Really?

Where were these people when the title character of Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants, Family Guy’s Quagmire, and American Dad’s Roger the Alien called females CUNTs?

Let me back track a bit to put things in perspective since the whole world has gone mixed nuts in a whirlpool crazy.

Cartoons throughout the years have been criticized for their artwork, content, and story lines. Some have been harshly judged and even politically targeted. In the 1980s, cartoons were being pushed by special interest groups to be more educational after decades of being entertaining. Several fan favorite cartoons were pushed aside or totally discarded for the new cartoons that adhered to the new policy of being more “educational” (“brainwashed” and “dumbed down” are the more appropriate terms according to hardcore fans).  Classic cartoons like the beloved Popeye and Warner Brothers animated shorts from the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1950s were being attacked by critics in the 1980s as being vulgar, racist, violent, and sexist. Even the revolutionary cartoonist Ralph Bakshi  found his absolutely hysterical 80s version of Mighty Mouse being attacked by The American Family Association, a group from the religious right that had disdain for Mr. Bakshi  ever since he created an x-rated adult cartoon film called Fritz the Cat a decade before Mighty Mouse. In an episode of the popular revised version of the super rodent, Mighty Mouse sniffs the remains of  a flower that somehow got severely misconstrued by some viewers as Mighty Mouse snorting cocaine. Mr. Bakshi has gone on record denouncing drugs but instead of fighting this ridiculous claim about this episode, Mr. Bakshi allowed the scene to be cut even though CBS had approved of the scene. The episode, entitled “The Littlest Tramp” was not aired in reruns. Mr. Bakshi’s  attempt to appease the group made himself look guilty, and soon it was the end of the uproariously funny cartoon series which not only aired on Saturdays but occasionally on prime-time TV as well. It was THAT good.

If this simple act of Mighty Mouse sniffing a flower is so shocking, where are  the calls of protest and cancellation  from the Liberal Left , the Righteous Right, and from feminists and women’s organizations like NOW against American Dad, Family Guy, and SpongeBob Squarepants? American Dad and Spongebob Squarepants in particular had a male character utter a seemingly simple statement to a female character that was actually a veiled sentence for a most vulgar word. A nasty word so derogatory towards women that you’d be hard pressed to find a male equivalent for that word. The Liberal Left would foam at the mouth to crucify anyone on the right who would have said it. Yet because the these shows  are liberal favorites and are produced by liberal people, they got a pass. Had a right leaning show or cartoon used the statement,  the terms “sexist”, “misogynistic”, and of course “a war on women” would have been thrown haphazardly at the program and the network showing it by those on the left.

The euphemisms used by American Dad and  Spongebob Squarepants are “Catch You Next Tuesday” and “See You Next Tuesday”.  The sounds of the first letter of each word in these sentences  spell out the harsh, unpleasant word “C*NT” (replace the asterisk with the letter “U“) and little children have been exposed to it thanks to Spongebob Squarepants.

It’s clearly heard in this episode of SpongeBob Squarepants which airs  on Nickelodeon. A children’s channel that obviously is not paying attention to its own programming because what knucklehead of an executive would have allowed such an inappropriate crass statement be said on a kids’ network? Obviously one who likes to circumvent the FCC guidelines. Here is the link to that particular segment of  the episode:  https://youtu.be/3Sm2XjESino

To add injury to insult, his female teacher gets “accidentally” hit on the head with what appears to be a part of the boat that the lead title character seems to have crashed as seen here: https://youtu.be/NPapXq_zZl4

American Dad is a cartoon created by Liberals Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman to satirize conservatism. Like Family Guy, it’s an adult themed cartoon that children do watch given that it’s on television multiple times a day and like Family Guy, they use American Dad to label and demonize the right which they  often paint as close minded and evil. The right has a war on women? I have yet to come across a right leaning cartoon that has called a female character a c*nt on television programs like Spongebob SquarePants, American Dad, and Family Guy have done. It can’t even be condoned on the MacFarlane shows, but to say it in a children’s cartoon, on Nickelodeon no less? Bugs Bunny was put through hell for dropping anvils on some cartoon character’s head and this is okay with people?

In Episode 2 of Season 1 of American Dad (2005), lead character Stan Smith’s wife, Francine,  gets a real estate job where she excels and makes more money than her husband. He gets jealous because evidently, all Christian men on the right are too macho to deal with a woman making more than her husband  according to the writers of this show; and yet at one point, Roger the illegal alien (from outer space, not from another nation on Earth) says to an acquaintance of his over the phone that  he has to hang up the telephone because Francine, ” the boss is being a real “Catch you Next Tuesday.”

