Cartoons Have ALWAYS Been Political

Glad someone is pointing it out

Ok but also, political art ≠ political activism.

The latter is typically the problem when unnaturally included in art.

Buh muh wscapims

fitting day to drop this lmao

Bro I got fucking jumpscared by Ben Shapiro 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

"Woke agenda is ruining cartoons" go to Weenie Hut Jr.'s, you can't handle the Salty Spitoon.

I love how direct and non apologetic this is.
I think nuance and discussion is great, but sometimes when people act purely on their own disgust for a group or subject they don't like, it's best to just say "Please act like an adult. Everyone is allowed to exist without you screaming about it"

Go off toon ruins

Time for one of my favorite reminders: George Lucas was a hippie and anti-vietnam-war, Coruscant was America, and Palpatine was based on nixon

Just because a cartoon or show includes things like sexism or the effects of trauma, or whatever your show has in it, I don't think that is what makes a show "woke" or "political." I think what makes something political is when it's trying to shove their view in your face and make you think only their view is the right view, or that you're a jerk if you think differently than them.

It's almost as if anything they deem as "unnatural" or "not normal" must be a political ideology being shoved down their throats the same way it was for POCs, the LGBTQ+ community and disabled folks

I’m voting for Trump today.

I think it should be said, too, that out of all of the studios that you brought up in the history aspect, Warner Bros. had been making anti-Hitler cartoons all along. The first Looney Tune to make even the slightest jab at the Nazis was Bosko, a horribly dated character made by a few ex-Disney employees. Bosko's final short with the studio, 1933's Bosko's Picture Show, had a whole bit making fun of Hitler. And it was because the actual Warner Brothers themselves were one of the first studio moguls to pull out of the German market, leading them to allow Leon Schlesinger Productions a bit more freedom with making fun of the fascist pricks.

So I find it funny when these pundit a-holes say "cartoons shouldn't be political", then point towards the time Daffy whacked Hitler with a mallet, or the character of Montana Max from Tiny Toons being a thinly veiled Donald Trump parody.

Thank you so much for pointing out that politics have always bled into animation to varying extents. I really believe that a lot of people just dismiss the satire and messaging in animated media as it gets older because of the “it’s for kids” stigma, which is worrying. Just because political figures and social phenomena spoofed in the 1940s don’t exist anymore, that doesn’t mean the cartoons have lost that meaning, nor that the subject matter hasn’t had consequences that continue to effect the world in the present day.

Also, these conservative fearmongerers are gonna find new targets eventually and forget what they were whining about today. I swear, in 20-30 years, having an LGBTQ+ character in a children’s cartoon will be so normalised that it won’t be a talking point anymore. The progression of society and culture always happens in the longrun.

A lot of this is stuff I’ve always wanted to say, but I personally try keeping politics out of my channel so my anxiety doesn’t act up when I open up my comments section. But again, thanks for putting this context in a good, meaninful video.

I'm Canadian, so I legally can't vote in the American Elections
But I still like listening about it

Edit: I wish I had something, that could explain to me what a period is. And why my chest got bigger, and why I suddenly needed to wear something uncomfortable
Basically, I wish I had a cartoon, that could tell me what a period is, and what puberty is. But mostly the period thing
I, didn't have a good childhood. So I thought my bleeding, was because of that. So I was scared of telling my parents. If I had something like a cartoon episode, to explain it to me. I might've felt better

And, I really would've liked lgbt characters. I was very LGBTphobic as an early teen, because I had/have a LGBTphobic family
I then struggled for years, figuring myself out, and accepting that I'm aromantic
I wish I had the kind of cartoons, we have now

Also, when people say stuff like "they don't make cartoons like how they used to". Or "I wish cartoons were like how they were when I was a kid". In a way, people are saying that they wish cartoons were racist... As well as, ignoring the fact, that they were very political back then

You VILL be partisan! You MUST digest ze literature! There IS no mittelground! Ze revolution will come, and vhile I personally don’t vant to liquidate ze counterevolutuonaries… I do not speak for mein kamaraden!1!1!

You VILL be partisan! You MUST digest ze literature! There IS no mittelground, extremism IS ze peoples ideology’s! Ze revolution will come, and vhile I personally don’t vant to liquidate ze counterevolutuonaries… I do not speak for mein kamaraden!1!1!

@ToonRuins
Story telling has always had political slants to it.
Thereby Cartons alway ahve.

Dude, there are so many bad takes from people who defend trash takes.

Honestly, the people who complain about "wokeness" are just sad. They're so stuck in a bubble of unrealistic nostalgia that they can't enjoy the world and actively try to make it a worse place for everyone.
I just don't understand how you can live like that. Especially when there are so many amazing people that are different from me.

