Cartoons Worse Today than in the Past?

I think they seem worse to us now because we can understand a lot of the bad stuff, when we were kids it went over are heads or we didn't read to deeply into stuff like we do as adults.

I think the cartoons today are SO much better than anything I had growing up. Have you watched "Bubble Guppies?" The new "Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That?" "Team Umizoomi?" These are wonderful cartoons that are teaching the earliest foundations math, physics, language, etc.

I grew up watching all the shows you mentioned. I never tried to drop an anvil on my brother's head, so I guess they didn't do me any harm! ;)

I absolutely HATED the pink elephants in the Winnie the Pooh tv special. And I felt bad for the Trix bunny too. But the worst was poor 'ol Charlie Brown -- he just never got a break! I think I cried once over how mean Lucy was to him -- she's such a bully!

I think they are equally nuts.

There are more adult cartoons today but I do remember growing up with the violent cartoons. One thing that I have noticed is when The Simpsons first came on TV it was later at night, and now (where I live) it is on at the 6:00/6:30 time slot.

i think everybody is too sensitive these days. I grew up watching wiley coyote drop anvils on his own head, and tom of (tom and jerry) could play his broken teeth like a xylophone. I never grew up trying to emulate it. As far as yesterdays versus today's cartoons, well i think yesterdays cartoons depict a lot of violence without consequences and stereotypes that fanned the antire religious, racial, gender spectrum. However today's cartoons have hidden sexual innuendo that i think mature kids can pick up on, and depict very bratty attitudes and rebellious actions.

i dont think its the cartoons we need to worry about i think its the real life role models, flesh and blood children a little older than ours and what they do to make themselves "cool"

I have no issues with cartoons today. I grew up watching cartoons in the 70s that you mention and agree those weren't perfect, either.

If I don't think something on TV is appropriate -- cartoon or not -- my kids don't watch it. I think the difference today is that there are a range of cartoons out there for different age groups. It's up to parents to decide what is appropriate for their kids' age group.

I grew up on Looney Tunes. I was watching the new one with my kids and OMG! Even my kids were asking why they were doing things that we don't allow in the house. The episode that was on had Daffy Duck watching TV and it was Jason from Friday the 13th (ya know..hockey mask, chain saw) then the cut to the terrified screaming woman. It then went on to Daffy being so over the top obnoxious and rude it was insane! My husband watched some of it too and had the same opinion. Believe me I am no stick in the mud. I also grew up watching Ren & Stimpy and Beavis & Butthead. Yet the stuff that comes on aimed at my kids now is..um...not even the same and not what I want to see or listen too.
I have asked myself why the new stuff isn't the same as the stuff I grew up on because it makes me feel like I'm some old fuddy duddy that just doesn't get this generation and that whole bit. But, there really is a difference. It's not just well it was OK because it was "mine". There was a different approach to things, something that set it in to fantasy and you could tell it was fantasy. The stuff now is so in your face, loud and made to appear far more realistic so you can't make that separation.
My kids watch the old Tom & Jerry and they never once think to do any of the "tricks" that get played on the characters. But yet they have tried some really stupid stuff because they saw it on a modern cartoon aimed at them.
My kids watch a lot of old things on Boomerang. They prefer it to a lot of the newer stuff in all honesty. I have even explained the various dated stuff in them and why some of it is considered bad or hurtful today.
And...for the record..I always voted to let the Rabbit have his Trix. He worked so hard to get them I felt he deserved them ;)

P.S. If my husband and I don't like it the kids don't get to watch it again. They typically agree anyway when we say it's obnoxious.

I totally agree! I think some now are more violent. But no where near as inappropriate! I was watching an old Tom and Jerry with my son- and swore- no more T&J after that! It started out by a car driving over a bridge in winter and dropping a bag full of puppies into the freezing cold water!!! Then Jerry saved them, etc- but OMG really!

Apparantly you have not been watching many cartoons lately if you think they are not that bad and that ours were even a bit bad in comparison. I am shocked at some of the cartoons my boys watch now. Especially the potty humor and sexual innuendos-you would not find that on Tom and Jerry or anything else Hanna Barbara put out for us. I really don't mind violence -that I can live with. What I find most innapropriate are the crude, rude and just all around distasteful cartoons on TV today. Some are so gross I can't eat when they are on. So my answer to your question is yes, I know they are much worse that what we watched.

Just read over some of the other answers-I am NOT referring to the sweet shows on Noggin or the like. I really do think those shows are a lot better than what we had. What I am talking about are the CN shows like:Chowder, The Regular Show, Flapjack, Total Drama, Adventure Time etc. If you haven't run into these yet they are worth checking out to know what to turn off before your child even discovers it!

right? I mean, Smurfs was about some lovable creatures that a human was trying hard to eat all the time! Scooby Doo is what we watch most often in our house, but my only complaint about Spongebob is that it's gross boy humor, it's not racist like Tom and Jerry, or anything.

