Of course you realize this means war...

[Raid]

my kids watch it regularly on the "toon network". you could record it to your awesome mac and burn DVDs.

&

Alas, I'm not in Canada.

Well the old WB cartoons shown on the 'toon network' here are massively edited, they don't show any of the explosions, falls or burnt characters anymore. It's ridiculous but they actually pause a frame and continue the sound track to make it appear all the violence is still happening off camera. It really ruins it for those of us who remember them from the 80's (even edited then as Thanatoast mentioned... but I think that was for racist/sexist themes.)

 

[ra noodle]

abstract

unfortunately i guess for a few, now a days if a person remembers the Loony Toons series and thinks of introducing them to a little person--the thought of that person actually doing these things arises....is it because now with this "modern" cynbernetic altered "cartoons" and so many suggesting creating "imgainary friends" that some kids actually think acts on Loony Toons are real....and whats even worse is that when I first saw the Loony Tunes series: is that I never...repeat...I never took any of the goofiness as real--that somehow I inherently knew this was fun....I'm 60...and I think this all relates to how successful "they" have been in dumbing down people!
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MBP 15
PB12
MacMini w dialup connector
red 8GB pod and 30pod

 

[MacNut]

It should be mentioned that a lot of the old cartoons like Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry were not necessarily even intended for kids at all. They ran as shorts before actual grown-up movies, along with MovieTone News and the like. They certainly weren't encouraging six year olds to buy war bonds.

Even the animators have said that kids were never meant to see the stuff. They made a lot of it for their own amusement.

In 2000, Warner Bros. decided to make the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies library exclusive to fellow Time Warner properties, specifically Cartoon Network. Immediately prior to this decision, Looney Tunes shorts were airing on several networks at once: on Cartoon Network, on Nickelodeon (as Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon), and on ABC (as The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show). The latter two had been particularly long running series, and the Warner Bros. decision forced the two networks to cancel the programs. This is the main reason why Looney Tunes are seldom seen on television today.

The Looney Tunes series' popularity was strengthened even more when the shorts began airing on network and syndicated television in the 1950s under various titles and formats. However, since the syndicated shorts' target audience was children and because of concerns over children's television in the 1970s, the Looney Tunes shorts began to be edited to remove scenes featuring innuendos, racial remarks, curse words, ethnic stereotypes and extreme violence.

I don't think I have ever seen a unedited version.

 

[MacNut]

For those that remember good 90's cartoons, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons.

 

[Thomas Veil]

As far as acting out cartoon violence, my granddaughter has watched a number of these over a couple of days now, and so far, so good. I'd actually had that concern (violence) when I found Nana letting her watch Tom and Jerry, but she seemed okay with it, so I relaxed.

I'm actually more okay with wild, exaggerated cartoonish violence than the more realistic stuff. Watching the coyote fall off a cliff, that's one thing, but I'd never let her watch a show that had kids beating each other up, for example. For that reason, I am keeping her from watching one cartoon in that collection. It's a parody of The Three Bears. The "baby" bear is the size of Baby Huey, and is dimwitted to boot, and the mean father bear keeps punching him in the face or beating him over the head. Now, my granddaughter's pretty smart, but all the same, that's too much for her age. That's not cartoonish, it's just plain violent.

 

[MacNut]

I also love these old cartoons, but if they're for your 3 year old granddaughter, then soz no way.

I have a 3 year old daughter, and I grabbed some old school Tom and Jerry for her to watch. she started acting out the behaviour from these cartoons. Hitting people with various things, pinching, claiming 'it doesn't hurt them', running around smashing things etc.

Banned tom and jerry, and her behaviour improved.

Now, many months later, she still remembers them and begs me to bring them back.

For 3 year olds, I suggest Pingu, Pocoyo, anything from Pixar or Dreamworks.

For yourself, if you really wanna see old cartoons, I suggest *cough* Bittorrent *cough* Piratebay *cough*.

The 1920/1930s B+W cartoons have the best drawing styles I ever saw - Popeye, Felix the Cat etc. In a sensible world, they'd be out of copyright now and free to all.

I'm not suggesting censoring cartoons for adults, but I do suggest that it is unwise to consider ultra-violent cartoons as suitable for infants.

It's the same as some japanese Manga/ Anime, even if it has high quality storylines, lovely art, and you yourself love it, it's still maybe not appropriate for infants.

I don't think cartoon violence is the problem. When I was young i understood the difference between real and a cartoon. the roblem now is kids are overly sheltered from real life so they can't tell the difference from what is real and what isn't. Kids need to be able to grow up and experience things. Just teach them that cartoons are not real rather than just sitting them in front of the TV for hours on end with no interaction.

I am not saying that a 3 year old should be watching Scarface but kids now a days are not what they used to be. They don't have any sense of reality.

 

[Virgil-TB2]

What you should look out for before buying those DVD's is if they are censored. ...

Ironically, speaking as someone that has gone out of their way to get a hold of the "censored" cartoons, there isn't much reason for the censoring in the first place.

Early Bugs Bunny cartoons, as well as the notorious "Private Snafu" movies that preceded it, are tame by comparison to such stuff as South Park or Family Guy today.

The vast majority, (if not the entirety), of the "offensive" content, is a few racial and sexual stereo-types, predominantly in the WWII material. I would argue that this stuff is just quaintly out of date for the most part and not particularly damaging to children's minds per se.

There is a big difference between a few unintentional stereotypes perpetrated through ignorance, and the active promotion of insults, beatings, cheating, dangerous horseplay, etc. that you see on pretty much every Family Guy episode for instance.

 

[blackfox]

While BBunny and Co. rank highly in my cherished cartoon memories - Pink Panther will forever remain the undisputed top cartoon in my book.

 

[iJohnHenry]

I agree with removing racial connotations from cartoons, but, in this case, kids are smarter than adults.

They know it's not real, it's only a cartoon. No one gets hurt.

Animi is another matter, however.

 

[Legolamb]

Animations never were as violent as Brothers Grimm or Hans Anderson. I remember being totally traumatized by Anderson's "The Girl who Trod on a Loaf of Bread". Most kids, especially if you watch with them, discuss what they are seeing with them, have no problem understanding the difference between cartoon violence and real world activity.
A few may act out until the parents remind them it's inappropriate. I do miss some the Loony Tunes and even Max Fleicsher cartoons (my taste for jazz came via Betty Boop), although the racist and sexist references make me cringe.
Yeah, there is a lot of crap out there today, but some 'toons are brilliant. FWIW, the only cartoon my daughter watched was the Simpsons. My feeling was, that if she understood the references, well, she was old enough to watch it.
Me, I'm into Adult Swim (Robot Chicken, Lupin the 3rd), and, here in Canada, Nelvana Producations like Ruby Gloom, Quads, Dumb Bunnies. Also, the late, truly great, Untalkative Bunny (also Canadian). And, a shameless plug for Quebec, Têtes à claques (http://www.tetesaclaques.tv/) but you really have to know French to get the all the humor.

 

[me_94501]

I totally agree with you. While I think that the 90's shows were a lot better and "realer," I've just sort of glance and some shows on Disney and Nick for kids and preteens and they're horrible. They're totally unimaginative and depict horribly vapid people. It's a shame, because back when I was young, shows like "All That" and "Pete and Pete" were on the air.

Ah, Pete & Pete. That show was classic. Shows like Pete & Pete, Are you Afraid of the Dark, and You Can't Do That On Television would never see the light of day today, alas.

The great thing about old-school Nickelodeon was that many of the shows were accessible to younger kids, but were also something older kids or teens would also enjoy.