Scrub me Mama with a Boogie Beat

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Scrub-Me-Mama-with-a-Boogie-Beat.jpg

Scrub me Mama With a Boogie Beat is a highly controversial short animated film directed by Walter Lantz and released by Universal Pictures on March 28, 1941. The short was controversial even in the 1940s because of its African-American stereotypes, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) banned it from circulation in 1949.[1]

The residents of Lazy Town are bored one day until a seductive light-skinned woman arrives to teach them about rhythm.

Scrub me mama (3).jpg

Plot

This short is set in Lazy Town, a town populated by stereotypical African-Americans who are extremely lazy. Neither the people nor the animals in the town can be bothered to get up from their slumbers and do anything. Men either sleep or perform actions with exaggerated lethargy while women work as laundresses. The arrival of a riverboat carrying a svelte, sophisticated, light-skinned woman from Harlem (who resembles Lena Horne) disrupts their peaceful existence[2], whose physical beauty inspires the entire populace of an all-black "Lazy Town" to spring into action.

Scrub me mama (2).jpg

One of the town's residents is chastised by the visiting lady "Mammy, pay attention. That ain't no way to do laundry! You're all in desperate need of some rhythm!" She then goes on to sing "Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat," which the residents of the town gradually join in on. The short's centerpiece is a montage, which begins here. The rhythm of the song infects the townfolk, who go about playing instruments and dancing suggestively. By the time the young light-skinned lady from Harlem boards her riverboat to return home, she has transformed a dark-skinned Lazy Town into a bustling community of swing musicians simply by singing. The cartoon ends with the mammy washerwoman bending over, displaying the words "The End" across her buttocks.[3]

The Controversy

With dark skin and exaggerated big lips that take up nearly half of the face, most of the characters look more like chimps than actual African-Americans. All of the residents of Lazy Town are depicted as being excessively lazy and lethargic. It makes fun of African-Americans by portraying them as slackers.
Mighty Whitey: The light-skinned woman is the one who demonstrates how to wash clothes to the dark-skinned Lazytown residents. The light-skinned woman is depicted in a very appealing manner. She's also this In-Universe, as the residents of Lazy Town become ecstatic when they see her and become much more animated than before.

External Link

Watch Scrub me Mama With a Boogie Beat at Youtube
Scrub me Mama With a Boogie Beat at IMDb

References

  1. TV Tropes. Retrieved December 20, 2020
  2. Tom Chapman. 15 Classic Cartoons That Would Definitely Be Censored Today", cbr.com, 27 November 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  3. Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat. Retrieved December 20, 2020