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A Review of 'Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs'

 A Review of 'Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs'

- Stuti Rushi

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is a 1943 Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The phenomenal short was released on January 16, 1943 and the cartoon has been rarely seen on television, and has never been officially released on home video. 

This is one of the most controversial of all Merry Melodies mainly because it depicts black people with the usual large lips and stereotypical accents. The stylistic portrayal of the characters is an example of “darky” iconography, which was widely accepted in American society at the times of 1940s. No doubt, it is one of the most controversial cartoons in the classic Warner Brothers library, being one of the Censored Eleven. 

The film is otherwise very respectful toward the culture of the Blacks and it depicts their jazz positively. It definitely does not deserve to be forbidden in 2021, especially when it is so good. The musical or animation, however you would like to call it, takes its time to get to the crux owing to a slower start, but when it does, it is indeed a blast to watch. 

The protagonist Coal Black is quite memorable and of course the dwarfs are so amusing. The film transports the tale of Snow White to the 20th century and the characters are all black which was an admirably fresh and unique choice that paid off significantly. It’s an original parody which is superbly animated and with phenomenal music too. The same basic stereotypical elements present in the earlier Censored Eleven films are also present in Coal Black, depicted with more detail and made to conform to Clampett's “wacky” directorial style. In Racism, in American Popular Media, Behnken and Smithers assert,

“The racism in Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is unparalleled in cartoon history. This short throws virtually every black stereotype into the mix, beginning with the Mammy character, who, while in shadow, is clearly a large black woman with a distinct Negroid voice. 

The child is a big-cheeked pickaninny with a bow in her hair. The Prince is a similarly caricatured black man: he has straightened hair, wears a white zoot suit and a monocle, and has gold teeth (his two front teeth are dominoes). So White is portrayed as a hypersexual, big-bottomed younger black woman, with perky bosoms and revealing clothing. She is less representative of blackface characters and instead represents the black Jezebel or whore, voluptuous, lascivious and sexually available.” 

But the highlight is its great humour with a lot of memorable sequences such as that truly hilarious ending where it turns out Coal does not care for the prince, but actually finds Dopey hot. So funny!

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs is a prime example of a film that is overly harshly judged. It needs to be respected more for its amusing characters, an original parody approach and fantastic humour.


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