Although the popular animated series "Tom and Jerry," known for its slapstick humor and nearly silent characters, has entertained and laughed millions of viewers since its inception in the forties, it has also faced considerable criticism for reinforcing racist stereotypes of different American races, especially those of African descent.

Tom and Jerry series has faced considerable criticism for reinforcing racist stereotypes (Al Jazeera)

William Hannah and Joseph Barbera produced 114 short films for Tom and Jerry from 1940 to 1958. Like any work of art that was a product of its time, reflecting the racial prejudices prevailing in society, Hannah and Barbera incorporated subtle and explicit racial stereotypes into the show, intentionally or unintentionally, just as the cultural landscape and balance of power of the era dictated to them.

Mami to Shoes

One of Tom and Jerry's most famous characters, Mammy Two Shoes, is an African-American maid who gives a negative impression of dark-skinned, overweight middle-aged African-American women who speak Caricature English in African American slang and are often portrayed as ignorant, unattractive, and unwilling.

The portrayal of "Mami to Shoes" perpetuated the stereotype in entertainment at the time, where African-American women were portrayed as obese, foolish, and behaved in a funny and ridiculous way. However, Mami to Shoes is not the only one.

Throughout the show, black characters are often portrayed as unintelligent, superstitious and violent characters, just as they were portrayed by colonial culture, where intelligence and acumen are the exclusive traits of a white man.

Indeed, these stereotypes reinforced racial prejudices and perpetuated negative societal views, especially after the series spread wildfire and achieved overwhelming success.

What's more, Tom and Jerry often presented negative stereotypes about different ethnic groups. For example, in Casanova Cat (1951), a Latin American cat was portrayed as sexually provocative, polygamous, and could only be wooed with money, a racist stereotype associated with Latino women who became accused of knowing only one language: the language of sexual seduction.

Mockery of different races

Hannah and Barbara used other elements that could also be considered sensitive and racist. For example, some episodes have faced criticism, such as the 1952 film The Missing Mouse, in which Jerry appears as a mouse covering himself with shoe shine in reference to stereotypes of "black-faced" singers in the American vaudeville era. In these performances, the white actors wore black makeup and represented satirical and derogatory images of blacks at the time as mere entertainment rather than bullying.

Jerry has also appeared in other episodes with his nephew dressed as Native Americans and they are funnily engaged in the supposed local customs of the indigenous people, especially in the episode "His Mouse Friday".

The episode was seen as reinforcing abusive stereotypes about Amerindian cultures and even shrinking the entire rich indigenous demographics into caricatures, reinforcing notions of white supremacy at the time.

The racial prejudices that persisted in Tom and Jerry had a lasting impact on audiences (IMDB)

Was it intentional or unintentional? No one can judge intentions, but by evaluating the results, we find that the racial prejudices that persisted in Tom and Jerry had a lasting impact on the masses, as growth under such stereotypes contributed to unconscious bias and the formation of individuals' perceptions towards different racial groups.

However, it is important to note that those scenes of a racist nature have been omitted in recent years, but they are still discussed and presented as a reminder of the occasional racism that existed in the old media, and the importance of addressing, acknowledging, and correcting this distortion even if the work is still fondly mentioned today by the film and arts makers in the United States.