Are the 1940s/1950s Bugs/Dafft/Tom&Jerry/Droopy cartoons racist?

[Deja Q]

I dunno. Maybe the T&J ones were, but I never saw it in the others. I can be naive though...

[terrya]

1. A few of them were.

Some of the MGM cartoons from the 40's had some racist caricatures in their cartoons. Sadly, that just reflected the times.

[mcscajun]

2. Not all of them, but some certainly were...

...and they were a product of their times.

There are a couple of Bugs Bunny ones in particular, some were wartime cartoons using anti-Japanese stereotypes, others used blackface and minstrel stuff. I can remember watching them on TV back in the late 50's and early 60s; I didn't really think anything of it, and it thankfully didn't impact my outlook. Later on, they got censored or pulled altogether, so you rarely see these cartoons unless you buy a special collection, and even those are rare, for obvious reasons.

[tjwash]

3. Those old loony toons ones...

...had a lot of stuff that was funny, but flew right over our heads as kids, but as an adult you get it.