Wednesday, April 6, 2011

All this and rabbit stew

This cartoon begins with the typical representation of the African-American persona of the time.  It is highly charged with racial undertones, depicting the hunter as slow and dim-witted as he is out-smarted by Bugs.  The writer plays on societal stereotypes, using the current feelings as his base for humor, neglecting the feelings of an entire population in order to create a humorous cartoon.  I fail to see any love in this representation, just a mean spirited attempt, albeit successfull, painfully so, at humor.  Most humor is aimed at mistakes or misfortune of an invividual or a group, yet this cartoon crosses the line at respectful.  However this is not to say this is unaccetable for the times it was written for, as the humor creases the current feeling of that time.

It is a painful, yet significant, reminder of a not so distant past that our country lived through.  It literally hurts to watch the cartoon, yet it is important in that it highlights a society's acceptance of unacceptable behavior.

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