However, I’m not trying to ridicule kids here– nor am I trying to “blast” the type of toys and games that are available out there today in the manner of some holier-than-thou morality police, a la Tipper Gore. It’s a different world, certainly– the times, they have gone a changin’. And I definitely wasn’t labeling little girls as “Whores” just because they like and want to buy the types of provocative looking (ie., Bratz) dolls or what have you. I was simply trying to point out (sarcastically, of course) how hypocritical it is for toy corporations, movies, tv, and other media in trying to sugar-coat and sanitize things such as Dave describes above, while at the same time they think nothing of bombarding society (not just kids) with images of sex, violence, you name it. Certainly if you think about it, something such as Pecos Bill’s poor little cigar is relatively benign compared to the images that kids today see everywhere– including in the real world! Doesn’t it seem ironic that something such as a little cigar in a cartoon needs to be censored, while pretty much everything out there nowadays is far more provocative? My point is, why are they trying to sugar coat certain things while kids are pretty much going to see a lot more of it in reality anyway? Get rid of images of smoking in cartoons? Silly. People smoke. That’s the reality. It may not be healthy, but there it is. Who are we to manipulate “morals” on others?
It reminds me of the time when I read an article about a certain group of parents who were trying to change the old standard Fairy Tales to make them “less scary and violent”– or the kooks out there who insist that Harry Potter promotes witchcraft. Ridiculous.

If you look at the sheer number of girls who had Barbie dolls, are you calling them Whores? Even if they did not? Same goes for video games, the amount of violence that is seen on a primetime television show versus a game which is unrealistic (if you have played GTA the fact that people call it a killer training game makes it sad to the point of what anyone will believe), I played mario brothers and while I did hop on a mushroom once I did not try to fall down a pipe or jump under a brick expecting gold coins.

I know someone who liked to wear a superman costume when he got home. One day at a party that his parents had all of a sudden the people here a “Superman!!!…..*Thud*” he jumped off the second story balcony, luckily onto grass. It was stupid, but it was part of being a kid.

Politically correct? Schmolitically Correct.

I think cartoons and movies that are successful in this genre are either timeless stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc), or are movies that can appeal to all ages without being overly clever or immediately dating itself. “Shrek” is a great movie, but it will be dated in a sense because of some of the jokes and cultural references. The same is true of “Aladdin,” which is one of my favorite movies from the more recent Disney releases. Overall, great– but 60 years from now, how many people will “get” the Arsenio Hall reference?

I dont think that they should erase or edit these cartoons, but keep them as evidence as to how easily smoking or other behavior was quite common at the time.

Bugs bunny was racist against the Japanese during WWII and Speedy Gonzalez is a really racist cartoon if you just look at it. Not to say about Scooby Doo, the Velma lesbian and closeted gay Fred thing….

Anonymous (such a unique pseudonym, that)– I’ve seen that website before, but thanks for sharing with the rest of us. I’m just disappointed not to see Mr. Peabody or Sherman there, though. It’s a great way to look up old websites, and a reminder that anything we commit to the web in the way of words and pictures probably can never be fully removed. Beware. Be very very ware (apologies to A.A. Milne!).