I particularly like the wonderfully expressive faces on the anthropomorphic simian characters in this post-war strip but, knowing what we know now, I wonder if this was a veiled attempt at depicting African-Americans as monkeys.
Perhaps, instead of being seen as an attempt to depict African-Americans as monkeys, this should be seen as an attempt to continue a set of familiar patterns, without ascribing them to African-Americans, by transplanting them to chimps.
Some share of the audience who were amused by depictions now generally felt to br offensive had little or no commitment to the attachment of these depictions to particular real-life groups. If one could give that the same sorts of characters as funny animals, as extraterrestrial aliens, or as goblins, elves, and faeries, then most of that share would remain amused.
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Perhaps, instead of being seen as an attempt to depict African-Americans as monkeys, this should be seen as an attempt to continue a set of familiar patterns, without ascribing them to African-Americans, by transplanting them to chimps.
Some share of the audience who were amused by depictions now generally felt to br offensive had little or no commitment to the attachment of these depictions to particular real-life groups. If one could give that the same sorts of characters as funny animals, as extraterrestrial aliens, or as goblins, elves, and faeries, then most of that share would remain amused.
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