TMR TV -Episode 7 - Ralph Bakshi and "Coonskin"

[Misterioso]

Ralph Bakshi is the biggest hack in the industry. Lazy animation style and constant racism.

[amaxamon]

@Misterioso You have no clue.

[Misterioso]

@amaxamon I've studied animation all my life, and I can verify that Ralph Bakshi is at the bottom of the list.

[amaxamon]

@Misterioso Big fucking deal. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and most of them stink. What have you created that has touched anyone's life, changed anyone's life? You're probably a cog in a machine somewhere applying digital texture to some lifeless character in a bloated cg animated shit-fest. The man is brilliant & inspiring. What are you? Some dick who posts shit on the internet. At least I have respect for his work. Accomplish something real or shut the fuck up.

[Misterioso]

@amaxamon Opinions are essential and impossible to escape. Notice you have forced yours upon me as well. I detest CGI animation. Like you I prefer traditional animation. Some of my favorites are Hans Fischerkoesen, Jean Image, Rene Laloux & Priit Pärn. Life isn't based on respect, this type of thinking is superficial. I've seen all of Bakshi's works, only a few of which he truly animated. His characters stand still, the movement is clunky and overall lacing in artistry.

[amaxamon]

@Misterioso Someone who likes Rene Laloux thinks Bakshi's animation is static?!? If Bakshi isn't real animation then the Fleischers didn't animate, Disney didn't animate, anyone who uses a live action reference isn't an animator. Toss all those great paintings that used live models! Forget any painter who uses photographic references. Artistry is subjective. I appreciate his artistry, which goes beyond mechanically fluid movement into something deeper.

[amaxamon]

@Misterioso Secondarily, find Bakshi's references and compare them to the final films. The reference material is just that: reference. He added costume details, designed and fully animated faces, camera movements etc. Apart from the experimental photographic technique used in LotR's, he has always used full animation.

[Misterioso]

@amaxamon Rene Laloux didn't animate his films. Roland Topor, Moebius & Philippe Caza did. In the case of Topor, I agree it is static. However there is plenty of motion in the rest. Bakshi lacks poetry, which is something I find essential in animation. Bambi is a good example of this. Fritz the Cat features decent cel animation however the story is terrible. Also take into account Bakshi stole the idea from Robert Crumb and you become aware of what kind of person we're dealing with.

[amaxamon]

@Misterioso You lost me at "Bambi." Fuck Bambi!! Bakshi is a poet in the same way Langston Hughes was a poet. If you don't get it, walk away and stop making a fool of yourself in public. Bakshi didn't "steal" Fritz from Crumb, he optioned the rights and made a film -- that's how it's done, if you didn't know. Crumb's been bitching about it ever since. I've met and corresponded with Bakshi in the past, he's a decent man, and was a hardworking, groundbreaking, brilliant animator.

[Misterioso]

@amaxamon Robert Crumb strongly disliked what Bakshi did to Crumb's creation. Bakshi is a filthy racist who creates backgrounds and limited but yet terribly dated animation. Perhaps the single worst animator ever. An embarrassment to the field. Bakshi is nothing more than a conservative pile of excrement who will do anything to earn a buck. I prefer good animation.

[amaxamon]

@Misterioso Then fuck off and stop bothering us! And since there isn't any racism in his films I'm left to assume that you have problems you're not dealing with and feel guilty about. Get your head straight on your race issues before you start pointing your finger at works of art and wrongly calling them racist. Now FUCK OFF!!

[Misterioso]

@amaxamon Calm down. Why are you so reactionary? That is an indication of stupidity you know.

[MysteryGuyler]

@Misterioso "Poetic?" Bambi was just a bunch of animals running around for 60 minutes. It's a beautiful film, don't get me wrong, but definitely nothing significant in story or character. Pretty much every Disney film is like that.

While I'm not that big of a fan of Bakshi's movies, at least he went out there to do something different and communicate his thoughts rather than doing the same bland thing over and over again, like Disney. Better to get a reaction than no reaction at all.

