That's all, folks...

I can't remember what I was searching for initially but, as is usually the case, a chance visit to Wikipedia resulted in a two-hour reading spree. This time it was focused mostly on animation, and I eventually got to a page about a banned cartoon named Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs.

Yes...you read that right.

Now it wasn't the first time I read about the short, or the rest of the Censored Eleven, but this time I gained a different perspective on the creation process, and actually watched the whole thing via Youtube.

Interesting stuff. Particularly interesting considering what I'd just read. Apparently the cartoon was created as an homage to African-American jazz bands of the decade, and was actually the suggestion of a black jazz musician who the director had met a short time before its creation.
That doesn't make the material palatable, but it sheds light on the nature of racism in the era. I'm sure the director thought he was doing black people a favor by creating the cartoon and using black voice actors. And, like James Baskett and Hattie McDaniel, I doubt the voice actors thought that their roles were particularly subversive.


I feel better having watched Coal Black and a few of the other Censored Eleven shorts. It's always better having an informed opinion, and to be honest, I didn't cringe (much) or get angry. Cyar really change the past. And there's always something to be learnt, even from questionable entertainment like this.


That said, the banned cartoon that actually got a real emotional response from me was The Spirit of '43, an old World War II propaganda film starrting Donald Duck. This shit is fuckin hilarious on several levels, but it's the overt linking of tax dollars to the creation of "Guns, guns, all kinds of guns!" that pushes it into an almost surreal territory. At one point, I honestly thought that the cartoon was anti-war satire. In fact the whole cartoon could probably win an award in that genre without changing a single frame. It actually makes WWII seem...ignoble.

I'd love to see a modern American audience's reaction to it.

My day in Court...

I was supposed to post this one since last week, but I was waiting for the story to be published.

Last week Tuesday or so, I was assigned to cover a trial at the POS Magistrates' Court.

Now Court, like Crime, is not an area that I have much experience with. It's a somewhat intimidating environment, it can be difficult to follow and record, and there's a very particular jargon that you need to understand and use. So off the bat you know I wasn't very eager to head down there that morning.

Still, I ended up in the courtroom on time, and waited for my trial to begin. I had to sit through a few other trials first, and that's where things got interesting.

Yuh see, there's something very...sobering about seeing someone lose their freedom. It's not that you feel particularly bad when you see a dealer or a gunman carted off for five years. It just feels a lot like watching Titanic. The inevitability of the thing gets to you...the realness hits yuh in yuh belly. You picture yourself in the convict's place, and wonder about what life will be like where he's headed.

Anyway, I realised that the case wasn't being called, and I was real thirsty, so I decided to buy a drink at a nearby shop. I left the court and headed to the parlour.

I was literally halfway across the street when I started to hear the man bawlin.

I turned around (in the middle of the street), and saw a man struggling with about 5 police officers right on the courthouse steps that I had walked down seconds before. He was more defiant than anything, and was trying to leave through the front gate. The officers jacked him up and tried to pull him inside. He started biting and screaming, grabbing onto the bars of the gate to anchor himself. His wife and his family were all shouting loudly and at one point his wife tried to jump in and had to be restrained by an officer. His lawyer was shouting at the media photographers to take pictures.

I cyar lie...I felt bad for the man. The "warrant" (I eh gettin into that shit) really ketch him by surprise.

But at the same time, I was thinkin, "Shiiit...like this Court coverage is de real scene!"

Afterwards I approached the photographers to ask if stuff like that happened often. As I got close to the group, I heard one say, "Yuh know is years now I waitin fuh something like this tuh happen."

Yeah...I shoulda really play a mark that morning.


Then again the story was never published (Uncle Bas take up all de space), so probably not.