The banishment of Speedy Gonzalez (1 Viewer)

[CharlesD]

What I am concerned with is that, eventually, the only versions of these cartoons that will be preserved will be the edited versions. Hopefully some archivists somewhere will not stand by and let this happen without at least a little fight.

Scott,

I'm sure that most, if not all people here agree with you on that. I think one of the wonderful things about DVD is that it has encouraged the preservation of the original versions of movies, not the cropped, edited TV versions, and I don't see why cartoons should be any different.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Scott, I can't help but think you're not paying attention here.
Cartoon network is not airing Speedy Gonzales cartoons regularly because:
(a) They don't think they'll get as good ratings as other selections, such as Sylvester / Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Foghorn Leghorn / Yosemite Sam, all of whom are funnier. Speedy was a very late addition to the WB crew, and while not as bad as the pathetically unfunny Tazmanian Devil, most of the Speedy cartoons are not that good.
(b) The ones which are good usually involve Speedy's buddies smoking and drinking.
If you had read the thread and links you'd see that the stuff you're outraged about is in your mind (or on that talk show you heard) and has little to do with the Cartoon Network's descision not to air these cartoons. They are aired in Latin American countries because Speedy Gonzales is a popular character in those countries.
I'm sure that when Comedy Central does an "All Looney Tunes" weekend, these cartoons will probably be aired during a non-ratings sensitive hour (like 2AM). Personally I won't miss them as I find them mostly unfunny (particularly the awful late 50's early 60s ones with Daffy Duck chasing Speedy) except for a few of them.
Speedy is not being held back because he "represents a racial stereotype", but for ratings reasons and because cartoon characters smoking and drinking is not something which should be aired for children, where the CC Looney Tunes timeslots are aimed. Simply not airing cartoons is is definitely better than airing edited cartoons IMO. No-one in the thread mentioned cutting the cartoons until you wrote something.
You keep on posting like you're not paying attention to the thread!

 

[AndrewD]

"I think the Cartoon Network should try to find a spot for Speedy as there certainly does seem to be an audience for him."

As a lot of you may know, Cartoon Network launched an adults-only block of animation called "Adult Swim". With all fo this controversy, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Speedy retrospective somewhere in there very soon.

 

[Scooter]

Greg and others who don't feel that PC lunacy is at play here..click this:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48872,00.html
RIGHT there in the first paragraph!

 

[JasenP]

I usually take Fox News with a monsterous grain of salt, but they seem to have nailed it this time.

I believe it to be a PC thing with ratings as an excuse. Just give me the ****ing DVD already!! Arriba! Arriba! Arriba!

 

[CharlesD]

Oh right if FOX News says its all about PC it MUST be true
REad the Newsmax link: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...3/153013.shtml They are even further to the right than FOX but at least they have the decency to quote entire sentences rather than just picking out the bits they know will enrage their audience.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Fox news - now there's a legit news organization....

 

[Scooter]

*sigh* :frowning:
Think what you want...they don't make up quotes or the source of quotes.
Sad..simply sad....

 

[Philip Hamm]

It appears that after reading more of the articles I should add to my post above:

(c) They feel that some people might be offended by the Mexican stereotype of Speedy so figure why bother?

Note that (c) is much less important in their descision than the (a) and (b) already mentioned, though some of the spin doctors will report (c) as the most important to sensationalize the issue.

 

[AndrewD]

"I usually take Fox News with a monsterous grain of salt, but they seem to have nailed it this time."

No, they haven't nailed anything. They're just spouting the same story that's been going on for weeks. The same, silly sensationalized story.

"I believe it to be a PC thing with ratings as an excuse."

Nope. Networks live and die by ratings. Kids 6-11 are the network's main audience. These kids tune out in droves if an older cartoon comes on. They want their animation new, something they can own as opposed to something their parents liked. In Cartoon Network's first years, adults liked the network because all they had to show was the Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera toons. In turn, the kids referred to CN as the "old cartoon" network. Ratings is far from an excuse, it's the main reason behind the decision.

"Think what you want...they don't make up quotes or the source of quotes. "

They may not make them up, but almost as bad, they omit words and phrases to make it sound worse than when originally said. If you look at the dozens of other articles on this tired subject, you'll find quotes from Cartoon Network that sound similar to what you'll see quoted in this article. Either they're intentionally massaging the quotes, or they're getting the quotes second or third hand when its bound to be a little off. Either way, it's poor journalism.

Speedy along with every other Looney Tunes cartoon was created for a general audience - not a kids audience. Cartoon Network knows that it's just a cartoon and that adults would be able to handle it. If adults were the network's main audience, Speedy most likely would have never gone anywhere. But the audience is kids. Kids don't care for these cartoons.

