this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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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?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago

Ducktails the band is okay but DuckTales the show is what you're talking about

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 hours ago

its all right there in the theme song.

Life is like a hurricane here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes, it's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Never forget : Scrooge McDuck is canonically a person who doesn't give a quack about consent (can't use r word)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 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!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Looney Tunes show (episode specifically being The Float) > Ducktales

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 hours ago

TURN OFF THE WATER TURN OFF THE WATER TURN OF- stairs

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago

I preferred Count Duckula

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

We don't say Reaganite anymore; we say Neoliberal.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 hours ago

In the context of 80s Duck Tales, released after 8 or so years of Reagan, it seems apt

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The modern Ducktales is great. It honestly has venture brothers vibes.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

That's a pretty big compliment!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 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!

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Uncles and nephews all the way down.. read 'How to Read Donald Duck'

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 hours ago

this Disney has been in this game for generations now.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 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!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 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.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Scrooge McDuck gets the wall

Please make this a site tagline lmfao

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 hours ago

Oh shit, scrooge is melon's dad

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago

A Reddit link was detected in your comment. Here are links to the same location on alternative frontends that protect your privacy.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 hours ago

Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 for The Walt Disney Company by Carl Barks.

I 100% thought "Carl Barks" was a bit you were doing

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 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.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

In the DuckTales series, Scrooge has care of the nephews (as Donald has joined the US Navy and is away on his tour of duty), and, as a result, his darker personality traits are downplayed. While most of his persona remain from the comics, he is notably more optimistic and level-headed in the animated cartoon. In an early episode, Scrooge credits his improved temperament to the nephews and Webby (his housekeeper's granddaughter, who comes to live in Scrooge's mansion), saying that "for the first time since I left Scotland, I have a family".

Though Scrooge is far from tyrannical in the comics, he is rarely so openly affectionate. While he still hunts for treasure in DuckTales, many episodes focus on his attempts to thwart villains. However, he remains just as tightfisted with money as he has always been. But he's also affable and patient with his family and friends.

Scrooge displays a strict code of honor, insisting that the only valid way to acquire wealth is to "earn it square," and he goes to great lengths to thwart those (sometimes even his own nephews) who gain money dishonestly. This code also prevents him from ever being dishonest himself, and he avows that "Scrooge McDuck's word is as good as gold." He also expresses great disgust at being viewed by others as a greedy liar and cheater.

Wtf, lol. I believe he was a huge POS in the comics and previous cartoons. I think he has a rival in Ducktails that is pretty much him but somehow more evil.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Flintheart Glomgold

Flintheart Glomgold is a South African businessman and one of Scrooge McDuck's main rivals. He holds the title of "Second Richest Duck in the World"

there's also

John D. Rockerduck is one of the main rivals of Scrooge McDuck. He is a wealthy businessman and has often made claims to the titles of "Richest Duck in the World" and "Second Richest Duck in the World", titles belonging respectively to Scrooge and Flintheart Glomgold - presumably he's just the Third Richest Duck in the World.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

He's South African? So is his Scottishness just a big put-on, or did he emigrate from Scotland to South Africa?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Throughout the first season, it was initially implied that this Glomgold is South African but pretends to be Scottish in order to outdo Scrooge McDuck.

This is confirmed in the second season episode, "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!", where it is revealed that Glomgold was born Duke Baloney, a shoeshine boy who did Scrooge's shoes and given a dime as payment to teach him self-reliance, only for Duke to instead feel cheated and create his "Glomgold" persona over the years to get revenge.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Is this from the comics, 1980s show, 2010s show, or all of them?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago

I believe this is the 2010s show

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Glomgold was originally depicted as a diamond miner of South African descent. Some later incarnations have altered his ancestry to that of Scottish descent, to better reflect Scrooge's own heritage. Though the character was seldom used during Barks' tenure, Glomgold rose to prominence due in part to usage by comic artist Don Rosa, and a recurring role as a villain in the DuckTales franchise.

via fandom wiki