Is it for adults or kids?

I think one of the biggest ways that pop culture in my life has given me two different views is through animation. Cartoons have been a big part in our culture from the start of the visual media. There are even 2  animated films in the top 10 grossing movies so far, and the top number 1 movie is the computer animated movie Avatar Until about 15 years ago I did not really see what was being portrayed in a lot of animation. From TV cartoon shows to animated movies to cartoons in the paper.

I remember watching the Bugs Bunny TV show as a child and it was the funniest show and I loved it. That show was the highlight of my Saturday morning cartoons and when it came on after school. As a child it was all about funny. It was slapstick humor at its best.  I can look back now as an adult and see that there may have been something wrong there.

I can watch old cartoons now and see that not only was it designed for children but a lot of humor was also designed for me as a adult the innuendoes are very strong and even though the slapstick part was more for the children and the verbal was for me as a adult it has progressively gotten worse  and now as I look at cartoons today and what my children like. The lines have not only gotten less clear the boundaries have gotten less and less. One of the shows that my son loves is Dragon Ball Z. Not only does it push the boundaries of sexuality like one of the characters has a issue with looking at pornographic magazines they make it funny to kids by having him be slapped around by some of the females on the show.

That is the same with the tv show Naruto which is very popular with kids today. The main character not only is very funny and uses slapstick humor a lot but can turn himself into a nude woman to make laughs.

I have not only seen this in cartoons that are Foreign in nature (Japanese animation) but in DreamWorks and Disney movies also. One of my favorite shows as a adult that I like watching with my kids is the movie Surfs Up, it’s about a penguin that likes to surf. It uses a lot of slapstick humor for kids to laugh but also give the verbal language for adults but where do they draw the line for what kids hear and know today. One of the parts is one of the main characters is in a hot tub and is talking but when he stands up they pixelate the area where his genitals would be. Why do that if not for the adults? The rest of the movie after that you see him as normal no blurring but he is still a animal and he still doesn’t wear clothes. The main character calls another penguin a “pecker face” again for adults and I laughed because of the humor I saw in the statement, but when I laugh and my children don’t they want to know what was so funny.

We have a issue today with people thinking video games are more violent than ever  which I have blogged about in the past because media has focused alot on violence and teens that play video games even though violence among teens really isnt able to be pinpointed to any specifics other than "modeling". How ever we have looked very little into childrens cartoons and how it might be the root of the problem. Thats because we refuse to see that it’s what we as a society have aloud from the beginning with slapstick humor.


Video games have more sex in them, like "Bayanetta" which also is a complaint but again when you have a skunk in love with a cat that uses suicide to manipulate the girl of course through time it’s going to change into sexual direction with a lot of media. Take for instance Madagascar 2 the movie portrays a male hippo that is just out to have sex with another hippo and by the end of the movie the female hippo is in love with a giraffe and a penguin is marring abobble head doll.

Cartoon Networks Adult Swim which ranked #1 in rateings among  "young adults 18-34" and Cartoon Network day and evening programs raked #1 for boys ages 2-14, has just started broadcasting in Canada this month. This shows me that animation is popular and will coutinue to grow. where is the line? Who draws it? Pop culture has done nothing but confuse the lines between adult and children humor and what is ok and what is not. You as a single parent or a family that both parents work jobs do you really have the time to sit down and watch these programs? Or do you think that its ok to watch because its on tv?