Rice Picker Entertainment

Okay I can’t deny it, I love cartoons!  I bet you all can agree at some level of watching cartoons.  You may not like the same ones I do because we all have different tastes.  For me, I love the old school cartoon bits (I.E. Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Ed, Edd, ‘n’ Eddy, Hey Arnold, or any 1990 - early 2000 cartoons); these cartoons were literally my childhood.  I’ve noticed an evolution from the cartoons we (kids born in the early 90s) grew up with and the kids of this generation are growing up with.

Let me start off by saying that the cartoons that the kids born in 1996 and on are growing up on complete crap; this is also stated by my Ethics professor.  There’s shows like Chowder, The Regular Show, T.U.F.F. Puppy, Adventure Time, and The Mighty B are a couple of examples of slop that cartoonists are calling a “kids program”.  I sat and watched some of these shows and let me tell you all, I was shocked to see some of the innuendos and slander put in these programs; this especially goes for Cartoon Network.

I was watching a preview for a new Cartoon Network show called The Regular Show.  In this specific preview, a character goes mentally crazed after seeing his uncle naked.  What kind of cartoon does that?  Then there’s another show called Total Drama and some random term that makes fun of reality shows.  Now reality shows are kind of bad the way they are already, but a cartoon about it?  In one particular episode, they are doing some relay race of some kind.  One character, who is pretty obese, runs and then his pants fly off; he begins to cheer as he semi-streaks across the field.  Now that was appalling, but what really got me was that they allude to his nakedness by adding a blur over where his penis would be.  What cartoon does that!?

Let’s move onto Nickelodeon.  If you were like me, you grew up on this channel.  Who could forget shows like Rugrats, Rocko’s Modern Life, the occasional Looney Tunes, Tiny Toons Adventures, or even Doug?  This new generation won’t get to experience watching babies using their imagination or kids being kids or the occasional crude humor.  Now it seems like the very few cartoons Nickelodeon provides are just crude humor with no plot whatsoever.  The Fairly Odd Parents is good examples of just crude humor.  The cartoon makes all adults look dumb and that kids should do what they want.  What kind of cartoon has Adam West running around with an obsession to stay a superhero with a cat fetish?  Sounds kind of like a pedophile.  What cartoon displays parents neglecting their child and are dumber than a sack of potatoes?  Yes we all have that desire that we want to be the rulers over our parents, but at 10 years old, it won’t happen.

Now when did sitcoms become the hit genre for kid’s shows?  Back in my generation, the only live action shows that existed on Nickelodeon were All That, Kenan & Kel, Figure it Out, and Are You Afraid Of The Dark; Cartoon Network never touched the live action shows back then.  Now they have this junk on their network like iCarly, Victorious, House of Anubis, Supah Ninja, True Jackson, and Big Time Rush.  Why are sitcoms and live action becoming the hit genre for kids?  To be honest they’re not that funny or good.  iCarly and Victorious both make the typical adult stupid and uneducated.  All the jokes that are said have some sort of sexual innuendo in it.  For instance, in iCarly one of the apartment numbers is this: 8=D.  Are you serious?  Another thing is the character Sam in the show.  She makes occasional remarks about her mom being a druggie, prostitute, crack whore, and an abusive mother.  Of course it is sugar coated to appeal to children and hide it, but as a young adult (weird to say that) and filmmaker I’m noticing these subtle hints.

Also, when did these shows get the clearance to start using the phrase “Oh My God”?  Of course we are coming to a time when religion is starting to be pushed out of media, but still it is taking the innocence away from these children shows.  Plus in these shows, especially Nickelodeon, they do poke fun at religion; particularly Jewish people and Christian, both protestant and Catholics.  Drake & Josh, an old sitcom on Nick makes a perfect example of that.  The boys become baby sitters to a child movie star who turns out to be a total brat.  She gets knocked out and while out in public the girl is in a slump.  Spectators question what is wrong and they just say that she’s a Presbyterian and they pray a lot.  I never really found anything humorous about that line.

What’s happening to the innocent shows we used to watch as kids?  What happened to a mouse dropping an anchor on a cat?  What happened to Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny?  What happened to the Ed’s trying to scam for jawbreakers?  All of them are gone now.  Of course some of my examples can be counter argued that they are as filthy as today’s shows, but let me get one thing straight about them, they are CARTOONS.  Cartoons can do things like that to make the impossible possible.  Now these live action shows are trying to put the cartoon vibe into real life.  They’re trying to make it look like that kids rule the world and can stay young forever.  They’re showing that it’s okay to treat the parents like crap.  They’re showing that if you act like an idiot, you’ll be a big star.  I’ve begun to take notice on the effects of this show on someone I know that is younger and grew up on these shows.  This person is really rebellious to the parents and believes everything is centered around themselves.  It’s sad to see that, but it’s what the networks are trying to tell the new generations.