Wolf Gnards
Nerding Pop Culture
Racism Funny? Doug Funnie that is
So, for some reason I got to thinking about that Nickelodeon show Doug. About a bald kid and his wonder mutt; he's the new kid in town and sometimes he dresses up in his underwear. I can't remember Doug ever being an enjoyable show, but I sure watched it enough. It's one of those shows that you can just zap on in the background and sort of ignore, but sort of follow at the same time. And that's where the problem is. Doug has slowly and slyly seeped into our subconscious to undermine society.
Here's the problem with Doug. Doug is a multicultural cartoon show, but only multicultural in the fact that the characters are all different colors. Green, blue, purple, and every shade of the rainbow. Nickelodeon's Doug was the United Colors of Benetton of poorly animated programs, however, something sinister lurked. Think about it. The underlining meaning of Doug is that, while other nationalities do in fact exist the only one that matters is white. Other cartoons usually just don't have minority characters, mostly because they simply don't have the budget to animate a bunch of different looking background characters.
Follow up:
However, Doug tried to make a statement. If you look at it, every supporting character around Doug is some wacky shade except, of course, for Doug Funnie, who is a regular white kid. The main character is white in world full of colorful yet ancillary characters. What does that tell our children? It tells them only the white race is deserving of a spotlight. Only the white race is worthy of being the star of the show. All other skin tones must remain in the background. No, only Caucasians are worthy... and hyper intelligent dogs, of course. Also, take a notice of the coupling on Doug. Every parent is coupled with someone of the same color (or very close proximity) and they produce children of the same color. So, in the TV series Doug, races never mix, the colors never blend. With that logic, Doug would never get with Patty simply because they're not a matching set.
Which brings us to Patti Mayonnaise. Patti Mayonnaise is the tan California blonde type. Is the message from the cartoon Doug that the only girl worth lusting after is a leggy blonde? Even her very name speaks for the cartoon's racism. Mayo is the whitest of the condiments. A white condiment for an all American white boy. Why couldn't Doug have a crush on a green girl with pink hair? Why couldn't he fall in love with Traci Mustard or Katti Ketchup? So, what this Nick Toon essential says is the only boy worth chronicling is white and the only girl worthy of our attention is blonde.
On a personal note, Doug's arch enemy is Roger Klotz. Roger Klotz just so happens to be a yellowish green. Is this to say that Roger, beneath his bully shell, is yellow, or cowardly. Or is it to say the people with yellow skin are to be despised? Does the creator, Jim Jinkins hate those that are yellow, specifically me and my Asian brethren. Is Doug saying that Asians are bad because of a lack of discipline. Does Doug think China needs to be controlled? Jackie Chan might agree, but I take offense to Jim Jinkins line of thought. And as silly as it is to spin these connotations, remember that Doug most likely had a team of executives making decisions. People thought about this stuff, people had meetings about this. There's a reason why Roger Klotz wasn't black, because there'd be an uproar. They could have easily picked a color that's completely arbitrary. Roger could have been orange. Or blue. Or hot pink. But they picked yellow and added the smallest tint of green. Is that enough?
To find the source of Doug's racism, let's take a look at his creator, Jim Jinkins. Jinkins was born in Richmond, Virginia, which just so happens to have been the capital of the Confederate States of America. He went to college in the deep south, home of modern racist thought. Other projects after Doug include JoJo's Circus, about a white circus clown who is the master of a variety of circus animals. In a interview, Jim Jinkins stated that he used bizarre color combinations for the characters because he felt skin tone shouldn't make a difference. However, if skin tone truly doesn't make a difference then why did he make Doug Caucasian?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Wolfie G. Nards on 04/26/09 at 01:58:24 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
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04/26/09 @ 12:28:59 pm
That is too funny that I thought about the same thing when I watched Doug. And just to get it out of the way, I set out to watch Doug, I came home from school, I know it would be on at 3:30 and I put it on at 3:30. There.
I always thought that Doug was white and everyone else was every color else just so the cracker kids watching the show had someone to relate to. At least Hey Arnold had the black friend, but he lived in a urban setting. Doug isn't racist by his own means, he just doesn't know any better.
06/01/09 @ 06:53:13 am
dont forget the place they ate was called honkey burger
06/09/09 @ 08:52:36 am
i remember roger klotz always saying, "sayanara suckers" (not sure if i spelled it right) doesn't that mean see you later in japanese or something? Also he had a pet cat named stinky.
