Stereotypes in Comics

When we were discussing stereotypes in class, it reminded me of a recent Jay Z music video called "The Story of OJ."

The video uses a Fleischer-style animation and stereotypes from cartoons of that era.

It also reminded me of the Betty Boop cartoon we watched where the animation would transition from the black drummers in Cab Calloway's band to racist depictions of African people. I remember that moment in the cartoon really disgusting me because I realized that the animators knew what they were doing. Fleischer is praised sometimes for showcasing the music of black artists from the day, but they still found it normal to compare real people to those stereotypes, even if it was people they were working with.

Will Eisner said that stereotypes should be used to communicate ideas quickly within comics. I understand what he was trying to say, but the stereotypes in, for example, the Fleischer cartoons aren't being used to quickly communicate an idea. They were cheap ways to get a laugh by preying on easy targets. This could be why some people still don't want to let go of these tired stereotypes, or don't want to get called out for using them. It's easier and faster to put a stereotype into a comic as a joke than it is to write a joke that is actually clever. Recently, there was controversy over a Miraculous Ladybug comic that had a character who was literally named "Ghetto Blaster" and was a racist stereotype. The only reason I could think that such a character could be put into a children's comic today is pure laziness. There's a big difference in stereotypes being used to make a thoughtful and brutal statement like in the Story of OJ, and stereotypes used out of laziness like in Miraculous Ladybug.