Cartoons & Controversies

In our last class, we had discussed a little bit about controversies within cartoons, like Spongebob Squarepants, and the Teletubbies. I went onto Google and researched what other controversies there were out there within the cartoon industry, and surprisingly, I had found a lot, but I wrote down 5 in this blog, some may or may not surprise you.

1. Bugs Bunny.
Bugs Bunny is said to be one of the most influential cartoon characters in the history of cartoons, but some have said that underneath his funny sense of humor, Bugs Bunny was apparently a "racist."
 
2. Tom and Jerry.
Even though these two are both comedic with their hatred towards each other, they too are said to have multiple episodes in which they include racism.

3. Popeye.
Even though he is known for his courageous, one of his targets was supposedly subliminally the Japs during World War II, along with that he is blamed for stereotyping.

4. Donald Duck.
He was one of the very first Disney characters that was criticized for racism. He also was banned in Finland due to the fact that he never wore pants.

 5.The Simpsons.
 I had actually learned about the Simpsons and how they were made with a meaning for politics. The whole show is based on political references and each person represents someone in politics, which is actually, in my opinion, quite clever and interesting.

While reading this, I personally think that it's ridiculous. It's true that kids watch this cartoons and learn from them, but they have no idea as to watch references they have, if they have any. They aren't going to point out things like "he is making a sexual reference, he is racist, he is making a political statement, but you can't tell because it's subliminal, etc." Kids just don't say that, because they don't really have any knowledge about any of them. When people critique these classic cartoons, it makes me a big annoyed, because there is no need to overlook these things. People are only making it worse for their kids because telling them why the cartoons are bad are putting those ideas into their heads themselves, not the innocence of (most) cartoons.