Cartoons i would say evolve as societies evolve, dragonball z has been around since the early nineties, in first world countries and we're only gettin these now. They portray violence in a way thats undertandable and explained thouroughly, in a pro's and con's kinda way, and theres no reason for kids to be told one thing in the computer world and another in visual media domain. That in turn would only create dubble standards, which confuse children. The world has so many hero's left, would you rather have kids look up to unatainable powerfull goku or an idiotic power hungry western president?

i think what is important is that one cannot sum up all cartoons and assume that "cartoons are for kids" The days when you watched Gummy bears where the days of thought/behaviour control..where as today there is more freedom on a lot of levels, especially creative concepts which challenge kids.

humans develop their personality/perception from around 2 -7 years old. Therefore it is vitally important to stimulate them in challenging ways and not spoon feed them mediocre viewing.

I'm not saying that kids should watch south Park, but these days there are cartoons made for adults..Search Anime,Manga and you will understand this.

The biggest mistakes people make i think are assumptions..so do some homework Mom/Dad!

Cheers

Uhm, when I was young (80's) we had cartoons like Robotech, Thundercats and the like . . .not that much different to today's stuff - so what's the problem?

Adults, adults please do talk to the children and find out what they're thinking, where they're at what they know/don't know. It will help throw some light in this rather dim and lukewarm debate. And do not get me wrong I am not saying that we must let children decide what they want but it will certainly help in getting rid of this "when we were young/children" syndrome - it's tired!

children are wise and if their [parents explain life to them they get it - today you cannot over protect today as the world is wild ( in case you have not noticed )
dont treat them as children - their brains are far better than ours !

First comes the cartoon and then comes the video game. Although I did spend quite a bit of time with my Atari back in the good ol 80's we also spent just as much time playing outside. With the advent of the Playstation generation, kids spend too much time watching TV or playing computer games. (I should know! I'm a PC game junkie myself!)

I totally agree. I can still handle Scooby Doo but they repeat too often. I cannot understand cartoons like Grim and Evil, Cow and Chicken, Wacky Races, Tom Cat and even Tom and Jerry can get a little boring. I have also noticed adult entertainment been advertised during cartoon breaks. Cartoons use to be a treat on a Saturday morning now we are saturated 24/7.

Thanks

I know that this has already been said, but the responsibility is on the parent, not the broadcaster, to make sure that children can handle a specific cartoon. This is excactly the same for all other programmes on TV. NOT JUST CARTOONS! If you can't control what your children watch on DSTV, get rid of it.

Let's be responsible parents. I know its difficult for single mothers and fathers to censor what their children watch, but if we don't, we are not the parents. TV will be.

When i was a kid, i was forbidden to watch 'V'. It pissed me off, but it was pretty hectic for a kid. I used to watch it when my folks where out, and there was nothing they could do. We have a choice now, take your DSTV card with you.

Or...let them watch everything, and let them see the real world now.

As a child of the late 80s / early 90s, my favourite show was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, followed closely by Robocop and He-Man.

These are just different versions of what we have today, but it's easy to forget and idolise our childhoods as being better or more peaceful. They weren't.

As for the Gummy Bears, I remember kids being teased for watching it. Maybe the modern equivalent would be Barney.

We had great TV when we where young. The best, without a doubt was Robotech/Macross. Then we had greats such as Thundercats, Bionic6, He-Man, She-ra (not as good), Gummy Bears and The Smurfs. There were also other shows that I watched that weren't great, like The Care Bears (not bad on the odd occasion), and girlie shows like My Little Pony and tyhat other fairy thingie (i don't know).

My suggestion: Get them on DVD or whatever and let your kids enjoy. Especially Macross!!

Watch the movie Donnie Darko and you'll see a really brilliant conversation about The Smurfs.

Yup, it's a great movie. It is a superhero's name!

What is seen is duplicated.
But then again, the Road runner and Tom & Jerry were/are also quite violent, in their approach. However, these days, the violence is FAR MORE graphic, and there is a lot of it.

And as it continues, through the mass media (TV being the biggest [culprit] society breeds in this and then the behaviour duplicates into society and the news can continue to bring you the shocking visuals that may disturb sensitive viewers.

This is all with the right to information and free speech mumbo jumbo.

Is it not the marketers that then by default keep the wheel spinning by paying for advertising and this revenue in turn makes it possible to buy these programs, that lead the way for the PC game...and so it continues and then we can comment on articles on the net - such as these.....

