Too sensitive? No fricking way. I LOVE analyzing commercials for this kind of thing. How about the "stolen credit card/stolen identity" commercials where you get a woman's voice coming from a man or vice versa? You know, you got a black weight lifter in a gym and as he speaks a STUPID WHITE VALLEY GIRL voice comes out of his mouth saying how great her new push-up bra is. In each and every single commercial the thief was obviously white (valley girl, NASCAR redneck, Monster truck redneck, etc.)and the victim was, quite often black. Loved it. You get a lot of PC in kid's cartoons, too. I have 2 little ones. My favorite is Arthur. 1. The mega-competitive, foaming at the mouth competitive as a matter of fact, super-athlete is a JEWISH GIRL. She outplays everybody in every sport. She is also poor, and her father is a garbage man. 2. The genius of the show, nicknamed "The Brain" has intellect and ability comparable to Einstein and he is black. But the corker is the rich kid. Notice how the show strives to break ALL the stereotypes -- but not when it comes to the wealthy. The super-rich family is WHITE as can be (the father's voice is a perfect copy of Eddie Murphy doing the hilariously "dorky white guy" voice" and is also composed of cheating, fraudulent, crooks who made their money selling crappy used cars while wearing loud, green, checkered suits. Gotta love it.
You ought'a hear my ignorant black guy voice... when I get out of the hospital...
You are right about cartoons. I can name off of the top of my head about 5 or 10 shows that feature a nerdy smart black kid: Malcolm in the Middle, Danny Phantom, Lazytown, etc.
Guess I never read that much into Arthur. Always thought the Jewish girl looked a lot more black than The Brain. I just thought of them as a bunch of talking animals. Considering that Marc Brown is white I didn't think it meant anything. BTW, my oldest son says he wants to make a fairy tale restaurant like the one in the D.W. the Picky Eater episode.