Friday, August 29, 2008

"Goin' To Heaven on a Mule" (1934)

I've mentioned it before, but I didn't DARE upload it myself. Someone else has taken that risk for me. It's one of the rarest Warner Bros. cartoons of all time, and for damn good reason!

What is the most racially insensitive, politically incorrect, jaw-droppingly bad Warner short ever made? Well, a couple of the infamous "Censored Eleven" might fit the bill, but here's one that escaped that list. It's worse than all of those cartoons combined. Not only is it racist, it's a bad cartoon on top of that! It's Friz Freleng's "Goin' To Heaven on a Mule".

DISCLAIMER: if you're easily offended by African-American stereotypes (or cartoons that just ain't funny) this probably isn't the cartoon for you!

5 comments:

Brandon said...

Well.... the guy did give up alcohol.... err.... I guess.

Anonymous said...

I've seen that cartoon dozens of times (I have a video of old, controversial cartoons from Warner Bros [and a few from Fleischer Studios and MGM]) and I don't find it offensive. It may be bad, but this was the early days of the studio, where they were experimenting on synching sound, so you'd expect them to come up with a piece that had a non-existent plot and would only be remembered for having racial caricatures, if it would be remembered at all.

Anonymous said...

[QUOTE]What is the most racially insensitive, politically incorrect, jaw-droppingly bad Warner short ever made?[/QUOTE]

"Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" has *nothing* on Tokio Jokio when it comes to being un-PC, racially insensitive, and jaw-droppingly bad--and you know it!

Bubbashelby said...

I half expected that one to end with "I'm John McCain, and I approve of this message."

Anonymous said...

I'm always interested in seeing a cultural artifact like this. But I'm amazed that anonymous #1 doesn't find these hideously crude stereotypes to be racist! The swollen lips, a white angel fighting a black devil, a segregated heaven as a Harlem-like gambler's paradise, the old watermelon bit...

But shouldn't the Censored Eleven hereafter be known as the Censored Twelve?

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