Posted on 05/27/2004 7:25:15 AM PDT by qam1
Who is cooler,
Racer X
or Race Bannon?
More importantly, the Justice League 'toons these days don't have the wimpiest of the SuperFriends as a member: Aquaman. . .
No contest. Racer X.
GI Joe had A-Team violence though, nobody ever got killed, infact they wen out of their way to show that everybody lived. Blow up the bad guy's flying base and out would pop hundreds of parachutes, people crawled out of the wreckage of every vehicle that blewup.
If anything that kind of "didn't hurt" violence is, IMHO, worse for kids that realistic violence where peole actually suffer some consequences from being shot. If kids are learning something from their cartoons (other than which new toys to demand from mum and da) then what they learned from GI Joe was that every car crash, no matter how firey, no matter how big a rocket caused it, is not only survivable but WILL BE survived with nary a a scratch. At least in Warner Bros when somebody got hit with a frying pan their face got flattened for a while and the kids learned that it hurt.
I still remember the theme song to Starblazers.
Great show.
I also liked 'Eek the Cat'. That show was great, especially Shark Dog and the cuts to the dinosaurs and cavemen.
Eek: "It never hurts to help."
Yeah I think this author is off on the timeframe. The late 70's/Earl 80's had some great cartoons. It wasn't until the late 80's/early 90's that cartoons had to have some kind of positive PC message.
It started with He-Man, When at the end one of the characters would come on and tell you the lesson you were supposed to have learned.
I say Race Bannor is more cooler simply because he's a real leader and doesn't hide behind his mask. He knows Judo and takes care of a professor, his kid, and some other kid named Hadji (gotta love that). Race knows how to drive just about anything with a steering wheel, can scuba, is a weapons expert, and crack shot to boot. All Racer X does is run away from his past, chop a few bad guys once in a while, drive his car. He is a great mechanic, you gotta give him that - but still, RACE IS THE MAN!
I like it. But there's a crowd here on FR (the ones that blame MTV's Jackass every time a kid busts his head doing something stupid) that couldn't disagree more. But he's right, agression needs to be worked out, part of growing up is learning how to vent your agression in socially acceptable ways (like watching Daffy Duck get blown up) and not socially unacceptable way (like Columbine). A society that doesn't let its youth vent it's agression constructively (or at least non-destructively) is forcing that agression down a very bad path.
No Violent and sexual games and TV shows have no effect on kids, But if a kid sees someone with a cigarette/cigar in any of those it will cause him to take up smoking </crazy left logic>
In retrospect, Race shoulda just worn a skirt and moved to Massachusetts. :^)
Back then, from early grade school through about age 16 fights were common at school. We fought at recess. We fought in the bathrooms. We fought in the hallways. We fought walking home.
Best of all, no one was suspended. No one called the police. No one was sued. No one was sent to an "alternative school". No one was drugged with Ritalin.
There were a few bloody noses, split lips and black eyes. Bruises were common. The teachers would utter the words "Break it up you two" and the action would stop. No one ever seemed to get seriously hurt and our male aggressions were satisfied. We also knew the precise pecking order on the playground.
No he's got his time frame right on. Superfriends started in 1973, He-Man 1983. Maybe you managed to avoid the cruddy cartoons until the late 80s when they totally took over, but lame "moral lesson" oriented violenceless cartoons started taking over the industry in the late 70s. Don't forget the Smurfs (1981) probably the lamest cartoon ever with the lames "moral lessons" and most total lack of violence.
Race-ism is one of the most pressing problems we face. To paraphrase Dr. King, I suggest that we be judged by only 'by the content of our cartoon character.'
But he ain't, so neener neener neener. :^)
So essentially Race was Ninja June Cleaver.
bump !
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