Difference between revisions of "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs"
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The working title was "So White And De Sebben Dwarfs." It was changed at the last minute to avoid confusion with the Disney feature.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035743/ IMDb Trivia] retrieved December 20,2020</ref> | The working title was "So White And De Sebben Dwarfs." It was changed at the last minute to avoid confusion with the Disney feature.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035743/ IMDb Trivia] retrieved December 20,2020</ref> | ||
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==Plot== | ==Plot== | ||
Coal Black’s setting is modernized, in contrast to the “timeless” approach by Disney’s Snow White. Produced by Leon Schlesinger in 1942, Coal Black is set in World War II, and the dwarfs are small American soldiers on the homefront.<br> | Coal Black’s setting is modernized, in contrast to the “timeless” approach by Disney’s Snow White. Produced by Leon Schlesinger in 1942, Coal Black is set in World War II, and the dwarfs are small American soldiers on the homefront.<br> | ||
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The short opened with the Mammy character, who, while in shadow, is clearly a large black woman with a distinct "Negroid" voice. The Mammy tells a story to her child who is a big-cheeked pickanniny with a bow in her hair.<br> | The short opened with the Mammy character, who, while in shadow, is clearly a large black woman with a distinct "Negroid" voice. The Mammy tells a story to her child who is a big-cheeked pickanniny with a bow in her hair.<br> | ||
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The story begin with The Queen who lives in the palace asking for a 6-feet tall prince to the magic mirror. The Prince named Prince Chawmin came in limousine. Back in laundry room the protagonist So White sings "My hair coal black and my name So White and I washes all day.” also looking for Prince Charming. Prince Chawmin meet the So White and tell her he is the prince she's been waiting for and they dance and sing together happily. Angry and jealous The Queen try to get rid So White by calling Murder inc. The Murder inc. take So White and dumped her in the jungle. Alive, So White meet the Sebben Dwarfs the American soldiers on the homefront in World War II.<br> | The story begin with The Queen who lives in the palace asking for a 6-feet tall prince to the magic mirror. The Prince named Prince Chawmin came in limousine. Back in laundry room the protagonist So White sings "My hair coal black and my name So White and I washes all day.” also looking for Prince Charming. Prince Chawmin meet the So White and tell her he is the prince she's been waiting for and they dance and sing together happily. Angry and jealous The Queen try to get rid So White by calling Murder inc. The Murder inc. take So White and dumped her in the jungle. Alive, So White meet the Sebben Dwarfs the American soldiers on the homefront in World War II.<br> | ||
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Meanwhile, the queen has learned that So White is still alive, and pumps an apple full of poison to give to the girl and kill her. The queen disguises herself as an old peddler woman, and arrives at the Sebben Dwarfs' camp and gives So White the poisoned apple. One of the seven dwarfs alerts the others that the queen has caused So White to death. As the queen makes her escape over the hills, the dwarfs load a cannon with both a war shell and "Dopey." Successfully the queen has been defeated, So White is still dead to the world. The dwarfs note, in spoken rhyme: | Meanwhile, the queen has learned that So White is still alive, and pumps an apple full of poison to give to the girl and kill her. The queen disguises herself as an old peddler woman, and arrives at the Sebben Dwarfs' camp and gives So White the poisoned apple. One of the seven dwarfs alerts the others that the queen has caused So White to death. As the queen makes her escape over the hills, the dwarfs load a cannon with both a war shell and "Dopey." Successfully the queen has been defeated, So White is still dead to the world. The dwarfs note, in spoken rhyme: | ||
Revision as of 06:15, 20 December 2020
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is a 1943 Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions company and distributed by Warner Bros. The short was released on January 16, 1943.[1] The cartoon is an all-black parody of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White, known to its audience from the popular 1937 Walt Disney animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As such, it is one of the most controversial cartoons in the classic Warner Brothers library. Hence, United Artists banned this cartoon from syndication back in 1968, as consequence this cartoon listed into the famous Censored Eleven.
