Cartoons - Risqué and Provocative
Move over “Tom and Jerry” and stand aside “Scooby Doo,”
cartoons are turning from wacky and crazy to risqué and provocative, said a
Cartoon Network employee.
James Bagley, the manager of standards and practices at AOL/Time Warner’s
Cartoon Network, told University of Florida students Tuesday that censoring
cartoons has become a tough task since they are becoming increasingly more
scandalous.
“Cartoons have become more than just Road Runner, they are being directed
towards more adult topics now,” Bagley said.
The students present got to see the pilot episode for a new Cartoon Network
series, “Sea Lab 2021.” The show featured an evil ruler’s assistant and a
stranded space traveler moaning and screaming during a sexual encounter
behind a closed door.
The scene is allowed because the sexual activity taking place can be seen
and not heard. For this reason the rating of the show remains at TV PG or TV
14.
“Parental guidance is promoted on TV PG and TV 14 rated shows,” Bagley said.
“’Sea Lab 2021’ isn’t quite TV MA (recommended for mature audiences only)
because you can’t see the sexual activity taking place.”
The ratings system, which according to the Federal Communications Commission
is necessary for shows on all networ
ks including cable channels, is different for every
station, Bagley said.
“Comedy Central has the same ratings for ‘South Park’ as HBO has for ‘The
Sopranos’ and MTV has for ‘The Osbourne’s,’” Bagley said. “Each station has
different criteria for each rating level.”
Choosing a rating level isn’t the only part of his job, said Bagley. Wearing
a casual hooded sweatshirt and jeans, he told the more than 20 students
packed in to a room in Weimar Hall what he really does.
“I have the dubious honor of being the guy that has to say no,” Bagley said.
“I have to censor other people’s creativity.” But more importantly Bagley
said he gets “paid to watch cartoons.”
Besides just being fun, Bagley’s job holds a more significant purpose then
to just bleep out words to give him something to do. “I have to censor so
the network can get advertising revenue.”
As cartoons become more naughty they become a bigger risk for the network.
Advertisers won’t support a show that parents aren’t going to allow their
kids to watch or that they won’t watch themselves, he said.
“I have to save the network from backlash,” Bagley said. “If money doesn’t
come in, no one will get paid and it all goes to the pooper.”
In order to allow adults to view cartoons intended for an older audience,
Cartoon Network has created a block of time called Adult Swim to show more
racy and foul cartoons.
The students Tuesday got to see segments from some of the shows that appear
during Adult Swim. The tapes included bits of “Sea Lab 2021,” “Home Movies”
and “Kids Next Door.”
“I really liked ‘Home Movies,’” said Maria Catsikopoulos, a UF political
science major, who attended Bagley’s speech.
“I may start watching on Sunday nights now,” Catsikopoulos said, “I was
unaware that cartoons were becoming entertaining for all ages now.”
Bagley was invited to speak by the University of Florida’s chapter of the
National Broadcast Society.
“We decided to have him come because of production students,” said Nikisha
Williams, the president of the NBS.
“We wanted to give people a feel for the production side of the business and
not just the broadcasting aspect,” Williams said.
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