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Sexual innuendos/adult jokes in childrens cartoons. How u feel about it?

K

Khadijah

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I was just watchin some video clips of some older shows that was on cracked.com, and they had pointed out a bunch of examples of some serious sex innuendos in kids shows from the 90s, and i noticed that these days its more n more common to put shit like that in cartoons that is suppose to be for kids. i can post a link to the story and more examples if its allowed.

Here is a few examples:

1- in a Animaniacs show, one of the characters is solving a mystery and tells the other guy "dust for prints" and she comes back with Prince the singer. and then the guy is like, "No, i meant FINGER prints" and she looks at prince with a "eeeeewww!" look and tosses him over board. Like damn, did they jus make a joke about fingering somebody on a kids cartoon show?

2 - another one was on a show called cow and chicken where a biker gang called the buffalo gals comes into a familys house and starts eating the rug 8) ya know, carpet munching...8) and then they play softball and do a bunch of other supposedly butch lesbian shit, and if that wasnt enough they go out of their way to specifically make the reference of, "yea this gang is known to attack by breaking into homes and munching their carpets"

3 - In one rockos modern life episode they had the cow character gettin milked and they showed the machine hookin up to him (yea, him for some reason, wtf? ) and then he CLEARLY got off from it...like eyes rollin back in his head , little hearts in his eyeballs for pupils, shaking and smiling, like the whole exaggerated "ohhhhh boooooyyyyeee" cartoon bust-a-nut orgasm expressions. It was mad weird, and NO kid would see that and not be at least kind of weirded out or puzzled becuz they know that MILKING would not be so pleasurable like that. its just fucked up IMO.

it really suprised me how much is allowed to slip past in these shows that is supposed to be for LITTLE kids, not even like 10 yr old kids...I just feel like damn...Wat the hell is so bad about letting kids be innocent when they are young...why expose them to all these weird jokes that they dont quite understand but they can definately get the idea that something "off" is going on? They might not quite get it all the way but they aint stupid, they can tell when there is a joke that is about somethin sexual and I remember seein some of these things as a kid and knowing there was somethin "naughty" they was gettin at but just not bein able to put my finger on it. So it aint just goin over their heads like it supposedly does, kids def. notice it.

it jus seems like these days its considered ok to put this kind of shit in shows made for kids, cartoons, you kno? It seems kinda messed up to me. i think that alot of people be like, well, the kids dont understand it anyways so why does it matter, its just for the parents who is forced to watch the shit with the kids, but real talk so many parents dont even watch tv with their kid anways and just park em in front of it for a few hours. and plus, kids should not be watching hours n hours of TV anyways, so they shouldnt be watchin enough TV that the parent would get fed up with watchin it anyways, you feel me? Like If you cant bear to sit thru a half hour or a hour of childrens cartoons without having adult oriented sex jokes slipped into it, you got a problem. Its kinda selfish if you ask me....

So i wanted to ask, wat do yall think about that type of shit and how common it seems to be these days? And wat is some innuendos that yall have seen or noticed or heard about in kids shows these days?

do you think that ANY of it is appropriate, that some how there is a line where certain kind of shit is OK , and some of it is over the line? or is it all just unnecessary? Personally, I feel like damn...WTF happened to shows like fuckin, David the Gnome and shit like that? Now even shows for 6 year olds are full of adult oriented jokes hidden in the script. but i was curious to hear yalls thoughts on this type shit...
 
it's not a current trend. there have always been underlying adult jokes peppered into children's cartoons.

believe me, the stuff we watched as little kids, like Bugs Bunny, had equally risque, adult humor but we don't remember it because we didn't "get" it. similarly, a young child isn't going to understand the examples you gave unless the sexual, adult side is explained to them. children watching these shows are thinking, "what a silly character! eating carpet!"

unless there's blantant, explicit sexual references, i don't think the occassional adult innuendos (innuendos a child would NEVER understand, mind you) are terrible.
 
I'm with FP. You really have to think about it from a child's perspective. Much of that stuff would just seem like nonsense, not "off" or anything - just silliness because it's a cartoon. Lots of crazy stuff goes down in cartoons, and kids won't be able to separate what's weird and what's weird plus bawdy. One of my good friends got back into the Animaniacs in her 20s and made me watch it, and I couldn't believe all the adult-oriented material! I was like wtf, I don't remember ANY of this!!! (It's actually a damn good show! I didn't appreciate it nearly as much when I was 10 as I do today, even.) Shit, half the stuff thrown in these days doesn't even get noticed by adults either, lol. I went and saw one of the Shrek movies in the theater, and I was one of the only people that laughed at a particular joke! (There was a series of stuff, but the topper was when Prince Charming's mom the Fairy Godmother was whipping up potions, and a bottle of love elixir was marked IX - Love Potion Number 9!!! Granted, not a dirty joke, but it's the only one I'm remembering right now.) I consider it a good thing that they try to bridge the gap a little, especially since many kids movies have so little aesthetic quality anymore - I still love all the old Disney movies with their lush animation and beautiful music, but most kids' movies nowadays have no other redeeming qualities but their adult humor.

