Old Cartoons


In just an hour or so of watching old cartoons on Boomerang (old meaning, 30's - 60's produced) I mentally tallied a few stark differences between the cartoons of now and those of old. On the Pink Panther I DVR'ed, there were about five scenes containing guns, including one fired at the Pink Panther's head at point blank range, rendering him grey-headed and exploded, one cigarette (smoked by the gunman), and some scant sexual references to can-can girls (by the Inspector), and even a suicidal duckling on an old Tom and Jerry I caught who attempted a self-gullotine with a giant ax on a string.

So the question is, then, how come we watched all this and there were few to no school shootings back then? Why did public violence seem to increase in an inverse relationship to the amount of violence that was fretted over and strained from kids' tv in the 80's and 90's? Now new cartoons are mostly a contest to see who's more badly drawn or the most insane. Where is Tipper Gore now, when we really need her to get Ed, Edd and Eddy and Invader Zim off the air???

I do like Pokemon though. Pikaaaaaaaaaaaaaaachuuuuuuuu! ;)

Comments

I played conkers with a 13 year old and his 8yr old brother the other day. Their Dad had passed out in front of the tv and passively allowed them to waqtch Jack Ass and some Welsh version. They saw welshmen stapling their ears to wood. Their dad is a lecturer of electronics to young black benefit claimants. He gets loads of footage by leaving his bluetooth on round the college. The kids showed me some of this. People getting hit with spades, people getting punched in the face, a dog biting a man's cock, this kind of thing. The older boy had long hair and confessed to getting into fights at school with Chavs. Eg, one chav called him a transvestite because of his long hair so he "beat the shit out of him". This level of violence in a boy is completely acceptable I think. Essentially he is using boxing skills to defend his honour. Much better than going to the teacher, who is powerless at this level. Doubtless "Jack Ass" and the happy slapping video clips made him more gung ho about violence, but this is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as he has a sense of honour and behaves like a gentleman. What do you think?
Violet said…
I haven't watched Pokemon in a couple years, but while I was in college, I watched it every afternoon. "Jigglypuff" always scared me a little bit.
Latigo Flint said…
I know this isn't cartoon related, but every time I watched an episode of Small Wonder I wanted to shoot somebody in the face and then smoke a cigarette. Perhaps we need to monitor sit-coms more closely.
V said…
Wow. I really thought I'd replied to these days ago, and I didn't. I need to sleep more.

Anyway...

I think it's fine, Helga. Many's the time I want to tell a kid who's got someone bothering him "just one good punch to the face... one good hard one" but alas I can't.

Jigglypuff is my favorite, though, Violet. Although I suppose I wouldn't want to see those BIG GREEN EYES floating above me of a morning.

Small Wonder was in fact certifiably creeptified, Latty.
Anonymous said…
I LOVVVVVVVEEEE Boomerrang...

What's the best thing on it?

The Justice League. Horribile sixites animation. Horribile voice overs. HOrribile sories...ahhhhh yaaaaa... ;)

Steve~
V said…
Thanks, LBB.

I'm liking the Boomerang, too, Steve, despite its corrupting violence.
Azathoth100 said…
Perhaps it's not the cartoons they watch, but the poeple watching them?
The best thing a parent can do for thier kids is be a good parent. Unfortunatly far too few of them these days seem to want to put in the effort.
ahhh for when life was simpler.
V said…
True dat, Aza. We could be gone all day, without a cellphone, and no one would miss us or even worry unless a couple of days went by. ;)

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