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How Classic Cartoons Created a Culturally Literate Generation

Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 4 months ago to Entertainment
41 comments | Share | Flag

Who'd a thunk! Wow, wow, wow...never would of guessed.

It is well known that TV in the 40's and 50's was loaded with moral lessons. but, also taught cultural literacy in our cartoons?

I liked Dr. Peabody and his wayback machine...probably fueled my attraction to Dr. Who many years later.

Maybe this is how we change the culture and combat global stupidity.

I wonder if AR was ever the subject of a cartoon? Found some stuff from the Simpsons but nothing older than that. https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/se...


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  • Comment deleted.
  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I do watch the Oklahoma street outlaw drag races on Monday's though; HGTV. Other than that, it's writing, research or netflix.

    Oh...and Fly on the Wall saturdays at suspicious0bservers.org and binge catch up on global weather happenings at adapt2030 on youtube.

    None of which is watchable with my wife. Shame, we used to enjoy the TV shows in the above post, together.
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  • Posted by BeenThere 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "it's just not worth sitting down in front of the tv."

    10,000 channels and nothing on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It is not hard at all to introduce Ayn Rand to young people. In fact, they are most of the readers. You should goto the Ayn Rand Institute site and find their essay contests. Many of the winners come in blocs from Catholic schools. But what they do not do is go online to complain with others about the liberal left progressives who have ruined their world... because they are too busy making their own. We are a bunch of grumpy old men. Don't let the skew confirm your biases.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wouldn't know, never having been there. My son went to a cartoonist's convention in France and was "adopted" by a famous cartoonist who could speak French and he had a wonderful time. But, that was then.....
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Great example AJ, thank you.
    Goes to show that even a few good shows and movies can have a profound effect beyond parental examples.
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Laughing...(just teasing), it's a concept we find you express from time to time...(just an observation).
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And that's all fine and dandy, but the larger point was that no matter if they were cinematic presentations or bootleg romanticism they still introduced young minds to these concepts and culture, even if it was only on a subconscious level.
    By measure, the cartoons of those times were a whole lot more grown up than the dribble promoted today.

    And...most of us at the time not only enjoyed the cartoons and citcoms of the times but we also saw the feature films you mention, even if the messages were lost upon the young, it was still an introduction.
    That's more exposure than the young and older get in today's culture...just look how hard it is to introduce AR to the present generations.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 8 years, 4 months ago
    and today they contend that there is no influence behind TV and cartoons while everything and anything TV is flooded with not-so-subtle social statements, usually contrary to parents values.

    I'd say Ironman and Captain America added more to my youthful morality and work ethic than anything else..including my hippie parents. Today I wouldn't recommend comics or any TV cartoon for kids..mind mush drivel indoctrinating children while mom and/or dad get me-time.

    Loved Johnny Quest (never cared for He-Man)
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  • Posted by Dobrien 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    And don't forget we have regulated , taxed and unionized a good part of the film and entertainment business right up to Canada.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Rocky and Bullwinkle were created by brilliant writers who pushed literary allusions. But the shows had a short run and we saw them in syndication, which actually allowed us to review them and learn from the repetition. It is where I learned the word "picayune."
    See below:
    https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 8 years, 4 months ago
    Annie Holmquist has the cart before the horse: she misunderstands cause and effect. The cartoons of the times were just a medium of expression, as were films, or television. They only presented what people wanted to see.

    The cartoons referenced in the article in particular were not intended for children. They were fillers for feature presentations of cinema at movie theaters. They were amusement for adults. However, as Ayn Rand cogently pointed out, every work of art presents a philosophy. I can only recommend that anyone who is interested in the aesthetics of theater read The Romantic Manifesto. Ayn Rand would have classified those cartoons as "bootleg romanticism" a "depths at their heights" delivery of the best people knew vaguely that they needed and enjoyed.

    You can get the same sense of life - and the same intellectual entendres - from good Hollywood films of the 1940s and 50s. Kathryn Hepburn's monologue at the climax of The Desk Set is a string of literary allusions. But all is not lost... How about the dialog on starting sentences with conjunctions from Finding Forrester?

    We still enjoy watching West Wing episodes because it was a show about writers for writers. The dialog includes very many tidbits of information - and some interesting errors, just to see if you are paying attention...
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yep, being french and being modest were always opposites but that's one of the reasons we visit france.

    It sure as hell isn't the sour wine and overly sweet deserts.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "Yesterday a glimpse of stocking,
    Was looked upon as simply shocking,
    But today, goodness knows,
    Anything goes."
    -- Cole Porter
    A beautiful woman, sexually draped is enticing, but take it one step further and it is just.....
    anatomy. Women have known that for centuries, men - not so much.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This ballet was likely more risque because it was the Monte Carlo, so being French it was expected - I guess.
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That was back in the days when Men appreciated woman and her body...her body was like a temple to us.
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  • Posted by H2ungar123 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I recall family elders taking about how exciting it was to see a woman's ANKLE as she stepped up to the trolley car. An ANKLE!!! Today it's a
    hellluva lot more than the many bare-breasts seen on display, No more mystery, guys.Tis a pity...
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yea...even back then..."a peek" was done in with reverence and respect.

    We are not "Old" Herb...We are Correct, Moral and Respectful...well...that last one is a toughy these days...you just can't go around re-booting peoples heads...but boy is it tempting.
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I remember all those shows, I liked Route 66...today...it's just not worth sitting down in front of the tv.
    Even just a a number of years ago...there were at least a few. X Files, The Fringe and a couple of spy shows.
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  • Posted by RTM2301 8 years, 4 months ago
    Is anyone familiar with the original Transformers 2-parter Megatron's Master Plan, where the Autobots were court ordered to effectively go Galt? I can just picture John's face hearing that sentence.
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