Tokio Jokio

Tokio Jokio is a 1943 Looney Tunes propaganda short directed by Norman McCabe.[1] The cartoon is notorious and controversial for its racist depictions of Japanese people.This is also noted for being the final Norman McCabe cartoon.[2][3]

Tokio Jokio
Original black and white title cards & film frame
Directed byCpl. Norman McCabe
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Story byDon Christensen
StarringMel Blanc
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Animation byI. Ellis
Color processBlack-and-white
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
May 15, 1943
Running time
7 minutes
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

Set within the framework of a newsreel from Japanese cinema that was captured by American troops during World War II, each segment features a separate story on Japanese life and the war effort. Each segment ends up showing the Japanese and their Axis allies as incompetent, pathetic, self-destructive failures. The cartoon also features cameos of Isoruku Yamamoto (despite the cartoon having been released after his death), Masaharu Homma, Hideki Tojo, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Rudolf Hess, and Lord Haw-Haw.[4]

Status

Tokio Jokio is one of the 122 Warner Bros. animated shorts identified as having not had its copyright renewed in 1971 and is thus in the public domain in the United States.[5]

References
  1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 141. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. Behnken, Brian D.; Smithers, Gregory D. (2015). Racism in American Popular Media: From Aunt Jemima to the Frito Bandito. ABC-CLIO. pp. 107–108. ISBN 9781440829772. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  3. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/mccabe_norm.htm
  4. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/mccabe_norm.htm
  5. Looney Tunes in the Public Domain at the Wayback Machine (archived March 26, 2016), based upon Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain by Walter E. Hurst.


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