Cartoons Today

[Ishal]

Snip

They've definitely changed haven't they. I watched Gargoyles the other day and the amount of guns and violence in that astounds me. I think a lot of that all changed after Columbine and also general popularity of them seemed to go down. Now we have shitty comedy shows and cartoons about reality shows... as if the actual reality tv wasn't bad enough.

I remember this cartoon, one of the my all time favs, so much voice talent in this. I was shocked to learn a few of the VA's in this found work in FiM of all places. I won't complain though.

But this episode was ... well... i remember being very young when I saw this and having really mixed emotions. My parents watched it with me and we talked through it, rather than them telling me I couldn't watch it. I'd wager that doesn't happen too much today either, parents actually parenting their fucking kids.

Spoiler

This was some heavy stuff. Watch it and see how much it shocks you. Kids used to be exposed to this stuff. They still should be.

 

[ShipofFools]

Spoiler

...*snip* vulcano *snip*...

*chuckles* Am I the only one who read that and saw this

Spoiler

Did you photoshop that just to spite me?
Dude, English no my native tongue.

Nope. It was a typo that spawned a strange image in my brain that I just had to share.

Why did you assume that I'm attacking you?

I'm sorry man, my bad. I had a rough day at work and was about to snap at anything anyway, but it was not cool to snap at you.

 

[Padwolf]

To sum it up, the soccer mons and any other sensitive parents out there had won in the end. I don't know how and when but they had won.

This! If anything cartoons have just become a lot more tame. It's a real shame. I don't know when the sensative parents out there won either. Cartoons never used to mince their words, they just used to do it.

 

[Tanis]

I think you're looking back with rose colored glasses.

Plenty of older cartoons had violence in them.

Hell, some of them were filled with racism, homophobia, 'Murkia Fuk Yeh, misogyny, and implied sex.
-This was just the 'kids stuff'.

I think, for a lot of '20+ types', they need to realize...
It's less 'omg toons are so much more mature these days' and more 'omg i totally get that joke now!' type of a deal.


Try watching something like The Animaniacs.
Holy crap were there a LOT of 'adult' jokes I missed as a kid.

 

[Vegosiux]

Try watching something like The Animaniacs.
Holy crap were there a LOT of 'adult' jokes I missed as a kid.

Such as this:

Spoiler: No no, finger prints!

You think your childhood was innocent? Think again!

 

[Jaythulhu]

Spoiler

...*snip* vulcano *snip*...

*chuckles* Am I the only one who read that and saw this

Spoiler

Did you photoshop that just to spite me?
Dude, English no my native tongue.

Nope. It was a typo that spawned a strange image in my brain that I just had to share.

Why did you assume that I'm attacking you?

I'm sorry man, my bad. I had a rough day at work and was about to snap at anything anyway, but it was not cool to snap at you.

S'all good mate! I sell booze for a living. I'm used to being snapped at and I don't take anything personally

 

[Froggy Slayer]

I don't really think that they've changed that much at all. The old Loony Tunes shorts could get pretty fuckin' dark, and people who think that modern cartoons pussy out of showing weirder stuff need to watch things like Regular Show and Invader Zim.

 

[lRookiel]

Did you never watch older cartoons or something?

Remember how fucked up ren and stimpy was, or courage the cowardly dog. not to mention stuff like tom and jerry where violence was the punchline basically (No pun intended)

 

[ninjaRiv]

The Tom and Jerry episode where Tom gets decapitated was pretty bad. Plus the many other examples mentioned. Cartoons are more tame now but more mature in other ways. The Looney Toons Show is more of a sitcom aimed at us, the older audience so a few edgy jokes here and there is to be expected, I think.

 

[FalloutJack]

threats of deadly force? you must of missed the old looney tunes where there was actual use of deadly force and violence

Kopikatsu, Bugs Bunny died in the old cartoons.
Tom and Jerry commited suicide and drank booze, Donald Duck died multiple times, Goofy was thrown into a vulcano, and there is probably a lot more of that stuff that I don't remember.

Cartoons have become tame if anything.

All of my this.

Just imagine all the things that Wile E. Coyote has gone through and THEN tell me about a tortoise sticking up the hare.

 

[culpeo]

I remember an episode of Tom and Jerry in which Tom poisons the hell out of his milk so as to kill Jerry, but for some reason the poisoned milk gives Jerry super-strength. If kids were as impressionable as we've been led to believe, I think this episode would have been banned after the first dozen or so kids died trying to get super powers by drinking cyanide and rat poison (as I recall, the scene explicitly shows the various poisons Tom uses).