I think the difference is that cartoons are (now) on all the time. When I was a kid (I'm 49) cartoons were on Saturday morning. That's it. So, by default, you maybe saw 2-3 hours of cartoons and some were slapstick (roadrunner) but others were like jetsons, pink pather, rocky and Bullwinkle, Josie and the Pussycats, etc. You picked what you wanted to watch or, depending on television reception, what would come it. I don't think the cartoons are more violent now. Some of the older ones were not very nice...Mr. Magoo, Roadrunner, Elmer Fud. I think that it can seem that way when we, as parents, go from watching the baby cartoons (calliou, wonderpets, thomas the tank engine, etc) to the older kids cartoons (spongBob, etc.)

My kids barely watch cartoons anymore, but we stick to PBS when they do. I think those are appropriate.
They will occasionally watch Looney Toons and T&J when at a grandparent's house, which kind of makes me cringe. I know! I used to watch them too, but I really don't like them now! (They do.)
I also stay away from Cartoon Network (except old Scooby Doo), because every time I switch to that channel, there seems to be ticked-off characters with mean voices and frowns on their faces.
To be fair, I don't sit and watch a whole episode, but it's my first impression as I'm passing through the channels...

I think the selection of cartoons back in the day was worse. You certainly didn't have nick jr who doesn't even have commercials. I love nick jr, they have puzzles and kid songs instead of the commercials. Cartoon network I would never let my child watch right now. They seem to have gone very down hill. I remember Courage the Cowardly dog and Powerpuff girls. Now they got just weird stuff on it. There is a lot of depiction of violence and back talking parents in older kid shows, but even spongebob has a lot of negativity and violence (beating up) in it. I think the choice to not have to watch tom n jerry, flinstones, etc and you can watch Bubble guppies and team umizoomi is awesome.

I think we are aware of it because we are now adults and see the violence in them. I never tried to mimic the cartoons, my brother on the other hand tried to do a karate kick on me that was in one of the cartoons, so it is an individual basis. I think the fact they have more younger kid shows is an awesome thing nowadays. I honestly think the variety of cartoons is better today that I don't HAVE to have my daughter watch violent cartoons if she wants to watch tv. I do wish they would play looney tunes again, but that's because I want to watch it again lol. Flinstones I don't particularly miss, I like it but it seemed like there was a suggestion of sexism that I detected even growing up.

I do agree with Mallory that the cartoons that are not suitable for kids but are supposedly for kids are more crude than they were in the past (Adventure Time and some new fairy show on nick that they are basically half clad, geez)... so yeah, cartoons these days have more sexual content in them and when they do have violence it is more graphic then Wild Coyote falling off a cliff.

I grew up watching a few cartoons,, in the 60s.. and am still appalled at Popeye. Have you watched a few Popeye episodes and caught onto the basic plot? Popeye loves Olive Oyl, she loves him. Bluto tries to steal away Olive Oyl from Popeye by beating him up. Bluto is always trying to force himself on Olive Oyl and make her kiss him. Olive Oyl happily goes off with Bluto when he wins the fight. Popeye eats spinach and beats up Bluto and the Olive Oyl loves Popeye again. Pretty much says its ok for men to force themselves on women and fighting is the way to solve problems. Then there is Whimpy,, the guy who says,, "I'll gladly pay you Thursday for a Hamburger today." Teaching kids credit is an option. Keep in mind, Whimpy never pays. I can remember being scared when Bluto grabbed Olive Oyl and forced her to kiss him. He was the gross, fat, smelly, dirty old man and overpowered her.

I agree... the cartoons today seem more sassy but back then they were more violent and politically incorrect. I didn't mind it at all back then or now.. but I did notice. We bought a bunch of old cartoons and that's when I realized it. Our kids love them just as much as we did...

Actually - I think many of them are much much better than they used to be. Spongebob is pure sweetness, with hardly any mean to it. Forgive me, as I live in Italy, so I am having to translate the names back into English as well as I can remember - but I love Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, the weird cartoon about the dog who keeps saving the woman he loves (its a sort of dystopian munchian masterpiece), Mindy and Billy.... even Ben10 isn't bad.

The ONLY cartoon forbidden here is Ed, Ed, and Eddy (and that includes southpark and American Dad) - and Baby Looney Toons.

I miss the original Pinky and the Brain.... Animaniacs - and am so happy my kid has outgrown Scooby Doo. (I loved it too, but now - I cannot recall why!)

I think this is a great question! I just happened to watch a bit of a cartoon with my granddaughter a couple of weeks ago. Can't remember what it was called, but throughout the entire cartoon, all of the characters ganged up on one character and just teased him mercilessly. My granddaughter thought it was a hoot! I was very concerned because I thought this is what she is learning; to treat people this way! I turned off the cartoon and told her I thought the cartoon was mean and I hoped she did not treat people that way. I do, however, also remember a high school assignment where we had to watch 15 minutes of any cartoon and jot down the number of acts of violence in that 15 minute segment and let me tell you, the numbers were amazing. I can't of course remember exact figures now, but they were numerous. So, are they worse today than they used to be, I really don't know as far as violence goes, but I certainly don't recall any cartoons back in the day where human characters treated each other so poorly.

I think yes and no. There are some cartoons that I won't let my kids watch because of the content. I actually found some old smurf movies on amazon and bought them for my kids, put them on and after 5 mins I shut it off and won't let them watch it because of the bad language! But I think Tale Spin is a ton better than some of the retarted cartoons out there today! We don't have cable, so my kids only get to watch what's on PBS, which is fine by me :).