In any event, I'd be FAR more concerned about the overt sexualization of children going on these days...
 
How many children are OK with "Spongebob?" If you think about it, that cartoon gets really gross, but it's still a children's show. If children don't get the references, IMO, it does no harm; and adults can still be entertained.
 
I don't know what the big deal is! I see a lot of innuendo in the simpsons (which is for kids too) am most of it goes over their heads. Do you really think this sort of thing will actually corrupt children? I would tend to think things like a parent's behavior would have FAR more influence than a cartoon.
 
I love it. And a lot of the cartoons on TV, Simpsons etc which you see it in the most, were intended for adults to begin with. The majority of kids aren't going to understand it anyway, and those that do aren't going to be any worse off.
 
It's obviously a sign of the coming social apocalypse.... I mean, come on, sex (indirect or otherwise) on a childrens' program? Outrageous!

Everybody knows that kids programming should be about violence, as brutal, twisted and bloody as possible. Lots of explosions and "us against them" themes.

But sex or love....... no no no, that's bad!!!!

8)
 
Rocko's Modern Life was notorious for that kind of humor. Memories!

My op:

1.) The innuendo kids see in cartoons can't be half as bad as the stuff they're presented in so-called "family" sitcoms at prime time.

2.) Sexual innuendos are considered funny the world over (though I won't stretch it by calling it a universal).

3.) Good humor should be multilayered, especially to appeal to a broad audience.

4.) I believe cartoons--especially in the last decade or so--have definitely fallen into a spectrum model: you have stuff that's really for little kids (Dora the Explorer), stuff for older kids developing more sophisticated tastes (say, Batman the Animated Series for action or Recess for humor), and stuff that really is for adults (Venture Bros., ATHF).

5.) Childhood decency would be better served by enacting iron discipline and actively keeping kids on the straight and narrow rather than by policing putative children's shows.
 
omg batman the animated series for the win. amazing piece of work.

what really amuses me is the editing they do to anime. a show aimed at early/mid teens in japan gets chopped up and dumbed down and presented to preteens. idiotic.

I do totally disagree with the line of thought that animation as a medium are for kids only.
 
It is what it is. I think it's more geared towards the adults that watch the cartoons WITH their children.

..Since obviously, the children aren't going to catch onto it.
 
I think they do it for all us parents who sit and watch these cartoons with the kids to give us a giggle.
what about things like captain pugwash and master bates etc, personally I am amazed this ever was on t.v. with those names but hey ho. it never occured to me till I was 20 something, as a kid it was not something I thought about.
I say keep them to entertain us adults being tortured :)
 
aw, i dont know who thinks i am one of them crazy ass christian folks who thinks teletubbies is gonna convert kids into satanism...sorry if u got that vibe from my post, but i dont feel like "its a sign of the apacalypse" or watever 8) Its funny that some of yall could even think that, becuz I been here long enough that I think most people would know I aint that type of person.

I think alot of yall misunderstood wat im saying as a "O NOES, TEH CHILDRENZ!" type of thing, like i think it would corrupt kids or like i think its some kind of horrible threat to childhood or some shit. Na, I dont, It aint like that. And i agree that there is definatley bigger and more important problems out there. I aint sayin this some type of serious shit that I think is a huge problem or nothing. But i am just havin trouble with the idea that its appropriate to do this to every damn kids show. Not whether the kid will actually understand it or not, but just the PRINCIPLE of doing this, and the reasons behind doing it, is wat pisses me off. Does that make more sense....that I aint as concerned about how its gonna affect the kids but more concerned about the kind of people who feel like its necessary to put that kinda stuff in kids shows, the idea that adults must always be entertained when watchin a childrens show instead of just dealing with it and not exposin the kid to that shit, you feel me?

So, do me a favor yall. Just check out the article I was reading about this kind of stuff, look at the references and check out the videos and then see if you dont think that some of this shit is just a litttttle bit inappropriate? It aint a long article at all, there is only 6 examples and its pretty funny, but maybe they do a better job of pointin out how creepy some of these jokes are.

