Entertainment >
TV Genres & Trends
Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedIf adult cartoons are bad for kids, should they be aired on TV?
Results so far:
| No | 33% | 232 votes | Total: 711 votes | |
| Yes | 67% | 479 votes |
No
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesJust the term "adult Cartoon" would cause me to consider whether I would allow my child to watch such programs. If you let your child watch "adult" cartoons, then would your let them watch "adult" movies which involve hard-core pornography and degrading, humiliating sex practices? Adult cartoons, by its very description involves subject matter that ordinarily would not be aired before children. It involves such things as profanity, deviant sexual behavior and the advocacy of lifestyles that no loving parent would allow their children to be exposed to-at least not at such a young age. This is not to say that parents shouldnt teach their kids about sex. They should be taught that sex is a a gift from a loving creator that should be viewed responsibly and not treated like a game or a toy. They should also be taught when they do get old enough to have get married and to sex, they should be willing to shoulder the responsibility of what that will mean, especially as they reach young adulthood and start thinking about marriage and raising a family. Obviously, "adult" cartoons doesnt teach a child any of these things. What it will teach them is how to develop unhealthly sexual attitudes at an unusually early age and teach them how to have a warped and perverted view about sex. Do you want your kids to be little kids or little perverts?
Today, there are "adult" cartoons such as "The Simpsons" and "The Family Guy" among others. Television audiences rollick in roaring laughter at their sleazy, tawdry antics as if they were watching a Warner Brothers cartoon. But some of us of a certain age can remember a time when such shows wouldn't have made it out of a studio cutting room. The producers would have taken one look at the script or plot and would have been aghast in shock and horror. It would have never even been remotely considered for family viewing. It was a "family-friendly" culture.
Today, we are living in a society that has for the most part lost any sense of what the traditional family used to be like and is definitely not friendly. So has today's TV producers. They are neither concerned with being a family or being friendly. They're just concerned about making money, that's all. They do not care about your family or mine, just as long as their families are not subjected to this moral swill. They just cater to the people's wants, and if its filth and sleaze they want, and subject matter condoning homosexuality, incest and the like, even if they are cartoons, well...
Whether parents want to allow their kids or not to watch adult cartoons is something they will have to decide, But parents who truly love their children and want the best for them probably wouldn't have adult cartoons on their list.
Learn more about this author, James Harvey.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Yes
Two of my television-related guilty pleasures (along with Gossip Girl and The Girls Next Door) are South Park and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I often joke that I'm "way too old" at almost thirty to like this sort of show; I should've outgrown the offensive, often sex- or violence-inspired, humor by now. On the other hand, my eleven-year-old daughter and certainly my one-year-old son are way to young to enjoy, or even really understand, these same shows.
That is why they both air on cable networks after ten PM. That is the reason behind the development of today's television rating system. Even more importantly, that is why I set strict parental blocks within my cable box with which to monitor and control the types of programming my children are exposed to. Sheltering our children from inappropriate television material is not a responsibility that should be placed solely on the shoulders of entertainers or the media. Rather, it is a responsibility that should be shared between the two, provided that the larger part of it is placed with the parents.
When our children are born, we do not open the door of the labor and delivery room and usher them out with instructions to go along their merry way while we go off in the opposite direction. Why? Because children have curious and under-developed minds that need nurturing and guidance - from their parents. It is our job to teach our children right from wrong, how to take care of themselves both physically and emotionally, as well as to protect them from things their minds are not ready for yet, such as entertainment content that is too raunchy or mature for them. This is what we signed up for when we decided to start a family. We cannot then expect total strangers, such as the virtually nameless, often faceless entities behind the shows that we watch, to take over for us once that little red button is pushed. Moreover, it would be completely un-American (indeed, against the policies of any free country or region) to ban certain programs from television simply because they are inappropriate for children. Besides, our kids have to go to bed some time, don't they?
On the other hand, it takes a village to raise a child, and the town crier and the local bards are just as much a part of the village as anyone else. There are some basic guidelines to which I believe any responsible media outlet should adhere.
Imagine this: As you're doing the dishes at four in the afternoon, you suddenly realize that the voice coming from the TV in the living room - the one your nine-year-old is planted in front of AFTER her homework has been done of course - is that of Eric Cartman, not Hannah Montana. Anyone who's ever seen one episode of South Park knows what is likely to be coming out of that mouth, and it's not exactly family-friendly. You'd be pretty upset, right? But I know what you're thinking: "Oh please, that would never happen." And you're right. It would never happen because, a) the Disney Channel knows and respects what is expected of them and therefore would never solicit Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the rights to their show in the first place, and b) even if your child changed the channel, Comedy Central is responsible enough not to air a program of that caliber in the middle of the day.
My point is this: There's no realistic reason that adult-themed cartoons should not be aired on television, as long as two specific things are happening. First and foremost, we as parents need to be aware at all times of what our children are viewing. If you can't be hanging over your kids' shoulders every minute the TV is on (and most parents can't), then by all means, utilize the heck out of those digital parental controls - that's what they're there for. Second, anything rated TV14 and above should only be shown at certain times and/or on certain channels or networks, in order to minimize the chances of children simply stumbling upon them.
It's pretty safe to assume that most people who are reading this are doing so from a free country, and that most parents who are reading this are attentive and responsible ones. So why should it be solely the responsibility of the media or the television industry to shelter our children from adult content?
As for the fact that most children, when they see cartoons, think, "kids' show!" ...the answer to that conundrum is simple. I often tell my daughter that just because a show is animated doesn't mean it was made with a child's sensibilities in mind. That's it - no addditional explanation required. After all, you are the parent, aren't you?
Learn more about this author, Erin Weatherhogg.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