07/15/09 @ 12:24:11 am
hey i have something to say. maybe all you asians should spend more time in asain restaurants thinking of better food. last time i ate at an asian restaurant it had seven kinds of the same chicken with seven different names and the food was crap. and it was 11 dollars a person. and you know what? i didnt tip, yeah thats right it was so nasty i didnt even tip.
07/15/09 @ 12:27:34 am
if doug offends asians, you should watch the music video for eastside vs westside by baby d. that should offend asians. i dont rant no trouberr. haha. im seriously. you should watch it. black people dont like asians either
08/04/09 @ 07:26:43 am
lol that's funny he thinks we're all asian. i have not a drop of it in my blood.
08/04/09 @ 07:30:21 am
i'm black/irish and i have many asian friends (mostly flip and cambodian). even though i'm half white and have an entire white portion of family i don't really have any white friends, just a few.
08/16/09 @ 10:03:09 pm
that is funny as shyt...and I'm white! I honestly never noticed any of that or even thought about that and I watched the show for years. I think some people just over think things, particularly colored people analyzing caucasian peoples underlying purposes, which are usually ridiculous. But the argument is very persuasive! hah
09/25/09 @ 11:20:07 am
This is absolutely ridiculous....find something legitimate to complain about and leave an innocent children's show alone. I'm from Richmond, which, yes, was the capital of the Confederacy...150 years ago! Now we are one of the most diverse regions in Virginia. I'm sure I could find some sort of "racism" in just about any show if I tried hard enough...get a life.
02/21/10 @ 06:03:41 pm
Roger Klotz had orange hair. ORANGE. I don't know one single Asian that has naturally orange hair. You seem misconstrue information that doesn't fit your "boo-hoo-everyone-is-racist" interpretation.
02/21/10 @ 06:27:44 pm
http://img3.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/09212008/5/6/1/5/5615e074123de0_full.jpg
02/25/10 @ 02:38:44 pm
I completely agree with tyrone. It is ABSURD the way that people bash everything by pulling the race card. I never got any sense that anyone on the show was any particular race. I grew up watching and loving Doug and I thought it was great that no one except him was even a human color. It made the show diverse and fanciful at the same time.
Did it ever occur to the person writing this that maybe it was just a fun kid's show? Maybe the people who write entertaining material for children aren't all psychotic like Walt Disney? I've never seen people for their color and I never saw anything that went on in Doug as racist. There was no indication of anyone's race. His best friend was blue and the girl he liked was brownish orange. He didn't avoid getting together with her on account of her race, the show was about kids who were younger than the typical dating age. He had a crush and was shy. It happens.
Please stop pointing fingers at southern artists because they're from the south and that automatically makes them racist in your mind. Some of the most open-minded and brilliant people in history have been from the south (Mark Twain, the entire late abolitionist movement, etc.) To assume that a southerner wrote a racist cartoon with as little basis as this is as, if not more ignorant than what you're accusing him of.
02/25/10 @ 04:15:43 pm
Sorry, I like this guy's theory better. http://dougfunniesjournal.blogspot.com/2010/01/on-color-of-people.html Doug Funny is crazy and sees people in colors based on their personality. It's like The Village. Sorry if I spoiled something from The Village. If you haven't watched it, you don't want to. I'll save you the time.
02/26/10 @ 06:18:56 pm
Or maaaybbeee the author ISN'T trying to pull the race card and wrote an amusing article about an old children's cartoon for the entertainment of others!
The funny part is, the people who are all OMG HE'S PULLING THE RACE CARD! are probably the one's who do it themselves.
(Personally, this cracked me up. Great job again, Wolf Gnards)
02/27/10 @ 12:16:33 pm
The best part of this hi-damn-larious article is the definitely the hate filled responses. You've earned a new reader, Wolf Knards. Heil Doug!
By the way, I'm from Mississippi, apparently the most racist state in the history of minority bashing, according to some.
03/10/10 @ 10:59:16 am
How many layers of panties to you put on in the morning to keep your liberal ass warm?
"Let's see...America's in an economic crisis, genocide plagues African countries, there are bombings due to race and religion daily, but I'm going to pick apart a Nick show created in the early 90s because I'm an attention-seeking whore."
Sounds good to me. This is just another reason why you should stop focusing on the COLOR of your skin and concentrate on having THICKER skin, weakling.
04/30/10 @ 04:00:41 pm
Thanks for this good information. this is a really good blog.
05/17/10 @ 04:22:56 am
Probably the stupidest article I have ever read. If you're really finding time to stretch for vague "racial" issues you THINK a children's show contains, you probably need to find yourself a job.
06/23/10 @ 03:33:44 pm
Using rainbow skin colors is a harmless message to kids telling them "it doesn't matter what color you are." The reason Doug is white is because he's the "normal kid" protagonist just like you and me. "Black kids can't be normal kids?" you ask. Shut up, that's not the point.
Watch this video for a better Doug review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNawhId_bRQ
08/08/10 @ 10:19:15 pm
ooooooooh Doug...first racist, and now a terrorist???!
http://unreeltivity.blogspot.com/
08/23/10 @ 03:50:50 pm
You are retarded. This is ridiculous.
If people are relating to Doug because of his race and his race alone, then they are already lost causes.
You fucking idiot.
10/19/10 @ 11:18:31 am
Just like Doug, I think you're overreacting and letting your imagination get the best of you. Get over yourself. It's a damn childrens show for crying out loud and you're cherry picking shit just to complain about it.
chill out.
ps... i'm also asian.
11/08/10 @ 01:29:18 pm
It was the HONKER burger not the Honkey Burger!! LMFAO, people read way too into things and it is rankly repulsive that someone would try to form a "race motivated attack" on a man who did so much to promote racial equality in televison and to stress the unimportance of color. Sad, really.
12/06/10 @ 12:21:35 am
OMG!!! Yall can't seriously believe this was racist only uneducated people can think this!! It was a cartoon. You only want to make it about race cause in reality that's what YOU see, race is important to you!! And don't act like there aint Black cartoons that offend people or Asin cartoons that do the same. What yall think only White people can be racist?? Got news for you Jews are white & they were treated just as bad!! So take your racism elsewhere
04/14/11 @ 09:35:29 pm
Man. I laughed SOOOOOOOOOO HARD readin' this article. It's hilarious. And the comments were pretty hilarious too, until people (randomly) started gettin' serious. This article look'd like a joke to me, so, not sure why there's such an uproar.
And I'm a bro-ski from the heart of the South (Bama), but...this junk was great. I'm taggin' it! Keep it up!
05/14/11 @ 04:36:09 pm
really u us people are very weird people, you are the most narcisist country in the world when i lived there one year I noticed that very deep on all of u there a racist nationalist person who loves their country all the people of all kind os races are divided and this sucks! I like Doug like the cartoon but better not to know the creators or the fucking critics !!
fuck flags! fuck borders and fuck all the proud u have of being "Americans" that actually America is not just North America don't be stupids!
05/18/11 @ 10:02:21 pm
you guys are a joke. If roger klotz was black then doug and jinkins would be hating on blacks. Quit trying to pull all this asian racism out of a kids cartoon. It's not the cartoons fault your asian. Find something else to bitch about while your cooking your neighbors cat.
07/27/11 @ 07:33:10 pm
this is absurd
09/24/11 @ 08:41:10 pm
I hate the article, doug is not a racism cartoon, just think what happen if doug were Black, would you still saying that the cartoon is racism, i don't think so, I think you're racist whit white people.
11/13/11 @ 06:50:04 pm
Come on man, it's a freaking kids show. Get over it. Why does everything have to be considered racist these days?
12/13/11 @ 05:21:15 am
Boy I tell ya, I think the personality type of the person has a lot more to do with their reaction to the article rather than their skin color. What happened to good ol' Martin Luther King Jr.'s words about judging by content of character? I think that's what the show was aiming for. Anyways, thanks for filling me with a bit of Doug nostalgia. Still hoping he'll get with Patti in the end. ^^
12/19/11 @ 11:09:03 am
Dude are you that f-ing stupid?
There is NOTHING racist about doug
Get over yourself
Plus your writing is HORRID
12/19/11 @ 01:23:21 pm
Thank you everyone! I can't help but agree that my writing is horrible. It must be because no one seems to understand that I'm joking. Of course, Doug is not meant to be racist. And Jim Jinkins is not racist (at least to my knowledge).
Of course, Roger doesn't have anything to do with Asians. In fact, he was more green than yellow. It's a ludicrous statement that should be taken as such.
Here are the facts though:
1. There are no interracial marriages on Doug, and there are no biracial children. Perhaps, this was just an oversight on the show's part, but it's true.