The working title was "So White And De Sebben Dwarfs." It was changed at the last minute to avoid confusion with the Disney feature.[2]
Plot
Coal Black’s setting is modernized, in contrast to the “timeless” approach by Disney’s Snow White. Produced by Leon Schlesinger in 1942, Coal Black is set in World War II, and the dwarfs are small American soldiers on the homefront.
The short opened with the Mammy character, who, while in shadow, is clearly a large black woman with a distinct "Negroid" voice. The Mammy tells a story to her child who is a big-cheeked pickanniny with a bow in her hair.
The story begin with The Queen who lives in the palace asking for a 6-feet tall prince to the magic mirror. The Prince named Prince Chawmin came in limousine. Back in laundry room the protagonist So White sings "My hair coal black and my name So White and I washes all day.” also looking for Prince Charming. Prince Chawmin meet the So White and tell her he is the prince she's been waiting for and they dance and sing together happily. Angry and jealous The Queen try to get rid So White by calling Murder inc. The Murder inc. take So White and dumped her in the jungle. Alive, So White meet the Sebben Dwarfs the American soldiers on the homefront in World War II.
Meanwhile, the queen has learned that So White is still alive, and pumps an apple full of poison to give to the girl and kill her. The queen disguises herself as an old peddler woman, and arrives at the Sebben Dwarfs' camp and gives So White the poisoned apple. One of the seven dwarfs alerts the others that the queen has caused So White to death. As the queen makes her escape over the hills, the dwarfs load a cannon with both a war shell and "Dopey." Successfully the queen has been defeated, So White is still dead to the world. The dwarfs note, in spoken rhyme:
She's outta this world! She's stiff as wood!
She's got it bad, and that ain't good!
There's only one thing that'll remedy this
and dat's Prince Chawmin' and his Dynamite Kiss!
Upon the dwarfs' invoking his name, the prince jumps into the scene in a spotlight and promises to "give her a kiss". The Prince Chawmin kiss So White but she didn't wake up. Prince Chawmin' keeps frantically kissing So White trying to awaken her, but without any luck. Tired, his face turns blue, before turning into a withered old, pale-faced man, shrugging his shoulders in defeat. The "Dopey" dwarf then saunters over to So White, and, to the tune of "You're in the Army Now," lays a goodbye kiss on the girl and So White wake up.
The Controversy
In April 1943, the NAACP protested the caricatures which appeared in Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, and called on Warner to withdraw it.[3]
The same basic stereotypical elements present in the earlier Censored Eleven films are also present in Coal Black, depicted with more detail and made to conform to Clampett's "wacky" directorial style. This short throws virtually every black stereotype into the mix, beginning with the Mammy character, who, while in shadow, is clearly a large black woman with a distinct "Negroid" voice. The Prince named “Prince Chawmin” is a similarly caricatured black man: he has straightened hair, wears a white zoot suit and a monocle, and has gold teeth (his two front teeth are dices for teeth–an homage to the hoary gambling stereotype attached to African Americans). So White is portrayed as big-bottomed younger black woman, with perky bosoms and revealing clothing. The Wicked Queen is a bandanna and slippers away from a mammy caricature. All of the characters have the standard ethnic caricature of big lips and of course black skin tone.
Also, the film’s depictions of African Americans reflected some realities of African American life in 1942, and these images may also have been part of the film’s undoing in 1968. The dwarfs are an all-African American military unit, and this grouping acknowledged that the United States did have at that time a segregated army. So White’s job as a laundress was one of the most common occupations for African American women at the time, especially in the Jim Crow South.[4]
External Link
Watch Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs at Dailymotion
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs at IMDb
References
- ↑ Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs retreived December 20, 2020
- ↑ IMDb Trivia retrieved December 20,2020
- ↑ Slotnik, Daniel E. (April 28, 2008) Cartoons of a Racist Past Lurk on YouTube Retrieved December 20, 2020
- ↑ Cartoon Research retrieved December 20,2020