Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Scrooge McDuck originally portrayed as the epitome of greed and heartlessness in the Disney version of A Christmas Carol? And now he’s some good guy? Get the fuck outta here. Also he has a coin vault he swims in daily. Now what the fuck is that all about?

  • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 hours ago

    The Finnish Ducktales theme slaps tho

    (It can not avail you, taco nazi, look alive and count on Lassie, knit and dance and bake a cake oh)

  • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    9 hours ago

    Yeah, in retrospect I am with the begal boys. McDuck canonically starts his wealth in a coal field in Africa and does some time in the diamond industry

  • Salmarez [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    9 hours ago

    It always amuses me that Don Rosa, the dude that made the most famous contemporary comics of Scrooge, like the ode to settler colonialism “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”, was able to make these comics just because he inherited his father’s construction business. Even then, in the aforementioned comics, he makes fun of Rockerduck for inheriting all of his wealth, unlike our hardworking McDuck!

    Later Rosa threw himself on the cross because Disney screwed him over on the copyright and royalties on his comics. I wonder if he ever saw the irony; the real-life McDucks ate their propagandist’s face!

      • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        8 hours ago

        I love venture brothers too, so from me, high praise! I just like how they take it seriously while being weird and funny. Scrooge is called an “Adventure Capitalist” in the show, and he sustains his wealth through doing adventures and being a miser. He is also impossibly old, and its justified in world because he has been in contact with so many ancient and magical artifacts. It has some really great plots and arcs. The nephews are each their own unique person, with different goals, quirks, fears and hangups. The characters grow and evolve over the show, nothing is static. Plus, the kids love it!

    • StillNoLeftLeft [none/use name, she/her]@hexbear.net
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      10 hours ago

      This book was a big part of my radicalization. I already knew from my local context how the biggest bourge newspaper (owned by one of the og capitalist families) here brought Donald Duck into the country and started publishing it to “help kids learn to read” and I always thought it was sus.

      The comic soon became the go-to kids comic here that was also loved by adults, it was never questioned on anything other than a dumb moral panic about the ducks not wearing pants. The first baby picture ever taken of me was with this comic to show how small I was. My dads side was Whites and they had collections of these comics that ended up being the only comic I ever really was exposed to as a kid. This and the far worse Italian Donald Duck stories that I felt were vile even as a kid reading them.

      I have thrown away my pretty large collection of these since. I cannot read them anymore and not see it. I always hated the misogyny in them even as a girl reading them, but these days I cannot overlook any of the settlerism, colonialism, racism… Disney is such a tool for US imperialism.

  • hallmarkxmasmovie [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    11 hours ago

    I guess, but it’s not something that I ever thought about when I used to watch that show after school. The bullshit you’d see in sitcoms/hour dramas was more damaging, insidious and helped reinforce gross cultural attitudes. I.E you’ll be stuck flipping burgers!

  • Dessa [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    11 hours ago

    In the cartoons, Scrooge is kinda portrayed as right on the edge of acceptable conservatism. Sometimes he is a bit too greedy, and everyone resents him for it, or he takes a stupid risk for money that bites him in the ass. Other times, he’s proven right. I think we’re supposed to question Scrooge sometimes, as the Aesop can go either way with this show. I’d go so far as to say the central question of Scrooge’s character is “How far is too far in the pursuit of wealth?”

    Glomgold and Mark Beaks are 2 examples of “too far,” with both reflecting different evils of wealth. Glomgold is pure greed untempered by any moral concerns, ever. Unlike Scrooge, who finds inherent value in work, Glomgold will take it any way he can.

    Mark Beaks is similarly amoral, but, as a stand in for the rich techbro type, he has a desire to “improve” the world, but only in a way that serves his own capricious interests. Beaks is hard-working (or at least has a self-image of being such), but unlike Scrooge, doesn’t listen to others.

  • TheLepidopterists [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    13 hours ago

    So I vaguely remember that he extorts Donald economically to force him onto adventures he doesn’t want to go on (he’s his landlord I think).

    I couldn’t remember for sure so I tried googling it, and this thread came up and it’s so much worse than I thought. Scrooge McDuck gets the wall

    CW (racism and colonialism)

    https://www.reddit.com/r/ducktales/comments/oz1h9b/needs_some_info_about_the_terrible_things_scrooge/

    Here’s the top comment from that thread, it’s the reason for the CW so I’m gonna spoiler it:

    spoiler

    In Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, it is shown that Scrooge used the credulity of african tribes to unfairly get their mines. When one of the tribes leader refused and humiliated Scrooge, he became so angry that he hired men to destroy the village and then tricked the tribe leader to sell the mines to him. This event is what triggered Bombie the zombie in season 2 as the tribe leader seeked revenge against Scrooge. But it is also the reason why Mathilda and Hortense (his sisters) decided to take some distance with him as they couldn’t recognize their brother anymore.

  • rhubarb [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    13 hours ago

    The character is actually from comics by Carl Barks, where he first appeared as a Christmas Carol-inspired misanthrope, but became a regular character and evolved over time. While he isn’t some anticapitalist propaganda villain, he is portrayed as a greedy and comically miserly exploiter of even his close relatives, but it varies depending on the author. I haven’t seen Ducktales though.

    • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      12 hours ago

      In the original Carl Barks comics, he is an exploiter, but that’s not always portrayed as a bad thing. In the stories where he goes on adventures to steal some treasure from the global south, he’s definitely meant to be seen as a hero. There’s some serious racism too.

    • Dessa [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      12 hours ago

      Scrooge is sometimes portrayed as kinda bad even for the heroes, but mostly good. The rest of the family usually plays a role of softening him and pressuring him toward being more kind. Sometimes, Scrooge is wrong, and his selfishness gets them into some heat. Other times, he’s proven right, as his experience with money keeps them from getting scammed.