Saturday, November 04, 2006

Cartoons for kids? Are they sure?

Any one of my readers that have kids would probably have been exposed to this show already:

Tom And Jerry Tales. 8:30AM start time EST.

I was hearing strange sounds and went to investigate.

Imagine my surprise to see some sort of Hawiian fire goddess throwing fire balls at Tom the cat as he rode a totally unbelieveable surfboard on lava.

That wasn't my issue. Lava riding beings, man, machine or animal, has been done hundreds of times.

What I took umbrage to was the fact that the "fire goddess" was a naked buxom and shapely babe with wisps of fire slicing across her southern privates and fingers of flame cupping her ample breasts.

EXCUSE ME???

What in the world are these cartoonists thinking with -- their pencil penises?? Give me a break! That is not appropriate for children's TV.
Why do they have to sneak in sex?
Why do they target such a young audience?

They're skanky about it too. They couch sex within favorite characters so the kids will pitch a fit if you tell them to turn it off or change the channel.

"It's a good part, Mom! What's wrong with it?"

Scary, isn't it?

What is wrong?

It's wrong that they really don't know what they're being exposed to , but the seeds of casual sex and casual treatment of sex, male or female, have been planted. It's influence shows up once the hormones start changing their views of themselves, their peers and their world.

Don't even get me started on the violence that accompanies the sex. That is another soapbox subject.

So, have YOU watched the latest cartoon fodder on TV with your kids?

Have you seen what I've seen?

As adults, we can rationalize, understand and dismiss most of the crap imbedded in cartoons. I believe we do this automattically, like a reflex.

Kids haven't lived long enough to develop that reflex or anti-marketing skin. They are little sponges, absorbing everything - the filters develop as they age and as they gain maturity.

Right now, WE are the filters. As hard as it is to do, we must play the "bad cop".

If we don't,
I shudder to think about the ripple affect on the morality and ethics of our future society.

Time to catch the pebble BEFORE it hits the pond.

IMHO

4 comments:

Brandy said...

I thought I was the only one that filtered what kids programs I let the kids watch! I feel like as a society, we are making our kids aware of things too early, like sex, violence, etc. You don't want to get me started on this whole thing, I'd make your ears bleed. (no cussing, just very opinionated over this topic)

Michele said...

Brandy, I don't think any parent can remain blase about what is on TV.
We all have opinions.
On one hand, education is important, on the other is the timing.
The media is taking the timing out of our hands...wresting it away quite forcefully at times.
The buggers.

However - freedom of speech does need to be protected.

TV, like vampires, can't bother us if we don't invite it in, right? Maybe the schools have it right. TV free weeks are a good thing.

Anonymous said...

I just saw that episode. I have twin three year olds, and a five year old.
I'm not as offended as you though.

My guess is that she was drawn by Phil Foglio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Foglio
definitely looks like one of his creations.

It's a common thing for artists to have "cameos" by other artists. Although I'm not sure Foglio's work would be appreciated by children... or their parents.

Michele said...

Hey, thanks for sharing your views, Anonymous.

BTW- congrats on being a Mom of 3!

You know your anime - I haven't a clue as to the names of cartoon artists. There's only one artist and style I recognize by sight and that is Boris, and he doesn't do cartoons. *grin*

That day I wrote this, my "super screening and Mom censor" was working overtime. If one of my kids hadn't started "noticing" the differences and asking "those" questions recently , maybe it would have slipped under my radar. As it is, I'm more hyper aware of things lately.
I wonder if I'll ever calm down?

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