Mammy Two Shoes

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Mammy Two-Shoes is the name of a fictional female character from the popular cartoon series Tom and Jerry . She was an important supporting character who was shown in a total of 19 episodes from 1940 to 1952; until 1964 it could only be heard. Mammy Two-Shoes is now particularly in the United States as a symbol of the “ racist portrayal of Afro-American stereotypes in animated series and cartoons”.

Appearance

Mammy Two-Shoes' appearance corresponds to the stereotype of the black domestic workers popular in the 1940s , the so-called Mammy , especially in the southern states . The actress Hattie McDaniel is said to have served as a model. With the exception of two episodes, Mammy Two-Shoes can only be seen from the chest or waist down. She is very overweight, but also muscular. She usually wears a turquoise dress or an orange-red blouse and a royal blue skirt. Over it she wears a white kitchen apron. Her slightly frizzy, shoulder-length hair can only be seen once, otherwise it is hidden under a headscarf or a lady's hat. On festive occasions, she puts on a lavish number of kitschy accessories and rings. Her voice is loud, bossy, and she speaks with a heavy southern accent. Mammy Two-Shoes was spoken by Lillian Randolph .

Appearances and series role

In the first two episodes in which Mammy Two-Shoes appears, she was clearly portrayed as the housekeeper of rich people. Later her life situation was presented in such a way that she apparently had to be the owner of a small house herself, because any homeowners were never mentioned again. Instead, from then on she kept talking about "her household". In the series itself directs quasi "their" episodes with a dressing down at the cat Tom one, which she called "no-good" and "Dub" look (in the first episode with her she speaks it with its original name Jasper on). She always threatens the cat with throwing him out if he doesn't finally get rid of "that naughty mouse" ( Jerry ). It is not uncommon for Tom to be punished by her when he has failed (again) in his role as a mouse catcher. Nevertheless, Mammy Two-Shoes seems to spoil the hangover and more or less tolerates his antics.

Criticism and deletion from the series

The figure of Mammy Two-Shoes corresponded to the stereotype of "Mammy" popular in the 1940s, a woman of African descent with a corpulent figure and a strict motherly character. It was also "typical" that Mammies wore baggy dresses, kitchen aprons and headscarves tied together over the forehead and walked around in slippers. It was also common in cartoons of this time that domestic workers of color were only moderately educated and spoke English with corresponding accents or severely broken English. The figure of Mammy Two-Shoes basically fulfilled all of the racist clichés that were in vogue in the USA in the first half of the 20th century. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , it was decided that stereotypical characters perceived as racist should also be removed from the cartoon series, which is why Mammy Two-Shoes was replaced by a white woman. This was implemented at the turn of the year 1964/65 by the draftsman Chuck Jones . Until then, Mammy Two-Shoes had only occasionally been heard in the background. The dubbing voice was also replaced (the new dubbing actress was June Foray ) and henceforth spoken with a dialect-free, unbroken English.

literature

  • Brian D. Behnken, Gregory D. Smithers: Racism in American Popular Media: From Aunt Jemima to the Frito Bandito . ABC-CLIO, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4408-2977-2 , pp. 83, 93-96 & 140.
  • Bonnie Lynn Hewlett: Adolescent Identity: Evolutionary, Cultural and Developmental Perspectives . Routledge, London 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-89012-0 , p. 266.
  • Karl F. Cohen: Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America . McFarland, Jefferson 2013, ISBN 978-1-4766-0725-2 , pp. 56 & 57.