Society, in the past thirty years, has altogether moved towards an ideology of colour-blindness. Both in animation and American society, it is the dominant racial ideology in the US and justifies continued white advantage by stating simply that race no longer ‘matters’ as now we have a black middle class which [does not] mean that minorities are no longer oppressed. Any attempt to point out that race does indeed matter is seen as an attempt to dismantle ‘how far we’ve come’. Any economic or social problem had by an ethnic minority is now simply surmised as being ‘their fault’, not America’s. However, this completely ignores the fact that the non-white middle class is still disadvantaged, and there continue to be persistent social and economic problems for minorities.
I believe that this post-racial lens is very much present in the fact that much animation since while it includes more racial and ethnic diversity, it rarely focuses on race as a topic. While of course there are certain shows and episodes of shows that do, it’s not common. Positively, race in the 2000s is no longer something to be addressed purely in front of adult audiences – it was appropriate for all ages and is now addressed in significantly less harmful ways . However diversity is still often shown through ‘token’ minority characters or in multi-ethnic casts with white protagonists, which still fail to fully address cultural diversity and show minorities as leaders.
The internet, however, is anything but post-racial. In fact, it became the new home for racism as it became increasingly unacceptable to espouse racist ideologies in the real world. The internet allows people to maintain duplicitous personalities: in public, they would maintain political correctness, whereas on the internet they would reveal themselves as racists, protected by the internet’s anonymity and lack of consequences. It is for this reason that the internet has been characterised as a ‘safe haven’ for all ideas and opinions. The online environment consolidates racist communities and pits them against other, racially liberal groups, creating an online culture war.
The internet is also a place for sharing and hosting animation, and animation software. Now, anyone can get their hands on some animation software, make something, and share it – including racist animation. For example, in early 2019 a children’s animation was taken down from YouTube due to its message that dark skin is ugly. Animation hosted on the internet allows for communities to form around both old and new animation, including the racist kind such as Song of the South, who fiercely defend it.
Subscription services have begun to emerge as animation platforms in the past decade, providing some cartoons with a chance that network television would not have given them which may have an impact on racial representation in the future. As the internet is still new, I am eager to see just how racial representation changes under its continued influence.
Animation, Race and Progress 