There is one on the list that aint relevant to this thread, about a teenage mutant ninja turtle episode that aint nothin sexual or inappropraite but it was just a kinda really freaky violent weird plot line that would prolly scare young kids so ignore that one...but IIRC all the other ones are good examples of the kind of shit I am talking about.

http://www.cracked.com/article_1867...ngs-ever-slipped-into-childrens-cartoons.html

I also dont think its new like FP said....i know this been goin on for years but these days as it gets more and more acceptable to put all kind of shit on TV and in kids shows it seems like it gets more and more "riskay" than it ever use to be, and they push the line a lil more each time, the shit in bugs bunny and all them old cartoons was alot more subtle , and they actually WERE made for adults when they originally came out. later on they became kids shows, but when bugs bunny came out, from how i have heard it from older folks, it was actually considered a little bit shocking even for an adult cartoon way back then. so it wasnt that it was a kids show that the writers put adult jokes into so that everyone could be entertained--they were just straight up adult shows to begin with. People confuse the difference between those 2 things. Like for example whoever said the simpsons is for kids is insane. that show was never meant to be for kids. kids end up watchin it, but it was most definately not made as a kids cartoon.

And thats wat im sayin--alot of the cartoons with adult shit never was intended for kids originally.Like ren and stimpy was for adults but tons of kids watched it. All the adult jokes in it was there becuz it was INTENDED for adults. So its ok for them to be there. There is a difference between a cartoon for adults that has adult content in it, that ends up getting watched by kids, and a show that is MADE for kids, with adult content slipped into it, you feel me?They both end up as the same thing;;a cartoon with adult content, watched by kids and adults. But one of them has it in there for a good reason which is it was originally made for adults, and the other one (at least to me) aint got a good reason for it bein in there.

Also, some of yall said shit like 'oh, kids dont notice, wats the big deal, i never noticed none of that shit when i watched it as a kid," etc. And that suprised me becuz i always noticed that kinda shit when i was little. and im sure I aint the only one--kids aint stupid. they notice, and know, alot more than we give them credit for. I can remember watchin so many of those cartoon and knowing there was a joke there, and that it was somethin "bad" that i wasnt suppose to understand. but i could definately tell it was a 'grownup' joke and i would spend the whole time of the show thinkin about that joke and tryna figure out wtf it meant. I knew that even tho i might not quite understand the reference, i knew it was about sex or something "bad" that was SUPPOSE to go over my head, but i caught it. it most definately never just slipped right over my head. Maybe im just some kinda freak or somethin, who knows but i definately remember watchin alot of shows and not liking them becuz they were full of all those "bad jokes" that would distract me from the show and it annoyed me and frustrated me that i didnt understand it but still would always notice it was there.

Anyways, if you cant already tell, I really aint tryna be the morals police here. I just want that to be mad clear so yall understand the reason behind why I think this shits kinda fucked up. So lets look at it this way: How many shows are there for adults? its mostly all shows for 'grown ups.' they got the majority of the programming, so cant we just let the kids have their kid stuff? Why does EVERYDAMNTHING have to have jokes aimed at adults in it? It just dont seem necessary to me. Belisariuius, you said there aint nothing much different in these cartoons than you would see in these prime time sitcoms on these days.

But shit, Iunno about yall, but i sure as hell would not have my young-ass kid watching none of those shows neither. Thats actually another one of my pet peeves, the way that EVERRRYYYYTHING is sexualized , and how even on shows that is suppose to be "family friendly" they have all kinds of shit like that on them, but thats another story. Im just sayin that for me at least , the "they would see it on other shows anyways" argument aint relevant becuz my kid would definately not be seeing it on other shows neither. the whole idea is I am making a point to AVOID that kind of shit by avoiding other more adult themed shows....So why does it have to pop up in their freakin cartoons too? You cant get away from it, it seems like.

Why cant the kids shows be JUST for kids? I mean these cartoons aint SUPPOSE to be "great humor with many layers." they are childrens cartoons for children. They can still be intelligent and not totally retarded, but the point is they are for kids and there aint no goddamn reason that you could possibly justify it to me why it is necessary to put adult sexual type of jokes in them, becuz they aint FOR adults anyways. Nobody is arguin that these cartoons are some great quality TV, so why all of a sudden is it like a standard that they must entertain kids AND adults? especially when so many parents just use the TV as a babysitter, most of them aint even watching with their kid anyways, so it aint benefitting nobody and is just exposing the kid to all this shit for no reason.

