2. Seein Red, White, N Blue - Paramount, 1943
The second Popeye entry in this list doesnt turn on the Jap characterisations as early as Youre a Sap, Mr Jap, but that doesnt make the racism any less creative or interesting. In this one the Japanese are so diabolical that they have taken over an orphanage to plan their further sneak attacks on the American public. Why an orphanage you ask? Well because they are tiny and thus they can dress up like babies (with swastika embossed toys) to hide out. They are not real men or even real people, they are just monkeys. What is unique about this is that the Japanese in it are so vicious and diabolical that Popeye and his arch enemy Bluto actually join forces to defeat them and capture them. Not only do they join up, but Bluto (who has been trying to avoid the draft for the majority of the film) is seen at the end filling out paperwork so he can go fight more Japs overseas. And again we like some of the earlier featured toons we get to see a contrast between how the Japanese and European villains. Hirohito is quite literally depicted as a horses arse, whereas the European leaders are simply exaggerated caricatures of what they look like in real life. There is a lot going on in this cartoon, and it shows how quickly a seemingly normal piece of jingoistic pulp, can become very dark, very quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cv8Z9tNNdA
Bevan Morgan
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I have only loved three things my entire life: my family, Batman, and the All Blacks.
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