Cartoons, Censorship and Parenting

This is another old one, but again, I read it, enjoyed it, got re-angry (it's a word!) about it and took it a step further.

Originally posted: 8/22/06
Original title: "Give that Cat a Marlboro"

Since this is a news story out of London about smoking, my title was going to be "light up a fag for that cat" but this is AMERICA and you can't so much as say "boo" without someone crawling up your can about it, and I'm not sure how many people know that "fag" means something different across the ocean anyway, so I censored myself. Because that's what you have to do in America. You can't say what you want. And it seems, Britain is having its own censorship issues..

Tom & Jerry are in trouble overseas for smoking in cartoons.

Let me tell you, I remember both of the episodes they're talking about in this article (read on) and I can honestly say, neither of them had anything to do with the fact that I was a smoker.
Are these people serious?

LONDON (Reuters) - They chase each other at high speed, wielding axes and hammers. But the famous cartoon duo of Tom and Jerry are in trouble in Britain for smoking on screen.

So, they can beat the ever-loving snot out of each other with everything in sight (my favorite is the one with the pool-table...)

Ah, but if they smoke, that's bad for little kids watching the show?

Media regulator Ofcom received a complaint from a viewer who took offence at two episodes involving smoking.

From "a viewer"? "A"? As in ONE? One person gripes about it and because of that, they're going to edit the episodes? It doesn't say "a mass protest has sparked controversy". It says that ONE idiot (clearly one with too much time on his or her hands) griped about it.

In one, "Texas Tom," the hapless cat Tom tries to impress a feline female by rolling a cigarette, lighting it and smoking it with one hand. In the other, "Tennis Chumps," Tom's opponent in a match smokes a large cigar.

Ok, again...I watched this as a kid and I remember both of the cartoons that they're talking about... and neither one of them contributed to my picking up a cigarette and a lighter. Then again, maybe I could have used that when I got busted smoking at 17. "But mom, it's YOUR fault. You were the one letting me watch Tom & Jerry!"

In a bulletin posted online, Ofcom noted "concerns that smoking on television may normalize smoking," ...

Excuse me? What exactly is normal about a giant blue cat that smokes? Why can we suspend disbelief long enough to watch a big blue cat bashing a little mouse with a pool cue, but we draw the line when he wants a smoke?

And furthermore, why is alright to send children the message that it's fine to bash others with a pool cue, but not to smoke? Someone's got their priorities a little out of whack here, wouldn't you say?

... and said that the Turner company, licensee for Boomerang which aired the cartoons, had agreed to edit some smoking scenes out of Tom and Jerry.

Well, what about all the other cartoons then? I clearly remember Fred and Barney lighting up. What about Pepe le Pew? That guy was a date-rapist! And they didn't call him "Speedy" Gonzalez for nothing.

"The licensee has ... proposed editing any scenes or references in the series where smoking appeared to be condoned, acceptable, glamorized or where it might encourage imitation," Ofcom said, adding that "Texas Tom" was one such example.

But it would not cut all smoking scenes, it added.

Is anyone else as confused by that as I am? Cut all of them, or none of them. Why would you cut a few and leave the rest? So someone else can gripe about it later? Now me, I say cut none of them. That is censorship. But if it's causing such a major issue, why would you only look at editing some of them?

Ofcom said it recognized smoking was more generally accepted when cartoons were produced in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, but noted that the threshold for including such scenes when the audience is predominately young should be high.

Well, Lucy and Ricky smoked, and they still show all of those episodes - and those two smoked a LOT, especially in the earlier episodes. And those reruns are on right smack in the middle of the day when...*gasp* ...a child might see it!

Come on already. I'm so tired of hearing parents complaining about everything influencing their kids to do bad things. Please. Anything to absolve themselves of responsibility when their kid goes to school with a semi-automatic weapon and takes out 6 people.

Blame the music, blame the movies, blame TV, and blame...Tom & Jerry.
But definitely don't blame the parents.

2009 edit:

Reading this again, not surprisingly, got me riled up about it again.

Bottom line - Mom and Dad can turn the TV off if they they don't want Junior to see something. We don't need everyone and their brother stepping in every minute of the day to decide what is or is not ok.

For example: (Chris, I'm going to use you here, because you're a very good momma...) my sister doesn't allow her daughters to watch Family Guy. I don't blame her, I wouldn't either. But is she running around screaming all over creation about how the show depicts things that might negatively influence the children? No. She's doing what normal people do - not turning on Family Guy when the kids are hanging around.

What's so hard about this?

There's a difference, you say? Because Tom and Jerry is geared toward children and Family Guy isn't, you say? This is true. But Family Guy reruns air during early evening and prime time hours, and it wouldn't be hard for a child to find it on TV at all. And it's a cartoon, and the mentality we had as kids, I'm quite sure, still exists - cartoons = suitable for children.

Well, not anymore, but a child doesn't know that. A child sees a cartoon and thinks they may watch it because "cartoons are for kids!"

So whose responsibility is this? And is taking these things off the air or editing content the answer?

Genius that I am, I have the answers.

It isn't up to the President or the FCC or the churches or schools or John Q. Public to run around yelling about what my child might see. 1) It's censorship. 2) It's my child and I'll decide what I feel he or she can view. And if I don't want the child to see something, then the TV goes off. 3) This one is subjective, because there are plenty of parents who don't pay attention to what they're kids are watching and doing and these people probably SHOULD have decisions made for them, but personally, I do not need (and I rather resent) other people making these kinds of choices for me.

The answer is that Mom and Dad need to, heaven forbid, pay attention to their children - what they watch, what they're doing, what games they're playing, and the list goes on. If there's something questionable, turn it off or get rid of it. And if I don't mind that the kid watches Tom and Jerry, then you know, that is also MY business. This is a real simple action.

"Wow, Kim, you have all kinds of opinions about raising children... why don't you have one of your own first, then you can have an opinion, and until then, shut up."

Yeah, I know. That's what parents always say about people like me. This is why I don't talk to people who have kids about having kids. No one wants economic opinions from a country that has no money.

But you know what, not having children doesn't mean I'm stupid and furthermore, having a child does not automatically make a person a good parent or give them the right to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. But the children of these people are probably the ones who are going to one day beat up my good and well-balanced kid on the playground though, so I'll keep the list to myself.