It’s not the first time a MacFarlane produced cartoon referenced the “C” word. In an episode of Family Guy, Brian the dog, Stewie Griffin, and the oversexed and often perverted neighbor Quagmire go on a cross-country trip in Quagmire’s recreational vehicle. Brian points out to Quagmire that his RV has the word “cross-country” misspelled on it. The letter “u” is missing in it, thereby spelling out “cuntry”. Quagmire assures Brian that it is spelled the way he wants it to be spelled.

Mighty Mouse sniffing flowers was unacceptable and yet the euphemism for the “C” Word uttered on nationwide television, including a children’s network is accepted?  It’s probably best that people put Decaf in that UNT mug and get their priorities in order.

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Glorifying a villain as misunderstood due to a deprived, troubled childhood is beyond inappropriate. It’s reprehensible and diminishes the hero, who should be the one being glorified and romanticized or what the heck is the point of the hero? The hero is not the supporting character, what part of “hero” do some hack writers not get? Romanticizing the villain without the character fully and permanently redeeming him or herself isn’t even good writing in terms of character development nor plot so there is no real point of doing it.  Particularly when they are as twisted and evil as DC’s The Joker. There is no redeeming factor for some of these devils as much as can be said for some real life people out there who are just plain evil. Some do it by choice, for others it’s in their nature.  Whatever the case, they commit terror against other people who have every right to live out their lives, so NO. It isn’t grey. It’s clear cut. They kidnap, rape, torture, and kill people in barbaric ways. He or she chose to do the bidding of evil. They are the bad guys. PERIOD. There should be no shades of grey here. A perfect life is rare, even for the hero. This incessant need to humanize villains is off center. It is the victim and the hero with whom the reader should identify with. Not the character who chose the wrong side of justice. We all have problems which is why we should tolerate and be kind to each other instead of miserable. It is part of being a mature, responsible adult and citizen. Most of us still know to take the loss and still do right by others, but glorifying and romanticizing villains, be it mobsters like those seen in The Godfather, The Sopranos, Scarface, and Goodfellas to comic book villains in the upcoming Warner Brothers feature film Suicide Squad, it’s twisted.

Marvel Comics’ The Punisher (Frank Castle), saw his entire family get murdered. He became a vigilante. He took the law into his own hands because he saw the law as slow, full of loopholes, useless. The law frowns upon vigilantism because of population control. The government doesn’t want everyone going around taking the law into their hands. It doesn’t justify the existence and authority of the police and the judicial system, so it’s seen as a crime in its own right. In real life, President Andrew Jackson supported vigilantism. If it was fine for the Democratic President, then it is fine for fictional soldier and citizen Frank Castle; especially when you have an inept criminal justice system and people whipped into fear through shaming and political correctness.

People refer to the Punisher as one who is glorifying guns, others see him as a hero who is getting rid of some bad guys before they hurt others. His character is reminiscent of Charles Bronson’s character in the Death Wish franchise and Clint Eastwood’s character in the Dirty Harry series.  Punisher is doing Batman‘s job but in a more permanent way that goes against Batman‘s views.  Both characters are known in their respective universes as needing psychiatric attention; Frank Castle is Dick Tracy on steroids. He just happens to be a more believable character than Bruce Wayne is. One whose existence could be possible and probable. He doesn’t have the luxuries Wayne has so he needs to come up with money and he needs guns.  It’s hard to fight evil without a gun when evil has guns. He has to fight fire with fire. The difference is, the gun in Punisher’s hand is used for good; to take out evil. The guns in the bad guys hands are used to carry out crimes, usually heinous ones. Yet both Batman and The Punisher find that more often than not they have to work under the cover of night where there are less witnesses out and about. The night gives them the extra chance to disappear into the darkness without being caught by the local and/or government authorities who despise vigilantes because vigilantes are doing a better job than the ones deputized to do the work in the first place, particularly in literature.

Writers need to stop humanizing and glorifying a depraved individual like The Joker. When the final installment of the Christopher Nolan Batman movie premiered in a theater out west, a lunatic shot up a movie theater and killed a number of people. That sick individual did it for the notoriety. What made him into the monster that he is, isn’t guns or comic books. It was the medication he was on and his warped feelings toward society. Taking gun rights away from all Americans wouldn’t have changed anything. When you get an evil nut like him out on the street, he’ll figure something out to kill a large number of people. From building a homemade bomb to simply locking everyone in the theatre from the outside and setting the building on fire.

