The “Ducktails” cartoon is pure bourgeois Reaganite propaganda

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

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:

Oh shit, scrooge is melon's dad
Scrooge McDuck gets the

Please make this a site tagline lmfao
- @CARCOSA@hexbear.net get pinged nerd
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Uncles and nephews all the way down.. read 'How to Read Donald Duck'

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.
Disney has been in this game for generations now.

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.

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
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.
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.

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.

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

That's a pretty big compliment!
- 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!

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.

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!