2. Doug is white. There's nothing wrong with Doug being white, but he could have been green or blue or red, or, yes, YELLOW like all the other characters on the show. But they made a conscious decision to make the main character of the show white.
I don't think there was actual racist intention behind these choices, but decisions were made and race was a factor in how these decisions were made.
12/19/11 @ 01:32:38 pm
I couldn't stop laughing. You're very funny. This was a great post man. I would have a hard time picking my favorite line from this post; every other line makes me crack up. MORE LIKE THIS PLEASE.
12/23/11 @ 01:40:47 pm
I like how at the end of this all you felt the need to let us readers know you were joking but still try and prove that you logic is correct. Of course Doug could have been another color but thinking as far into it as your are is comical....grow up a little bit and you will see that not everyone is as ignorant as you.
02/26/12 @ 01:19:52 pm
look at Doug's parents, two different colors YEE
04/02/12 @ 12:51:40 pm
WOW!!! every thing now and days have to be racist can you guys just get over yourself ad grow up apperently hes just playing he even said it. so just build a f###in bridge and get over it because you guys are the racist ones if your thinking that hard bout just grow up and be the bigger person
~ <3 ASS CRACK : ]
05/22/12 @ 11:50:14 pm
I feel sorry for you. I hope you find better things to do with your life friend.
08/01/12 @ 11:10:45 pm
Or maybe you're just a dumbass and the colors mean literally nothing.
11/12/12 @ 12:16:01 pm
this is one of the most ridiculous things i've ever read. it's absurdities like this that keep racism alive. someone who looks this hard for racism will most certainly find it.
11/13/12 @ 08:51:11 pm
This article is complete rubbish. I, and the others who've already stated, find this completely offensive and totally moronic. You should know that people like us have no sense of humor and have tiny brains that cannot comprehend the simplest of jokes. Like other retards have pointed out: Doug isn't racist, it's a children's cartoon. You, sir, make me sick. Now if you'll excuse me, me and the retards and have to stop the.American-hating retards from bashing entire countries and smelling their own shit ('cause it apparently doesnt stink) so we can have ourselves a game of "Kick me in my tiny nuts"
P.s. I was been sarcastic in case you fuckfaces couldn't tell ;)
12/11/12 @ 04:16:53 am
Really? Jim Jenkins was just creating a cartoon that paralleled his own childhood experiences. I guess its a horrible thing that he wanted to include an element of diversity in his cartoon,
01/17/13 @ 10:37:53 pm
You are crazy and stupid, there are other white characters, such as the vice principal
01/21/13 @ 01:13:13 am
Ok. So as for the whole bi racial kid comment. All of the characters could have been mixed. None were the exact same color right? Yea sure most were similar to their parents colors. But skeeter is blue and wasnt the girl he liked purple. Last i checked blue does not equal purple. But heck. What do i know. I enjoyed the show growing up and still watch is when i notice it. Yea. Doug is obviously white. But even that is strange because. As some notice his sister is a pale orange as is his father and his mother is a pinkish red i believe so unless his mom steped out on his dad it makes me think that maybe. The colors reflec the personality not necessary race. Everyone's free to their thoughts of course. But. I.know this show helped me growing. So i hate to see it being defiled by something that should be unimportant like race. Were all different colors. So why get offended?.
02/01/13 @ 08:56:45 am
I was curious about this to, so I interviewed the creator of the show, Jim Jinkins.
He responds to this questions in our interview.
Check it out here: http://www.whatiwannaknow.com/2013/02/jim-jinkins/
02/12/13 @ 03:24:45 am
DOUG is one of the best Nickledeon cartoons I’ve ever seen before! I still remember the strong friendship between Doug Funnie and Skeeter Valentine had! It was really a decent show and I want my children to watch it too! . Luckily, I found it at http://www.memorylanedvd.com/product.php?productid=3153461&cat=0&page=1 . The quality of the DVDs is good and standard. It may look like a boring cartoon to some kids today but if their parents let them watch it with all the episodes, they will enjoy each moments of it. Certainly, a good cartoon for all ages!
04/05/13 @ 12:43:07 pm
This is honestly the stupidest logic ever. There's no need to over think a message like this. It's simply a kids show. You said in the opening paragraph that you never even payed attention to the show, merely just put it on in the background. Roger klotz does not resemble an Asian in the least bit. Open your eyes, not everything in the world has a deeply rooted racist message. Not even that last sentence.