Word: cartoons
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...When cartoon-show creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera strained their imaginations (ever so slightly) to picture the family of the future, it was a pretty simple exercise. Take your basic nuclear family: the modern, shop-happy housewife, the corporate-drone dad, two rambunctious kids and a dog; house them in a spacy-looking split-level; power their car with atomic energy; equip their home with a robot maid; and, whammo, you had it -- a space-age Cleaver family named The Jetsons...
WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT IF GROWNUPS SAID WATCHing cartoons on TV was as good as going to school? Turns out, some have. In order to meet the standards imposed by the Children's Television Act of 1990, a number of local stations around the country are claiming that many Saturday-morning cartoon and kiddy shows, including The Jetsons, G.I. Joe, Super Mario Brothers and Leave It to Beaver, are "educational" in nature. In a report prepared by the Center for Media Education in Takoma Park, Maryland, consumer groups charge that these stations are skirting the law's intent...
...analysis of Sleeping with the Enemy: an "indictment of conventional wedlock as a cruel and unhealthy arrangement." Well, it's not; it is a melodrama about wife abuse -- a social disorder Hollywood didn't invent. Medved, determined to alienate even his core audience of people who think Disney cartoon features are innocuous entertainment, proclaims that The Little Mermaid "effectively encouraged children to disregard the values and opinions of their parents." Well, Disney has been traumatizing kids for half a century. When Bambi's mother died, kids screamed in horror...
...least he doesn't take it on the chin the way Duncan does. In the film's world, the British are all arrogant dunderheads, bumbling through the woods in immaculate red coats. So the man who was a romantic lead in the novel is here a pudgy cartoon, barking orders and pressing unwanted affections on Cora. He gets crucified over a fire by the Hurons, and nobody minds...
...miscast not only in her career but also as a sex object and surrogate mom of Abdhul, a stray who looks like a child but talks like a grownup. The plot? Forget about it. The characters? Instantly forgettable. It's Janowitz's hyper-real prose servicing a cartoon vision that still marks her as a talent in search of an adequate subject...