By that standard, the scene in question seems rather benign. Showing some character merely brandishing a gun has become so common that the weapon itself has been effectively decoupled from any sense of inherent death or pain. That's why it's used here instead of, say, a knife (which would seem too visceral in this setting). For the purpose of storytelling, it only shows up to "raise the stakes" symbolically when the villain needs to reassert himself.

But make no mistake, The Looney Tunes Show, at least in the U.S., is not marketed to young children per se. It mainly airs in primetime next to shows like Regular Show, Adventure Time, and MAD, all of which have TV-PG ratings.

 

[Jinxzy]

threats of deadly force? you must of missed the old looney tunes where there was actual use of deadly force and violence

Kopikatsu, Bugs Bunny died in the old cartoons.
Tom and Jerry commited suicide and drank booze, Donald Duck died multiple times, Goofy was thrown into a vulcano, and there is probably a lot more of that stuff that I don't remember.

Cartoons have become tame if anything.

All of my this.

Just imagine all the things that Wile E. Coyote has gone through and THEN tell me about a tortoise sticking up the hare.

Poor Wile E. Coyote, he was always my favorite because he tried so hard and always failed. As a little kid I felt bad for him and would save a piece of my chicken for him when we had it for dinner.

OT: Also all the old WWII propaganda cartoons they came out with, they had bugs bunny and donald duck in them.

 

[Orbot_Vectorman]

Snip

They've definitely changed haven't they. I watched Gargoyles the other day and the amount of guns and violence in that astounds me. I think a lot of that all changed after Columbine and also general popularity of them seemed to go down. Now we have shitty comedy shows and cartoons about reality shows... as if the actual reality tv wasn't bad enough.

I remember this cartoon, one of the my all time favs, so much voice talent in this. I was shocked to learn a few of the VA's in this found work in FiM of all places. I won't complain though.

But this episode was ... well... i remember being very young when I saw this and having really mixed emotions. My parents watched it with me and we talked through it, rather than them telling me I couldn't watch it. I'd wager that doesn't happen too much today either, parents actually parenting their fucking kids.

Spoiler

This was some heavy stuff. Watch it and see how much it shocks you. Kids used to be exposed to this stuff. They still should be.

Dude you are all sorts of messed up..... it took me weeks as a kid to get over this episode. But on that note your absolutely right, parents today aren't doing what should be done. Hell, parents today would have had a fit if that episode aired tomorrow.

 

[Ishal]

Snip

They've definitely changed haven't they. I watched Gargoyles the other day and the amount of guns and violence in that astounds me. I think a lot of that all changed after Columbine and also general popularity of them seemed to go down. Now we have shitty comedy shows and cartoons about reality shows... as if the actual reality tv wasn't bad enough.

I remember this cartoon, one of the my all time favs, so much voice talent in this. I was shocked to learn a few of the VA's in this found work in FiM of all places. I won't complain though.

But this episode was ... well... i remember being very young when I saw this and having really mixed emotions. My parents watched it with me and we talked through it, rather than them telling me I couldn't watch it. I'd wager that doesn't happen too much today either, parents actually parenting their fucking kids.

Spoiler

This was some heavy stuff. Watch it and see how much it shocks you. Kids used to be exposed to this stuff. They still should be.

Dude you are all sorts of messed up..... it took me weeks as a kid to get over this episode. But on that note your absolutely right, parents today aren't doing what should be done. Hell, parents today would have had a fit if that episode aired tomorrow.

Today having been more exposed to art I know that the character Transmutate was based on the painting "the scream" by Edvard Munch

Spoiler

Its a bit heavy handed given that he actually screams quite a bit in the episode, but I appreciate it nonetheless. This episode should have won an emmy. Its heartwrenching watching him die like that. He was supposed to be a symbol for the mentally handicapped and severe autism, and the show ended with him getting killed. Heavy shit, man. I'm right there with you, I remember grabbing my mom and making her watch it with me afterward since I didn't know what happened. I was very young back then. Rampage as a character was also very tragic in the this episode. Plus his own end was so tragic and epic... gah! Beast Wars was sooo good!!!!

 

[IndianaJonny]

When did cartoons get so...blunt, I guess? Back when I was a kid, an iteration of Scooby Doo was pulled because they determined it was too violent. Even later on, in shows such as Samurai Jack, violence between humans was heavily restricted, that the vast majority of his foes were mechanical in nature. The only exception I can really think of is the Scotsman.

Oh, if you thought the cartoons were rough:


There are three of those vids.

Or how about a series where the opening episode is about suicide bombers from outer space:

Spoiler: Fireball XL5