Posted on 08/22/2006 6:28:15 AM PDT by RubyCosmos
LONDON (UPI) -- The Boomerang cartoon TV network is editing some scenes from classic "Tom and Jerry" cartoons where the cat and mouse are smoking cigarettes.
The decision was announced after British media watchdog, Ofcom, investigated a viewer's complaint that the cartoons from the 1940s and 1050s were not appropriate for young viewers, the BBC reported Monday.
Boomerang will only edit the cartoons where smoking appears to be "condoned, acceptable or glamorized," the BBC said.
"We note that in Tom and Jerry smoking usually appears in a stylized manner," Ofcom said in a statement.
However, it said, "the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."
Why bother to rewrite history when it's so much easier to erase it?
Does anybody remember the "Three bears" cartoons? You had anrgy dwarf Pa, passive agressive Ma, and semi retarded giant baby. They were directed by Chuck Jones in the early 50's. Basicly eight minutes of wife beating and child abuse.
I worked at Warner animation about ten years back. And would spend lunch in the lobby hanging out with the receptionist named cindy. I was there when she got a call from a distraught mother somewhere in the midwest. Seems her toddler had seen an unedited copy, and was now crying hystericaly. She spent twenty minutes explaining that the company couldn't fire all the people involved because they were all dead now.
The bear toons were pulled from circulation. I doubt they'll ever see broadcast again.
however cross dressing is allowed....
next they will edit out cartoon violence...
Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign? A few years back when the Speedy cartoons were pulled for not being politically correct, they were put back on after a lot of viewers complained.
This whole thing is ridiculous, especially if you have the special knowledge (denial) that smoking is basically harmless! God I share your concern over Pepe's fate!
Unfortunately, this is an indictment of the nature of tv, not any redeeming quality at all about the specified cartoons. They suck.
I recorded a "June Bugs" weekend from Cartoon Network. Part of the commercial lineup is a clip from some stupid show called "Adult Swim". Boy in his underwear threatening his brother that he's going to call their mom and tattle because the other boy accidentally set fire tosomething or other. Dials the phone and the other panics and grabs the phone only to here a dial tone while the first one chuckles and says "You're just lucky I don't know her number right now."
All that this did was to show every kid watching that they should be pricks to their siblings. And with it run SCORES/HUNDREDS of times during every commerical break that weekend, it did FAR more damage than smokin Tom which might be shown once or twice a year.
No. You'll never convince me that current cartoons have ANY redeeming or entertainment value. They're just empty-headed pap.
I'm a non-smoker and it amazes me the number of people that don't see that something they can legally enjoy NOW, just may be the next thing on the chopping block of dangerous special interest groups that undermine ALL of our rights.
So what's your opinion of the latent homosexuality implicit in "Chip and Dale" cartoons? Why aren't the edited? Indubitably, My Dear, LOL!
"Ey, Señor, so you want to see my Green Card? EEEpah! EEeepah! Andalé, andalé! - WHHHOOOOSH!!!"
Actually I do have a problem with that. I did stutter as a kid and Porky Pig made it made it seem acceptable to kids to make fun of it.
It's incredible how kids just always happened to want to immitate Porky Pig around me. When the teacher would say something to the kid, they'd just say "hey, i'm just talking like porky pig".
For some reason, stuttering is the only handicap that people think it's funny to make fun of. Apparently you do as well.
Well you seemed to really believe that anyone that objected to Porky Pig being appropriate for children was being overly sensitive.
I don't want the government interfering in areas like this, but I don't see a problem with private companies do. Some of the material from the earlier cartoons just isn't appropriate for children.
LOL! Remember the episodes with that black housekeeper and she always said "THOMAS. THOMAS!" And she knocked him with the broom. ROFL. I shouldn't laugh but it's funny though.
Close, but... well, no cigar.
The rule is, it is OK to offend most people. It's just the tiny factions that we are prohibited to offend. The smaller the faction, the more "protected" their "right" to NOT be "offended."
Take homosexuals for example. They comprise at most 2% to 3% of the population, yet, their political clout far outweighs that of the majority.
The idea of "democracy" is a farce, even apart from its inherent fallacy (i.e., three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner). As practiced, "democracy" turns out to be the diametric opposite of "majority rule".
In practice, what we endure is a "minority rule" regime.
Used to be that sort of thing was frowned upon (see "History of South Africa" for confirmation). Now, though, it's minority rule, plain and simple. Find any tiny faction that proclaims that it's "offended" by something, and watch the populace be hammered into virtual reeducation camp (otherwise known as "the schools" and "the media" and "entertainment"), until they learn to properly bow and scrape before The Offended Ones.
Of course, it helps if the tiny faction comprising "The Offended Ones" represents a sociological monkeywrench in the gears of classic American culture.
Welcome to the future. Shut up, bend over, and do as you're told -- and like it -- or else!
(Huh? Me, cynical?)
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