Abstract

Cartoon Wars

The article examines political and social messages in cartoons and children's programs. It's an old obsession of the religious right. Today's right-wing moralists are less bothered by subliminal messages than by the real issue of teaching children that homosexuals are worthy of respect. Their aim is to see that homophobia is free to operate, and one way to do that is to keep children from seeing gays as part of the human community. It's no surprise that kids' stuff looms so large in the culture war. No form of pop culture is more prone to blunt moralizing, surprise that kids' stuff looms so large in the culture war. No form of pop culture is more prone to blunt moralizing. But this struggle involves the medium as well as the message. Cartoons are powerful in a special way, and the less realistic they are the more potent they seem. Fundamentalists are convinced that pop culture is stealing the souls of their children. Gays are concerned that liberals will abandon them, especially after the talk from leading Democrats about how same-sex marriage lost John Kerry the election. And editorial cartoonists can sniff the emotional wind. The best of them delve into the subconscious.