 

[Scooter]

If they (kids) don't want to watch "old cartoons" then why is Scooby Doo such a hit with them? Or SuperFriends..that doesn't hold a lot of water. Thing is..when I was a kid many of these cartoons were old already..and when my kids watched them they were even older..and they loved'em!

As far as "massaging the quotes" there is usually a .... between words to show that is the case. And if you don't think that CNN, MSNBC, etc. don't do MUCH more of that sort of thing..read Bias by Bernie Goldberg or simply ask me..that is my background.

 

[AndrewD]

I know that people of all ages enjoy these cartoons. But since Cartoon Network has aired these cartoons for 10 years, they know who is most likely to watch and who isn't.

The old Scooby Doo cartoons are popular with young kids 2-5 years old and adults. That's why you'll only see it on the network in the late morning/early afternoons when older kids are at school and evenings when adults are home. Granted, the new Scooby, straight-to-video movies (...Zombie Island, ...Alien Invaders) are very popular, but that's because they're updated cartoons. Besides, Scooby Doo is an evergreen show made especially for kids (albeit with some sly adult references) unlike Looney Tunes where the target audience is broader.

SuperFriends is practically the same situation and rarely airs on CN anymore - especially since Justice League is doing so well. If you get the Boomerang network, you can find it there.

I'm familiar with the use of "..." but what the FOX article seemed to do was quote a full sentence, leave out the next sentence that provided some explanation, insert another quote, leave out some more explanation, and so on. I find it very hard to believe that CN's PR person, Goldberg, failed to mention anything to FOX about Looney Tunes' poor ratings with CN's key demo, plus the drinking and smoking featured in these cartoons – which are the two main reasons for Speedy’s absence, not the stereotyping. I find it easy to believe that she DID say this, and FOX just left it out to make the story sexier.

 

[Rafael_R]

He's baack!

 

[Jack Briggs]

Reading and watching this thread. Generally, everything appears in order. I trust you all to keep it that way. This is a sensitive sunject, however. And please refrain from any stereotyping if possible--that includes making rude comments about any persons living in Arkansas.

 

[Bill_Weinreich]

As a Martian-American, I am truly offended at the outrageous depiction of Marvin. Now where's the Earth shattering KABOOM!

 

[Scott Strang]

As a Martian-American, I am truly offended at the outrageous depiction of Marvin. Now where's the Earth shattering KABOOM!

According to "Mission to Mars", we're all Martian-Americans, Martian-Japanese, etc.

 

[Scott Strang]

Did anyone else happen to see the Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales promo for "Daffy Duck Island"?

 

[JasonK]

they have about 6 bugs bunney cartoons they will not show racially offensive, they say

Yeah, I can think of one title. "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips." It was done during war times, more as a patriotic 'rally around Bugs Bunny' cartoon, but it's understandable why the cartoon network wouldn't want to air it.

Another one is "Coal Black and de Seben Dwarfs." Obviously a spoof of Snow White.

I had a class in college called "Images of Minorities in Film" and we screened Coal Black, but not the Bugs Bunny one.

I would like the WB to get around to releasing all of the cartoons uncut someday, but we keep hearing 'next year...'

 

[Ryan Wright]

And please refrain from any stereotyping if possible--that includes making rude comments about any persons living in Arkansas.

Yes yes, I understand, but I'm going to make two points here: Number one, I didn't poste that on April 8th as it says. This thread is very old. Actually, I think it's from way back in 2001. No idea how it got dragged back up or how the dates got changed. Number two, I wasn't stereotyping anyone, I was commenting on stereotypical behavior and in doing so I randomly picked Arkansas out of 49 other states to make my point. If somebody can't see that, well, I suppose they'll just have to be offended. Can't please everybody.

 

[Scott McGillivray]

Interesting discussion. I reminds me that at least one episode of "The Flintstones" was banned in my home province. It was brought up by one of our politicians. She thought it was a racists episode because of the stereotyping of First Nations people (Natives, Indians). Now, I have no problem with removing episodes that are sincerely racist or mean-spirited. Especially when we are talking about cartoons for impressionable children. But, like many of you, I fear that it is just something that will get carried away. For example, being of Scotish ancestry, I should be very upset with several cartoon characters, such as Scrooge McDuck, Groundskeeper Willy and several lesser characters from the Bugs Bunny series. They portray the Scots as being frugal, stubborn and generally silly. Am I really offended? No, because I realize that it is generally done in fun and no real harm is intended. Heck, if I was touchy about it, I would go after every store that had a Scots-day sale (meaning it was really cheap).
Anyhoo...that was my 2 cents.