by Kristeen Mandak

Created on: June 03, 2009

It is a misconception that cartoons are solely for children. In fact, not many people know that Looney Tunes were originally made for adults to watch in theatres, in order to uplift their spirits during the Great Depression and WWII. (If you watch a couple of episodes, you will see that there is silly adult humor hidden in the midst of the kid-friendly characters).

Since this time, new cartoons have popped up on television, with the mass majority appealing to children of various ages. In 1987, The Simpsons debuted, which appealed to an older crowd. In fact, today older children enjoy watching the show with their parents. In the midst of the cartoon world lie shows specifically intended for adults, including the ever-popular and controversial Family Guy, now featured on four different television stations. There is even a block of adult cartoons entitled Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, airing after 10:00 pm.

There is no way I would want my young children to watch these adult cartoons, some of them being quite violent and foul. However, I watch some myself, and feel that it is perfectly fine for such shows to be aired on TV. The fact that they are cartoons does not confuse me; the first clue that they are not intended for kids are the ratings of TV14 and TVMA. You can tell immediately that they are not kid-friendly by the content and by the fact that the characters are not cutesy. Also, most adult cartoons are aired after 10:00 pm, a time when young children should be asleep, not watching television.

Hence, it is the responsibility of parents or guardians to monitor what their children watch. If the FCC rid television of adult cartoons, then what would be next? Other inappropriate shows air during primetime that are not appropriate for children, but do not seem to get as much as a rap that adult cartoons do. You would think the opposite would be the case. If I were an impressionable child, I might be influenced by something more realistic looking on television than I would be by a cartoon. There is so much on TV that is bad for kids, but it is so out of control, that everything would be cut. Even the Super Bowl has now been considered inappropriate for children, because of some of the racy commercial content.

As a parent, television does scare me. However, I enjoy certain shows, like adult cartoons, that I feel are perfectly fine, when viewed by my husband and me. It is my responsibility to take pleasures from such content, while making sure I keep my kids safe by not exposing them to such content.

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