The Use and Abuse of Visual Culture in Adult Cartoons

Introduction: As long as there have been civilizations, there have been stories, myths that are told to children. These stories are usually the basis of the cartoons characters except some which are from creator’s imagination. This story telling is a means of not only comforting and amusing a child, but of teaching the child the societal norms of their nation. These are memorized by children and remembered forever. Children idolize their favourite character, the character they have most in common with and are best able to identify with, and try to emulate that character’s

Disclaimers were created throughout the 1960s and although that might’ve been valuable in helping parents avoid problematic cartoons for their children, disclaimers still couldn’t realistically protect audiences from an endless range of controversial content. It also questions how far distribution companies should go while guiding consumer

In 1942, Walt Disney and his crew created the animated film, Bambi. Although the movie was not a success at first the popularity of picture has certainly grown over time. In all of Disney’s works he was not only able to attract the eye of the children, but also attract the compassion of adults. Essentially, he used animation, featuring appealing characters and clever events, to symbolize the issues that were around the world. In essence, while children were in awe of the story that they believed was cute and fun to watch, adults could relate to the symbolism and stereotypes throughout the film.

Scott, Laura. “The Importance of Representation in Kids’ Cartoons” [“The Importance of Representation in Kids’ Cartoons”]. Affinity magazine, 28 Jan. 17. Affinity magazine, Affinity, http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/01/28/the-importance-of-representation-in-kids-cartoons/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2018.

Private Snafu was the main character of his namesake cartoon and his cartoons were designed to instruct military personnel about security, proper sanitation habits, booby traps and other military subjects, and to improve troop morale; all by showing troops what not to do. As cartoons gained momentum in mainstream American Pop culture, the height of racism in Cartoons arrived in a collection of Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoon later to be known as the Censored Eleven. These obscene “war-time” cartoons were seen as only slightly out of place at the time but by 1948 they were banned from the public viewing and sale of the film. The second world war brought about the transformation and evolution of the entire cartoon industry, for better or for worse, and these short films got the United States through one of the darkest times in American history. Cartoons achieved this crucial milestone by publicizing the war effort, informing the public, and most importantly keeping up the moral of and pulling together a nation that will forever and always bleed red, white, and

During World War II, political cartoons were widely used as propaganda techniques and persuasive tactics. In America, political cartoons were merely used to mobilize populations for war, form hatred for the enemies and win support of American people and allied forces. The U.S government looked to Walt Disney as the leading studio to do just the job. Disney’s propaganda included Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Pluto and more. Through Disney’s involvement in production of propaganda films there was an increase of support of the war.

Plot subjects in animation and media often are reflective of how we as a society are constantly changing. The content in which animation companies produces is often relevant to current and most important events that are occurring. This has shown to be true throughout the many decades of animation. Between the years of 1942 and 1945, the years of World War II, Walt Disney Studios were found to have been producing mass propaganda for the U.S. Government for the purpose of increased morale and support throughout the war. Disney Studios at the time was an extremely popular animation studio which made them incredibly relevant to the public community.

Television has gotten was all you hear is cussing and bad language. Such as like the older shows the character says words that should not be said around young children. The write have also got were they just substitute the cuss word and the little kids end up saying that word and getting in trouble.T.V. is were I learnt the cuss words I know. The T.V. has made it terrible to ever watch cartoons.

“Animation offers a medium of storytelling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world,” said Walt Disney of his beloved cartoons. While it is true that cartoons are an interesting medium of visual entertainment, their unique ability to convey information to people, adults and children alike, make the animated film medium one of the most far reaching means of propaganda. Today it is impossible to imagine American animated cinema without Disney and its cartoons. The American captivation with Disney has not changed much in the seventy years since World War II. In the early 1940s, two thirds of Americans went to the movies every week and these moviegoers were enamored

Tom and Jerry by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera humorist cartoon. Even when both characters always do each other wrong it always humor people of how much trouble they cause. Humorist come in any categories they always have a message behind even in a kid show. They always imitated someone. Society humor people of any ages when tye are saying what in their mind.

What comes to mind when you hear Popeye the Sailor? Is it a strong man on a boat eating spinach that saves the damsel in distress from the big, bad bully? What about Bugs Bunny, everyone’s favorite carrot eating mammal that runs around causing mischief for all involved? If you have warm and pleasant thoughts for these two characters, then you are not alone. These cartoon characters have been making people around the world laugh since the 1930’s. Parents and children alike have been finding themselves sitting on their couch binge watching episode after episode relishing in the humor. The sad truth is that these characters have not always been used for lighthearted fun and entertainment. In the quest for money and continued success, media production companies have been known to turn these children based images into dark, message heavy vehicles that are anything but the normal easygoing cartoons. Next time you turn on the cartoon channel try picturing your favorite character being racially insensitive or treating others in a way that you might not be able to easily explain to your children. That is just what the parents during World War II were faced with. The question that comes to mind in this situation is whether or not these parents felt the need to bring up racial discrimination to their children or if they thought the cartoons were inappropriate to begin with. The children’s cartoons created by Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, and Paramount Pictures during World

The slightest reference to an adult theme makes the rating PG-13 or higher, thereby making it impossible to market to children. Thus, most of the adaptations have reimagined the storyline to make it more suitable for younglings.

Because of it’s basic cartoonish nature many people think The Simpsons is just a simple basic cartoon and nothing else. “the style of drawing that is used for these characters is

Childhood is when you admire jerry for his ingenious and maturity is when you feel sorry for tom because how annoying jerry is. This is so said from the popular TV show, Tom and Jerry. Tom and Jerry is a hilarious TV show spoken only through site with huge amounts of slapstick comedy which themes throughout the whole of the tv show and has traces of irony and surrealism. The TV show tom and jerry is a 1940 animation that is still been made to this day. This small anime was set in America involving two small figures, a cat, and a mouse who battle it out day and night. Tom being the cat has to chase down and get rid of the mouse which is pestering the household. The animation was first thought of by Joseph Babra and william hanna as small short

As the years went on cartoons did not diverge from the successful slapstick routine that was shown. But as the years passed and local televisions were introduced, cartoons were no longer something you could only see in theaters. Adults became less interested in the cartoons, and began considering cartoons as something that only children should watch. As such animation companies began directing all of their shows at young children. Merchandising was now the best way to make money off of these cartoons now that the cartoons could be watched at home, with constant advertisement, companies could sell all kinds of merchandise based off of cartoons, a great example of which is Disneyland. Up into the 90s cartoons were still directed at children urging them to purchase the next cool toy based off of the show.