Tom and Jerry Are Going To Quit Smoking For The Most Part, Courtesy of Turner Broadcasting and the British Broadcast Regulator, But All That Violence In Those Same Cartoons

And when that met with a good press, Turner extended the non-smoking edict to some 1,700 cartoons it shows, ranging from The Flintstones to Scooby Doo.

But not all smoking will be relieved. As Turner explained, it didn’t want to destroy the “value of animation.”

Ofcom, the UK media regulator, actually has rules that smoking is not featured in programs that will be watched primarily by children. About 56% of the viewers to Boomerang are between the ages of four and 14.

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Is Excessive Violence Indecent?

When Americans talk about making cuts in their TV programs it is basically for its sexual content. In Europe, the sex is ok, it’s the excessive violence that causes problems.
Europeans don’t have too many problems showing whatever sexual scenes mainstream Hollywood shoots, whether its for movies or television. But all that vicious violence, killings, beatings – is that all necessary? Does it have to be so graphic? Does it contribute to violence in our society?
Back in the early 1970s, these questions started to be asked in European capitals as television stations – then mostly public broadcasters – asked themselves just how much violence was acceptable/necessary in television programs. And did that violence spur violence on their streets?
In those days Sweden’s Sveriges Radio was one of the first to restrict buying various popular American programs because it believed those programs contained too much violence. At the same time it had no problem running Swedish movies early in the evening that might feature full frontal nudity, male and female. .
The human body is the human body, the reasoning went. What harm from showing that? And what good does society get out of seeing excessive violence? Indeed, perhaps it could do some harm? So, sex was in and excessive violence out.
Different cultures. Different thinking.
Phil Stone

It’s actually going to take a bit of time and a lot of money to remove the passive smoke – there are 25 frames to a second of cartoons and each smoking frame will need some repainting -- but the benefit to the brand will be worth it many times over.

But what about those scenes such as when Jerry cuts off Tom’s tail, or Tom keeps running into a garden rake that hits him full in the face, or Tom sticks his head in the oven, or the throwing tacks on the floor so when one walks on them … you get the general picture. All of that, apparently, is ok. Good for the little ones. No doubt.

Well, actually there is no doubt in the mind of the American Academy of Pediatrics that all that violence in cartoonland and in children’s television does our children great harm.

“Studies show that even children’s cartoons contain a significant amount of violence,” according to the Academy. “Research also shows a very strong link between exposure to violent TV and violent and aggressive behavior in children and teenagers. Watching a lot of violence on television can lead to hostility, fear, anxiety, depression, nightmares, sleep disturbances and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is best not to let your child watch violent programs and cartoons.”

The Academy is not crazy about all that smoking, either, in those same programs, but it is obvious from its web site that its biggest fear is the violence.

If we all complained to Ofcom about the violence would Turner remove that, too? Problem is that take out the violence and you don’t really have much left which, of course, is why the Academy complains as much as it does.

On alcohol and tobacco use, the Academy says, “Young people are surrounded by messages that say drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes or cigars (Tom prefers cigars) are normal activities. These messages do not say that alcohol and tobacco harm people and may lead to death…TV programs and commercials often show people who drink and smoke as healthy, energetic, sexy, and successful. It is up to you (parents) to teach your child the truth about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.”

Turner Broadcasting said in a statement, “Turner recognizes that it is not suitable for cartoons aimed at children to portray smoking in a cool context, and has additionally pledged to review the entire Hanna Barbera catalogue to remove scenes that appear to glamorize or encourage smoking.”

That’s a good start, but why not take care of violence at the same time, and while they’re at it get rid of the racial issues, too (is that large African-American lady in Tom and Jerry politically correct for this century?) The reason all that doesn’t get done is that if they did there wouldn’t be much left, and that is really the problem.

So maybe the real message to Boomerang should be that instead of showing all of those cartoons made in the 1940s to the 1960s it replaces those shows with new cartoon shows that it commissions where the characters don’t smoke, they don’t hit people, and there’s no sexual hanky-panky either.

Of course, that’s way more expensive than showing 40- 60 year old cartoons over and over again, but Turner says it is interested in the health of its viewers so surely money is no object!

The real problem might be that maybe that type of programming would be too tough a sell on the kids?

Tom and Jerry Are Going To Quit Smoking For The Most Part, Courtesy of Turner Broadcasting and the British Broadcast Regulator, But All That Violence In Those Same Cartoons – That Stays

Is Excessive Violence Indecent?