Nerfing the eighties.
I’ve been spending the past few months looking at all things from my childhood and though I haven’t discovered anything that we didn’t already know but it’s shocking as I keep my love of children’s programing. Where to start? Let’s begin with cartoons.
The Real Ghostbusters. It was an excellent show that did many positive things for children by showing that there was a way to battle such creatures as the so-called boogie man or other such creatures. But, it was dark for it’s time. Several episodes the only way it seemed for victory was the Ghostbusters to sacrifice themselves. They battled Satan, Mighty Cthulhu (Cathulhu), and talked of demons, ran away from (and left to their own devices) vampires and werewolves! All in a children’s cartoon. When the rebooted the series in the nineties they nerfed it in two ways: One, they made the show incredibly PC with the black guy Roland, the Hispanic, the goth chick, and the guy in the wheel chair. Two, all the creatures are dispatched neatly and tidily, there’s no real doubt as to if they’re going to survive, the whole show is meant as a morale booster about how everything will always turn out okay without sacrifice. As a matter of fact, only one episode of the Extreme Ghostbusters as a motif of sacrifice: "Slimer’s Sacrifice." Perhaps most important to remember is that the second show was made as a direct response to the growing age of the fans of the first series.
Transformers. Though not nearly as dark as TRGB it was hyper violent. True, it was bright, but it was heavily influenced by the Samurai and especially the animated movie was very edgy. Several of the autobots were brutalized and the cold harshness in which Optimus Prime was killed…that’s just cold. The late 90s Beast Wars was a great show that actually darkened the show considerably with a smaller character base leading to more attachment to the characters and one of the greatest deaths in cartoon history (Dinobot dying in Season 2). But, this show was made almost entirely as fan service for the fans of the first series. All the other versions of the show don’t keep any of that at all and let’s just forget Transformer’s Animated ever happened, okay?
Beetlejuice. Though the afterlife was depicted as cartoony and relatively bright, it was still the afterlife. And the show made it okay to show the movie to kids (I remember seeing the film at a young age) with it’s very mature themes. The only show I can think of that continues this is The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, bu that show has always been intended for older audiences anyway.
The Centurions. It dealt with themes such as the synergy of man and machine as well as the reliance on technology that was slowly becoming a reality that it certainly is now. I can’t really think of a show that even attempts to address these themes in today’s terms. I could be wrong though.
Batman the Animated Series. Though not technically an 80’s cartoon (aired in 1992) it’s still a show that every child of the eighties remembers. This show was dark as dark can be. Literally and figuratively. Most of the cells were painted from black up. The show did such things as show actual guns being fired, a gunshot wound, the existence of blood, lots of real physical violence. The show dealt with tons of mature themes of redemption, sacrifice, and honor. Though many of the villains where black and white many were very shades of gray that describe the kind of moral quandaries that we all have to go through on a daily basis. Now, this was kept in the late 90’s remake of the show and to a degree in Batman Beyond, however in "The Batman" and "Batman the Brave and the Bold" this is lost. The show is completely nerfed. Gone are the themes, gone are the shades of gray, gone are the violence and destruction. Sanitized.
The Dark Crystal. Showing the symbolic relationship between good and evil and how we are all connected and our actions directly influence others. And pretty scary and violent for a children’s movie.
Labrynth. Though not as scary or symbolic as Dark Crystal, it was still very surreal and shows the careful what you wish for moral that we all need to learn.
Fraggle Rock. Having a dense mythology of creatures that are all ecologically connected and the social structure between all the creatures. Lessons that were not overdone in any aspect but instead just allowed to be a part of the story so that a child could just soak it in.
The Storyteller. Having just rediscovered this recently I have to say I’m surprised that I forgot this gem. The show told many obscure folk-tales from the Old World and didn’t skimp on the fright involved and incorporated themes of Heaven and Hell, demons, monsters, witches, everything. The show was often grimey and physically dark.
But what happened? Already starting in the 80’s we saw a shift to sheltering our children from the world at large and giving them crap. I’m a generation Y’er. And this so-called generation Z has nothing in terms of good programing, they’re all safe, sanitized depictions of how the world should be, not how the world is or is going to be. I’ll come back and edit this later, I’ve got more to say, but I’ve got to do some research.
–RK