7 Racist World War II Cartoons (Produced By Major Studios) You Won't Believe
3. Japoteurs Paramount, 1942
Superman is often criticised by people for being extremely clean cut and non-controversial. His tagline is the cartoonishly conservative truth, justice, and the American way, so its hard to imagine him being involved in any racist shenanigans of sorts. Its a bit of a surprise then, to see Superman featuring in a cartoon that would be so explicitly racist and offensive in the way that it deals with Japanese stereotypes and images. Japoteurs, released in 1942, is a stark example of how wide ranging the image of the Jap was in American culture - because while the other entries on this list tend to be comical and humorous shorts of the over the top Looney Tunes variety, Superman cartoons were played straight down the middle. Even in this serious form of cartoon entertainment the caricature and dehumanisation is utilised and adopted because it was so recognisable and so supported. Again its not just the physical characterisation that is so noticeable and played up by the film makers it is this idea we see time and time again where the Japanese are duplicitous sneaks, who cannot fight head on, and will do anything to gain the upper hand. Additionally we get to hear Lois Lane refer to the spies as Japs, Superman refer to one of them as little man, and we get to hear some incredibly hackneyed Japanese dialogue like in all the other films. Its interesting because the final sequence plays out a lot like the plane incident in 2006 Superman Returns and if you can picture that film with these depictions of Japanese people causing the crash, you can get a really good idea of just how strange this feels in a Superman picture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E0ss_jeAeg
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