Talk:The Isle of Pingo Pongo

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the The Isle of Pingo Pongo article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Wikipedia is not censored.
Images or details contained within this article may be graphic or otherwise objectionable to some readers, to ensure a quality article and complete coverage of its subject matter. For more information, please refer to Wikipedia's content disclaimer regarding potentially objectionable content and options to not see an image.

Freedom of speech Mid‑importance

	Freedom of speech portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Freedom of speech, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Freedom of speech on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Freedom of speechWikipedia:WikiProject Freedom of speechTemplate:WikiProject Freedom of speechFreedom of speech articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Film: American / Animated

	Film portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Film. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please refer to the documentation. To improve this article, please refer to the guidelines.FilmWikipedia:WikiProject FilmTemplate:WikiProject Filmfilm articles
	This article is supported by the American cinema task force.
	This article is supported by the Animated films task force.

Animation: American / Looney Tunes Low‑importance

	Animation portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Animation, a collaborative effort to build an encyclopedic guide to animation on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, help out with the open tasks, or contribute to the discussion.AnimationWikipedia:WikiProject AnimationTemplate:WikiProject AnimationAnimation articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the American animation work group (assessed as Low-importance).
	This article is supported by the Looney Tunes work group (assessed as Low-importance).

Misrepresentations / Opinion[edit]

In the following section from this article:

The inhabitants of Pingo-Pongo are mostly tall, black, and have big feet and lips. Like other cartoons at this time, the native inhabitants resemble animals and reflect stereotypes of the time. The natives are at first playing drums, then break into a jazz beat, still described as a “primitive savage rhythm,” which leads the audience to connect the savage jungle to modern jazz music. [2]

"Like other cartoons at this time, the native inhabitants resemble animals and reflect stereotypes of the time." -- Having now watched the film on YouTube, the animals depicted in the short are actual animals, wildlife living on the island. It is true, however, that the "aborigines" caricatures are quite stereotypical of the era.

"The natives are at first playing drums, then break into a jazz beat, still described as a “primitive savage rhythm,” which leads the audience to connect the savage jungle to modern jazz music." -- This misrepresents the original text in the source cited. The book cited does not indicate that the jazz or country-style music that appears is still "primitive," but rather describes the initial "native" drumbeat as such, leading to a juxtaposition of modern styles on a supposedly "ancient" island.

75.108.57.220 (talk) 12:14, 19 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"The natives are at first playing drums, then break into a jazz beat, still described as a “primitive savage rhythm,” which leads the audience to connect the savage jungle to modern jazz music." -- This misrepresents the original text in the source cited. The book cited does not indicate that the jazz or country-style music that appears is still "primitive," but rather describes the initial "native" drumbeat as such, leading to a juxtaposition of modern styles on a supposedly "ancient" island.

And the reason for that juxtaposition is not necessarily crude racism. To understand the satire in this cartoon, you need to have seen the work of the travel/exploitation filmmakers it is satirising: Martin and Osa Johnson, Cooper & Schoedsack, Frank Buck etc. The joke underlying this cartoon is that unfamiliar places and cultures have to be 'westernised' in order to be accessible to the visitors. The passengers jump overboard for the coins more enthusiastically than the native does, the Elmer Fudd type is only interested in shooting things, not understanding them, the natives will only perform modern jazz music before the tourists will take any notice of them, the mocking bird affects a cynical New Yorker, etc.. In other words, it's the western tourists that are the butt of the joke, not black people. LDGE (talk) 13:10, 16 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]