MartinHafer
"Confederate Honey" has apparently been pulled out of circulation by Warner Brothers because they are concerned it might offend Black-Americans. While I can understand why, this is a rare case when removing it isn't all that bad because the film isn't among the studios better cartoons of the era."Confederate Honey" is supposed to be a send-off of the recent film, "Gone With the Wind". The problem is that it isn't that funny and apart from a few items (such as the lady being named "Crimson" instead of "Scarlet"), it seems to bear only a very minor similarity to the film. The biggest similarity are the happy slaves--a 1930s and 40s creation that just didn't jibe with the facts--and this is probably why it's not in circulation. If you must see it, this and many other banned films are available to watch or download for free at archive.org.
Lee Eisenberg
OK, so Friz Freleng's "Confederate Honey" contains stereotypical depictions of slaves. The people behind the cartoon didn't mean any hostility towards African-Americans; it was just that they didn't know any other images. This over-the-top parody of "Gone with the Wind" casts an early Elmer Fudd as opportunistic Red Cutler, trying to win the heart of southern belle Crimson O'Hairoil during the Civil War. Seeing the sort of gags that the cartoon contains, it surprises me that Tex Avery didn't direct it.It's worth noting that this is the early incarnation of the cartoon world's most famous hunter. He evolved from a character named Egghead, whose appearance changed over the course of about two years. In 1940, they permanently turned him into Elmer Fudd (the name had first come up in "A Feud There Was", with Egghead as a peacemaker named that), but he still looked like Egghead. "A Wild Hare" introduced not only Elmer's recognizable form, but also Bugs Bunny's recognizable form.Anyway, a really funny one.PS: The scene with "The British are coming!" appears to have been lifted from Chuck Jones's "Old Glory".
tedg
Spoilers herein.Many of the cartoons from this era were built around making fun of specific popular items: books, movies and such. The whole idea was to show everything in the most ridiculous light.Some of these, like this one (and scores of others) tread on matters of race. Either they deal with WWII Asians, or Blacks of some ilk. They are all now in `collections of shame' in various institutions, and deemed unsuitable for viewing. Racist.In the States, racism is the big taboo, so these are considered too offensive to watch because of the role of blacks, their minstrel-like appearance and the resulting stereotypical behavior. Never mind that in many cases the non-Blacks are portrayed in much the same way - ostensibly because as oppressors a spoof of themselves cannot be oppressive.This particular instance makes fun of a film (then fresh) rather than society at large and is in a special category, which to my mind puts it on the acceptable side of that great dividing line. Its the film that's racist, this most popular film in history. Pointing that out humorously seems to me in the best tradition of the Waylons, and that's a good thing.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
Coolguy-7
My opinions on this short are different than those of the previous poster. I didn't find this cartoon to be racist at all. In cartoons, everything is a caricature of something, but there are just some liberals out there who think the animators were being racist. They don't seem to have enough sense to realize that it was made at a time when black caricatures in films were common. This is my favorite Elmer Fudd short. It's one of those cartoons where he isn't starring with Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. This cartoon was a humorous parody of "Gone with the Wind," with Elmer Fudd playing Ned Cutler (Rhett Butler in the real movie).
AD