There's truth in all (most) of the points raised but as a mom who was a cartoon lover not so long ago, I can't watch Cartoon Network - the noise, hectic visuals, adult issues... my daughter asks ME to turn it off!
On the flip side Barney is about to drive me bonkers and he's such a rip-off (try taking your 4 year old to Gold Reef (Grief) City to meet the puppet - R80 per misguided parent.)
So how about coming up with child friendly cartoons - wouldn't that be a great challenge to our growing local film industry? Ones that reflect the 'reality' of our world without losing the child-like wonder either.
Some issues are timeless; like adventure, friends, and silly laughter. Ask a kid what makes him laugh and you'll see endless opportunites that might make an adult bored but appeal to them.
Then you can leave the other angry toon's to the adults.

Bloomburg is what you are looking for. Starting at the end of the month on channel 81.

I take your point as well. The youth has lost that spirit of adventure. One of my favourite movies of all time is a case in point. 'The Goonies' was great. No swearing (which doesn't bother me either way), just great acting, fun and adventure. Plus one unforgettable spanish translation from 'Mouth' (Corey Feldman). Where are these shows that capture the imagination of kids. We had tonnes of them when we where kids.

What do we have now? I don't really know! Some help please???

I know, when I watch my nieces watching cartoon network they get this glazed over look - no laughter or excitement... Weren't cartoons meant to be funny?
Life is funny. And sure, someone falling on their face can be funny, but cartoons today don't stop there. Not too mention how ugly they are. We need something inbetween Strawberry Shortcake and Cartoon network. Real but imaginary.
Anyone listening?

...is for the next generation to be smarter than the previous generation. The entertainment for children reflects their need for more stimulating shows.

Dragonball Z is violent (though to be fair has been censored a fair bit from the original Japanese version) but it's much more engaging to the current youth than the old He-Man/Thundercats cartoons. Has anyone seen these lately? My God they are so terribly cheesy but that was the 80's for you.

Come to think of it I recall He-Man being called Satanic (not to mention the Smurfs) so maybe it's just a parental need to protect your children that forces you to look with an accusing eye towards the cartoons that they're watching. This argument will probably arise once again in the next generation, and the next, and the next.

Also you must remember that the generation that grew up on the cartoons of the 80's (where media became a much more defining role in a youths life) is the generation making that material (why the 80's is big now?). And they're making it for them to enjoy as well. No longer are cartoons just for kids and the skill comes in the creation of a cartoon that entertains everybody, both child and young adult.

Gummy Bears and Duck Tales, thundercats, lady lovely locks, diseny stuff, he-man and she-ra and so on were the best!!!

I agree the cartoons now Suck and are too violent!!!!
Not to mention boring

Kaptein skarlaken, intersek or for that matter rupert, rupert the bear,... every-one knows his name

I think the earliest story-tellers whould have been willing to sacrifice many body parts to have some of todays special effects to dress Beowulf, Thor and Neptune with, not to mention Kali, Shiva and Ganesh, even Jehova has a few radically violent moments.

I think the challenge is perhaps to generate material that acknowledges violence and its attraction, but that also deals with vulnerability and humanity, preferably on a deeper level than the typical 'hero/in does the right thing and lives happy ever after with romantic prize'

The world is not child friendly, its hardly human friendly, and we are hardly world-friendly, do we get what we deserve?

Maybe the 'cartoons' have gone beyond being comic into tradegy, and are actualy avant garde post modernist art of high integrity?

But generalising, no, they're not, and never realy tried to be, defitely not parent friendly - which perhaps is more of a cause for concern.

;-)

u think kidz dont know what is what.
they can view animals shaggin but not humans.
okay thats what u say kool then.
but i see this being one thing that parents always overdo
that being thinking for their kids.
they cant make their own decisions...
tru some cartoon jokes are grown up but thats coz they are made for grown ups.
southpark plays/played at nite coz of this.
censorship is a good theory but all it does is make the kid get what he she wants in a defferent way... and thats when they start lyin to you. to protect you and themselves.
lets face that is youre doing right....trying to protect them....well thats what they do 2.

okay, so far all i see is people talking about overseas cartoons. south africa doesn't have any animated cartoons. why?
it begins here www.mducomics.co.za

Dude this mdu site - isnt even fully functional and the cartoons ARE VIOLENT! NEVA MIND HORRID! Like an evolved version of madam and eve!