's little playground in the Congo(Tin-Tin) - and notoriously racist society like the Japanese as other examples. Look, don't try and save face - we know you haven't even read these all so "loved" "US books" much less have any idea what they're about.

They've been talked about by scholars for decades in the case of Tin-Tin. Herge's depictions and Tin-Tin's attitude is clearly grounded in not "at the time" racism, but racism which is still present in some aspects of Belgian culture. This is a fact accepted even by the creator. In the case of Babar, it's a whitewashing of France's little adventure in North/Sub-Saharan Africa. These things seem benign to somebody who is clearly ignorant of the books. However, they're still harmful as they perpetuate apologist attitudes towards far more complex issues. Essentially, it'd be like the British creating a cartoon showing George Washington to be a big meanie who needed to be spanked.
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My post was sarcasm.
 
Hatuey said:
Really? Babar? Tin Tin? I'd give you Pokemon at best. That's not even the point though. The point is you erroneously claimed " All US Literature is racist" even though the article points out some racist colonial powers - France's quest into Africa (Babar), Belgium's little playground in the Congo(Tin-Tin) - and notoriously racist society like the Japanese as other examples. Look, don't try and save face - we know you haven't even read these all so "loved" "US books" much less have any idea what they're about.

They've been talked about by scholars for decades in the case of Tin-Tin. Herge's depictions and Tin-Tin's attitude is clearly grounded in not "at the time" racism, but racism which is still present in some aspects of Belgian culture. This is a fact accepted even by the creator. In the case of Babar, it's a whitewashing of France's little adventure in North/Sub-Saharan Africa. These things seem benign to somebody who is clearly ignorant of the books. However, they're still harmful as they perpetuate apologist attitudes towards far more complex issues. Essentially, it'd be like the British creating a cartoon showing George Washington to be a big meanie who needed to be spanked.
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yeah and all 6-10 years olds are reading those books thinking as you do.:roll:
 
Rocketman said:
yeah and all 6-10 years olds are reading those books thinking as you do.:roll:
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That is exactly the point. They don't see Babar as the story of an elephant who was "civilized" by the Europeans and then came back to rule just like Europeans would. Tin Tin? Just another European explorer who gets the benefit of being carried around by Africans. The analysis a child gives to these is so simple that they don't even question why it is that Babar is civilized but elephants raised in Africa are not. The books explain it with "He went to Europe".

Ever, perpetuating the myth that Europeans civilized anyone. That's what these books do. They perpetuate myths and negative attitudes where Europeans are the good guys and everyone else is simply a big dumb-dumb. Ignoring the very real massacres, colonizations, destruction of cultures behind the stories. They're no different than France's bigoted depictions towards Americans. We don't teach those, do we? Of course not. They don't affect us. As long as the depictions are negative towards cultures we don't care about, it's fine.
 
HenryChinaski said:
I don't find literature and children's media that reinforces negative racial stereotypes to be "entertainment" I do however feel that Longstocking and the other characters is overdoing it.
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What you read into it is not what a child will see. I thought that was obvious.
 
clownboy said:
My Grandpa and I would have breakfast at Sambos there in Oakland before we went to the Raider's training camps. Most of the waitresses (and the patrons) were black. In fact I think the owner was as well.
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Did it permanently damage you to see the scenes they had over the kitchen area and around the restaurant of the Sambo character?

We ate there too, although we were much farther south, and I can honestly say it did no damage to me.
 
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