I feel like, come on--You are the grownup here, and you cant sit with your kid and watch tv for a while without bein TOTALLY entertained, who is the kid here them or you? Shit, grow up and just deal with it, it aint FOR you, its for your kid to enjoy, so STFU and dont complain that there aint dick jokes in the show that your 2nd grader is watching. It aint SUPPOSE to be fun for you, its suppose to be fun for the kid.
its kinda sad to me that people who are suppose to be adults and be the mature ones, feel like they deserve to be entertained ALL THE TIME, and need to be stimulated so much that they cant just sit for a half hour and watch the damn cartoon their kid is watchin. you really need to be entertained that bad, that you need constant sexual innuendos in your childrens cartoons? It seems pretty selfish to me.

Another point i was makin is that not all the stuff is just subtle little quick jokes. Some if it is super blatant and really focused on. like the cartoon version of tellin a joke and sayin "you get it? you get it? see, its funny becuz...."

For example, in some crazyass show called chowder the main character guy wtfever he is, is hangin out with some tomato creature called Mr. Fugu. Who is gonna eat a ice cream cone that chowder bought. But instead of just eatin it normal, instead he has to suck on the tip of the cone until the melted ice cream oozes out the tip. :| Not only that, but for some strange reason the scoops of ice cream are side by side instead of one on top of the other one. And when the tomato guy eats it, he goes to fuckin town....slurpin the shit out of it, like if you replaced the ice cream with a dick, it would be straight up cartoon porn--he licks the ice cream like he is givin it a blowjob. Heres the description from the link i posted:

"Chowder buys a giant, stupendously phallic-looking ice cream cone...The cone, inexplicably encouraging his own demise, tells Chowder to poke a hole in him and suck the cream out of the bottom. When Chowder agrees that this is a perfect idea, the ice cream cone quips, "Tell that to my wife..." implying that not only do ice cream cones get married, but that this particular marriage is being shattered by a drought of oral sex."

28030.jpg


"Ah, we're probably reading too much into it. After all, it's not like they intentionally drew the ice cream cone in such a way as to make it look unmistakably like two balls and a penis."

I mean come the fuck on.....Sure, Is it gonna make a child get obsessed with sex and corrupt their innocent mind? No. I dont think it is a threat to childrens sanity or gonna cause them all to become sex maniacs or nothing like that. Im just kind of disturbed and creeped out by that kind of shit in kids shows is all. becuz is is really necessary to put some shit like that in a show for first graders? For real? I just dont understand the fuckin point of shit like this, that parents are really that easily bored and have that short of attention spans that they are OK with some of this shit, that dont even try to be subtle no more but is just in your face...And they dont even consider for a minute that maybe that kind of content just aint quite necessary in a show for little children, and they just accept it and dont think nothing of it becuz it entertains THEM.

that apparently folks think the main idea of a kids show, is to entertain the adults. It seems kind of twisted to me. is it that hard to just let something that is suppose to be for kids , just be for kids? Does EVERYTHING have to have shit in it to make the adults happy too? Why cant they be satisfied to have almost every damn thing on TV be targeted towards them and just let the kids have their few hours of cartoons every week without putting a bunch of fuckin jokes about sucking dicks and shit in it? It might not even end up affecting the kids much, but the principle of it, of adding this shit into everything even things meant for young children, is wat bugs me out becuz it just seems so self-serving of the adults who create and watch it. The kid should come first, its for them, and fuck you if you aint entertained--you aint suppose to be. its for your kid. let your kid just be a kid, let their show only have shit in it that is appropriate for kids, becuz it aint about you. Thats my problem with it, how willing some parents are to accept questionable kind of shit in their childrens shows just becuz they want to be entertained instead of keeping the KIDS interests first.
 
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I can see what you mean. It's rather vulgar, ain't it. Whatever happened to innocence?
 
lacey, the mental image of you saying "O NOES, TEH CHILDRENZ!" just totally made my day. thank you!

anyways, I understand what you are saying, but I have to disagree. sex is a fact of life, just like eating, sleeping, and pooping. I see no reason why it has to be treated like some big secret. real little kids won't pick up on it cause they don't give a fuck yet, but as they get older they slowly wake up to it. I remember watching the same cartoons over and over and getting different things out of it as I got older. I grew up on animanics and the like and to this day see nothing wrong with them.

can you explain why you feel its inappropriate or questionable? also, I'm curious as to how you view animation in general.
 
I love the sexual innuendos in kids stuff! It makes it fun for us to watch too! Plus they;re gonna learn all that shit eventually right??
 
Adults create these programs.

Is it any surprise that simple off the wall themes geared toward a younger audience can be easily reframed by an adult mind?

Thinking about the history of cartoons, I know that the oldest versions of Warner Brothers cartoons were shown between major films and other news in movie theaters nationwide. I'm referring specifically to those decades between the World Wars, before television came to prominence.

:)
 
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