[Misterioso]

@MysteryGuyler You don't recall the scene where Bambi lost his his mother and wandered in the falling snow until his father confronted him the news? What about the roaring forest fire as each animal tried to escape or the sheer depth of texture in the backgrounds? I could go on, I dislike Walt Disney but I do admire his animators of the 30's & 40's.

We'll need to agree to disagree, however I respect your opinion.

[goldenmoleful]

I love this movie, I saw it when I was 16 and it deeply affected me and it was the first time I think I saw the world for what it is. A powerful messy beautiful complicated pool of humanity. His message is dense and tough. The sybolism of his "American Girl" is truly brilliant. The movie is visual jazz.

[bud389]

I liked Fire and Ice by him, but honestly, he seems like he's trying to say that your movies have to have a "revolutionary message" in order to be good, like what he said about Disney and Pixar, but i could name so many animated/non-animated films which don't it's not even funny and it just seems to me that he thinks very pretentiously about himself about himself and the films he makes.

[Hellzyead]

Please release "Coonskin" on DVD!!

[Hellzyead]

Please release "Coonskin" on DVD!!

[ConnDevi88]

Just ordered a VHS for 20 bucks.

[ASide45]

Edgie 

[commiepervert]

Ralph Bakshi is a Krymchak Jewish-Palestinian (born 10 years before the creation of the state in 1938) a year after his birth his family relocated to the US to escape the Jewish Arab conflict that had become intertwined with WWII and he grew up in "the ghetto" in NY and D.C..

[commiepervert]

He attended a segregated black school & was removed because the school officials were scared whites would riot if they knew a white kid was in a black school (though Krymchaks are about as white as a Turk, but try explaining that to a racist). He is NOT a racist & if anyone can watch coonskin & think that he is, they don't have an intellect. This guy is so aware of race and social classes it's unbelievable. You would have to be in order to write such a significant piece of social commentary.

[commiepervert]

Al Sharpton however is arguably a racist and possibly an anti-Semite as well. Do blacks in America still give a sh*t about Sharpton? I doubt it, with role models like Cornel West and leaders like Obama, who needs a Sharpton?

[jzerony]

Was this ever released? I mean, a high quality print release.

[smurfman95]

Ralpk never had a problem speaking his mind XD

[Nasiar99]

Bakshi was pretty progressive for his time when it came to race relations but in all his films he demonizes homosexuality.

Almost all the antagonists in coonskin are gay or "punished" for being so wicked by having a homosexual encounter.

Maybe Bakshi's so homophobic because deep down he is afraid of his own homosexual desires?

[Riverdante]

Thats right everybody knows that everybody who makes a gay joke is really suppressing homosexual urges.

Also in Coonskin, most of the gay characters are depicted as having the most power and connections in town. And the most evident homophobe gets his comeuppance from a gay man. It was tough to be gay in 1973. Sorry he didn't sugar coat it.

[Khultan]

@Riverdante LOL-You total moron LOL

[sex6cult9revolution]

@Chrisdrumz

If that's all you heard, maybe you shouldn't be commenting...

Because actually, he says at 3:50 that "There isn't a black man in the world that should be voting for Barack Obama".

Therefore, the remark that you made that he was: "towing the usual old liberal line" reveals itself as just the typical COP-OUT line.

The mark of the ignorant is speaking without going the distance of making an informed judgment first.

[sex6cult9revolution]

Honestly, I never saw why Bakshi's films were so misunderstood. It has the same exaggeration of typecast traits as South Park - except SP is made by guys from small town Colorado. Bakshi has NYC street smarts and understands race issues. I don't think that's so hard to see.

[BLACKSABBATH0HM]

maybe its caus he was way before trey parker

[Chrisdrumz]

All I heard was something about "Or you'll vote another Bush in" and I realized he was probably just towing the usual old liberal line. Those horrible evil republicans. Yawn.

