Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 09:48:40 -0400 
From: David Greene <dg1v+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Fwd: Censors Scissor Frames To Sanitize Some Classic Cartoons

AAAArrrggghhhh!
-D

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From: DowJonesNews
Subject: Censors Scissor Frames To Sanitize Some Classic Cartoons
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 06:02:32 -0400 (EDT)

 
  By Richard Turner  

  BURBANK, Calif. -- A subscriber to the Disney Channel recently called
the pay cable network to complain that she had found her five-year-old
son watching a promotional spot for a cartoon featuring a crusty character
named Pecos Bill. It seems Bill was rolling a cigarette, lighting it
and blithely puffing away.  

  The mother, a dedicated nonsmoker, was angry, and reaction was swift.
The channel, a unit of Walt Disney Co., immediately pulled the offending
spot and then edited the cartoon in question. Pecos Bill, a creation
of the late 1940s, now still frequently has an unlit cigarette hanging
out of his mouth, but the rolling, lighting and smoking are gone.  

  Disney Channel President John Cooke calls the incident an isolated
"snafu," but it illustrates how those responsible for the ever-growing
body of TV programming for children have to grapple with political correctness
and keep up with the latest social mores, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Disney Channel, for example, has been reviewing Disney's library
of hundreds of hours of cartoons for the last year as it "remasters"
them to improve their technical qualities. In about 5% of the episodes,
it has removed certain scenes involving smoking, racial stereotypes or
gratuitous violence.  

  Broadcasters have been snipping away at everything they air since the
beginning of television -- particularly where children are the intended
audience. But recent cartoons usually don't create problems. Since the
1960s, virtually all cartoons have been made specifically for television,
particularly the networks' Saturday morning blocks. The networks' "standards
and practices" staffs usually edit the material in the script stage,
so little has been made that might be considered offensive.  

  But cartoons from the pre-TV era are different, such as Warner Bros.'
"Looney Tunes" collection, some of which is owned by Time Warner Inc.,
and another part by Turner Broadcasting System Inc. Most of the Warner
animated shorts were made to be shown in theaters as companion pieces
to movies for adults and, despite their aesthetic superiority to most
of today's cartoons, sometimes reflect now-frowned-upon customs and attitudes.-
  

  Aside from its pre-1950 Warner material, Turner also owns cartoons
made by the third leg of the early animation triad, the old MGM studios.
These shorts are syndicated and are aired on Turner's own TNT and TBS
cable networks. They will also turn up on Turner's new cartoon network,
which begins this fall.  

  Decisions about cuts are made by individual broadcasters, but some
cartoons are considered unreleasable, mostly for their "minstrel-show
aspects," says Roger Mayer, president of Turner Entertainment.  

  Turner pulled a "Popeye" it owns because it shows a child attempting
suicide. A character wearing an Aunt Jemima-like kerchief in "Tom and
Jerry" was banned in Boston; but because her language and attitude didn't
seem as stereotypical as her headgear, other stations didn't find it
objectionable.  

  Warner Bros. cartoons also air in different venues, with varying degrees
of strictness on standards. Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon cable network likes
the "edge, the attitude" of Looney Tunes; but material is regularly screened,
particularly for racial stereotypes. Out of Nickelodeon's package of
300 Looney Tune cartoons, the network threw out 20 and made edits in
many more. Many cuts concern "emulative behavior," or things kids might
mimic.  

  None of these edits change the basic tablets, or "masters," from which
the cartoons are cut. Nevertheless, some animation artists complain.
Chuck Jones, who helped create Road Runner, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny,
has long criticized television for tampering with his work.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation