Commonly labeled as racist, Coonskin did not receive favorable reviews upon its release. The negative commentary around it led to meager distribution. I have to confess I missed seeing it. I was too young at the time to frequent the grindhouse theaters it might have played, and while my other portals of cable television and video stores were beginning to have it in stock, Coonskin never appeared on my radar. This was odd because I’ve seen the bulk of Ralph Bakshi’s work, a great deal of it as I was growing up. Bakshi, an American animator, continually pushed the envelope of the medium. I have to confess Coonskin caused me to squirm. I can easily remember those years with society’s easy acceptance of racism, gay bashing, and bigotry. To see this ugly visual portrayal in a style so tied to my youth struck home. I know that it’s a lampoon of Blaxploitation, a Minstrel Show meant to provoke laughter and reveal the ugly underbelly of society. But I just couldn’t laugh–all I could do was wince. But I am glad that I find Coonskin far more offensive at age fifty than I would have at fifteen. For those now curious to see Coonskin, I give this warning: Prepare yourselves; you will hear the N word more times in the first five minutes than you have in the last five years.