[rathraven1313]

@Chrisdrumz He's saying one needs to be educated before making a decsion. Bush to him was example of peolpe based on party.

[Chrisdrumz]

Completely useless vid. Can't understand what he's saying. Get a better mic.

[luzzerylavender]

i can't understand a word he's sayin, i wish i did!

[stargate121]

"BASH-ki"?

[bfranklin000]

I have met Ralph Bakshi (SVA in NYC in 2001) and he is not racist (at least no more than all of us). Coonskin is an unsettling film but to evaluate it you need to see it. Bakshi is opinionated and vulgar at times and his imagery is unsettling but if you see the whole film (Coonskin) it is just as unkind to Italians, police, Jews etc. Bakshi wakes us up on all sides about how we view each other and what 'America' means.

[DeekayLBC]

U hit the nail dead on the head.  In fact, as I'm sure you know, Mr. Bakshi grew up in the 'hood! He's got more street cred and a better ghetto pass than half the rappers out there today! He just keeps it real! Don't hate. Racist my azz! He was thru wit' it before most of the hiphop community knew what to do wit' it!

[Khultan]

@DeekayLBC  LOL I agree.

[XNEWTXNEWTX]

i cant understand what hes saying the way he talks with the bad audio is really bad

im trying to find out if this guy was a racist because he's a really good artist but i dont like the drawings he drew of black people

[brutallyhonest123]

he wasn't a racist... but his imagery and use of stereotypes was portrayed in a way to disgust people. It's very visceral, and it's meant to effect you on more than one level.

The film in question has been described as the racism and stereotypes being chewed up and vomited back into the face of america

So its not exploitation as much as an exploration into dark social satire and underlying race issues

[Khultan]

@brutallyhonest123  Well said.

[mixedout01]

He made a good point white people were messed up to black people back in the day

[kingash45bc]

happy birthday ralph bakshi

[hallabouttina]

aww i like him even more now after watching this and hearing him explain coonskin with his lisp

[TheMiddleRow]

What kind of stupid comment is that? Got to be a cracker don't you? Just can't resist your desire to be ignorant. This is the very reason the country is in the shape it's in now.

[robertbunuel]

thats just it, I can make as many stupid comments as I like, you don't get it!

[kencoa]

I love Ralph Bakshi. I wish "Coonskin", "Hey,Good Lookin'" and "The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse all come to Dvd.

[Whizzbang27]

true that

[johnroders]

he's not racist the movie coonskin was mocking racisum to show how awful it realy was and still is

[Whizzbang27]

i never thought about it like that

[Sprite37]

You're retarded. It wasn't intended to be racist, it was a satire on real life. Get your facts straight dipshit.

[tetsunosuke1]

God its people like Kfella1 who keep this racist shit going, if anything is offensive in anyway and the person who is saying it is not the same race, then they are racits? Man this is ridiculous, I know they're people who are racist out in the world, but its not helping when people attack non racist people daily, it just motivates hate and motivates the racist conflict, which I really dont even get, people are people, yet some people are so stupid it takes them forever to see this.

[c0wnbread]

shut up you dumb fuckin nigger!

[helpmefindparents]

I could not hear much of what Bakshi said in this video. I saw this video and thought it was a black empowerment film from the 70's, I assumed Bakshi was African American. At the time of release, what was the response from the African American community? The white community? HOw is the film viewed today?

[Caesarfilms]

Bakshi is a true genius, and if you read "Unfiltered," you realy see that he has really been misunderstood by most people.

[hurley501]

HE'S the reason I wanna animate when I get the cash..

[Sprite37]

Fuck yeah!!

[Toadbaby7]

Most misunderstood film ever. Ralph Bakshi is a genius.

[gagbonkers]

Bakshi is one awesome director.

[wesgriff]

I love that guy that went Hollah!

[RafiAnimates]

I second that.

[pastaplanet5]

Viva Bakshi!