The movie theater tragedy re-ignited the gun debate. The irony  is not lost here. The Batman character himself has his origin in gun violence as we have seen it played out time and time again in the comics, on film, and in animated media. As a result of  what happened to his folks, Batman does not carry a gun. He originally did but that was before they concocted his origin; after his origin was explained, he never really carried a gun again and he never killed until recent reboots of the character by DC that is. Bad move on DC because DC just destroyed the most admirable part of the character. The issue here is mental illness, not the gun. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have guns and they have them at home to protect their families. Hundreds of thousands of these guns were not used in a crime today. It’s not the weapon. It’s who has possession of it. Much like Batman’s utility belt, the gun is a piece of technology and like any other piece of technology, it can be used for good or bad. The Punisher uses guns for the side of good; his enemies use them for evil.

The movie theater killer is an insane guy who got dressed up as the equally insane Joker with the only difference being that The Joker is fictional. He committed a heinous act while an audience watched the Batman movie, something like The Joker would do in the comics. Maybe that nut was trying to call out a real life Batman to his real life Joker.  Surprisingly, the Media and the politicians did not attack comic books over this issue.

They chose not to because superhero movies are big box office for Hollywood and Hollywood is politically active. Hollywood gives lots of money and perks to the politicians who do its bidding. There is the crime that really goes unpunished. Comic Books are glorifying guns and evil as much as the rest of the entertainment industry is. It’s where the money is.

To quote the late professional wrestler Randy “Macho Man” Savage: “Where money lies, honor dies”…and usually it’s with a body count.

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Celebrities have named their children after the stars of famous franchises too. For instance the beloved talented comedian and actor Robin Williams was a big fan of the video game The Legend of Zelda; so big  that he named his own daughter after Princess Zelda. They even shot a commercial together for The Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time 3D, the Nintendo 3DS game in 2011.

Another actor who named his daughter after a fan favorite character is actor/writer/director Kevin Smith. The American filmmaker named his daughter Harley Quinn, after the DC character who is in love with the insane Joker, Batman’s nemesis. The character is featured in the upcoming Warner Brothers film Suicide Squad.  Recently, Mr. Smith presented his daughter Harley Quinn Smith with the bat used in the film by the fictional character Harley Quinn.

Girls are not the only ones to suffer from having a father who is not only a celebrity but a geek and/or nerd. Actor Nicolas Cage named his son Kal-el, after Superman’s Kryptonian identity.  Cage is the nephew of Academy Award nominee Talia Shire , a nephew of multi Academy Award winning Francis Ford Coppola, and the first cousin of Academy Award winning Sofia Coppola.  An Academy Award winning actor himself, Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola. He took the professional name of Cage from Marvel Comics’ Luke Cage, Power Man.

Kal-el, Superman himself recently came to the rescue of Nicholas Cage. IRS troubles and other debt caused the actor to sell his copy of Action Comics #1 in November 2011 via an online auction. The comic sold for 2.16 million USD (United States Dollars), breaking the previous world record of 1.5 million USD. He had purchased the Holy Grail of comic book in 1997 for a paltry 110,000 USD.

Who knows, someday YOU might create a character that some celebrity will name their own child after; but make sure you pay your taxes because not all comics are worth what Action Comics #1 is.

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American comic book characters are known worldwide. People in foreign lands watch these fictional heroes on the big screens in their countries and buy American comic books translated into their respective languages and formatted to their specifications. I myself have a collection of X-Men, Spiderman, Superman, and Captain America comic books from other countries written in their foreign language.

The idea of heroes and freedom is universal. When you have tasted freedom, it’s hard to let it go and give it up; and many who have never had it, are willing to fight for it. American ideals and the imagery of the fictional American heroes materialize in organized public demonstrations worldwide where thousands of people protest against oppressive governments. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Asian nation or and Arab nation. You’ll see somebody dressed as Superman or Captain America…the symbols speak volumes in any language. No translation is necessary.

DC and Marvel, and their parent companies Warner Brothers and Disney respectively, are making money in the overseas market. The companies cannot afford to completely overhaul their established characters because some risks may work in some markets while not in others.  Not every country is as accepting or open minded as others. There are cultural biases. Singapore is very liberal when it comes to homosexuality; to people in Singapore, the two gay characters who got married in Archie Comics two years ago would be no big deal to them but in other countries where homosexuality is grounds for death, it IS a big deal. Even interracial dating or pre-marital affairs can get you into trouble with some cultures.  This is true in countries whose politics and religion are one and the same and any affront to their traditions and/or religion could cost you your life.

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