The new dragon age game definitely missed the point

Definitely hit the nail on the head.
Comics, Games, and animation have always had political implications or serious subjects in them. Some of the best have them in spades.
I would argue that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about depicting these things. And we need to have conversations about what works and what doesn’t. Instead of just wanting to generalize everything when people don’t even realize the arguments there trying to make.

I feel most outrage (that isn't limited to extremely bigoted groups or purposefully incited by right wing pundits or exaggerated by media outlets to promote sales) is when a political view in the fiction they are complaining about is a political view they disagree with, preferably one they have been led to believe is "destroying society", and it is presented positively or as correct. But no media lacks politics, unless we heavily narrow the definition of politics or purposefully skew it to include what we want and exclude what we don't. For example, it is just as political to have a story with a trans person that is a cereal killer or as a covertly trans love interest that makes the hero throw up when they find out the truth, as it is to have a more realistic trans character based on real trans experiences. I would also argue that it is equally political to not talk about issues if there is a precedent to do so, or if you're adapting something that originally included them. It would also be really weird as an artist or storyteller to utterly ignore major parts of your worldview or identity when making art just to try and replicate a worldview that belongs to an audience member in order to avoid them complaining about it or feeling uncomfortable. Like, if you think something isn't political or connected to a worldview or ideology, ten-to-one its simply presenting political norms you are comfortably nestled inside of and take for granted.

That said, politics are not neutral, nor can they just be a matter of preference. Some political views are simply better at protecting the rights of more people than others, or better at creating a safe and mutually beneficial society. For example, take freedom of religion. A version of freedom of religion where Christians can do whatever they want bc it's their religious belief and they are the majority religion isn't as mutually beneficial as one where every religion that can exist or could exist has the right to do what it wishes with itself and its consenting members (unless it violates other agreed upon laws), but cannot infringe upon the rights of other religious groups or create a policy or restriction that isn't rooted in any hard evidence or real world beliefs or mutually agreed upon criteria and is only rooted in one group's religious beliefs. A worldview that uses ideas, whether accurate or not, about biology or uses highly subjective religious beliefs or even just personal discomfort or preferences or ideals or pre-existing gender norms to say trans people can't do what they want with their body is objectively inferior to one where they can but can't force others to become trans (which isn't a thing that actually happens), esp since there is no hard evidence whatsoever that anyone is being negatively impacted by trans people as a group. (Most ideas that trans people are hurting anyone as a grouo fall through upon any amount of scrutiny.) Add to that the fact that many conservative ideologies ignore data or verifiable facts, in some cases doing so as a feature not a bug bc they believe conspiracies, with zero evidence behind them, that all these facts and data are fabricated or deeply mistaken or just as equally able to be debated and questioned as their own subjective ideologies.

So of course, many who complain about too much politics in cartoons should at the very least modify their language to be more accurate. But also they shouldn't expect people to like them or agree with their politics if they seem, based on all the best available evidence, to be rooted in unreality and unable or unwilling to discern the difference between protecting your own rights and stripping rights away from others in the name of your political beliefs.

This was a breath of relief to watch! Loved hearing you getting fired up too! ❤

Toon Ruins is cooking with this video! 👏🏿

I made a acronym called POPOSL
People
Over
Politics
Over
Studios
Loop
People are us fans ,politics are law, studios are the people who need to see what can and can't be allowed with politics.

I'll never forget when I found out that one of the definitions for woke meant being aware of social injustices & facts in a society. It's something I feel has been mangled & twisted by well, let's just call them haters, into a slang used for ignorance &/or malice. I'm not American, but these thoughts being so carelessly thrown on the internet, alongside the widespread usage of the internet in the mid 2010's onwards, and especially after the Star Wars Sequel trilogy fiasco, all but guarantied these sayings have become widespread worldwide terms. Literal hate speech disguised as reviews & opinions. About a gazillion dog whistles in a single rant video.
Being a fan of franchises like Star Wars, Trek, Marvel, DC, etc has been exhausting because I want to spread love to these fandoms & find similar love out there, but instead I find monetized hatred & clickbait. (On a separate topic, parents should absolutely not leave their kids unattended with their laptops or mobile devices. It could be a Bluey compilation or a Spider-Man/Elsa monstrosity and that last one should not be the case!)
Luckily it's gotten much easier to see what kind of video you're gonna get through thumbnails. Bold colors & impact font with an unflattering or sexual image on the side? Hate video. (Over simplifying but y'all get the point.) My feed has gotten much better by de-recommending those channels from my homepage & I don't regret it. Sadly because of this landscape I don't agree with the term "You can't judge a book by it's cover" anymore. Thanks for reading this y'all.

lea i am so proud of u for getting this video out mwah mwah mwah

But if they don't keep kids ignorant how will they indoctrinate them in to their preferred ideology?

I don't like woke. I don't watch. Simple as.

I approve of this message.

This is such a good video and a very important subject!

Cartoon has Always be Political, since the Day the Industry starts Rising, to it's Resonance, and it's Modern Reinvention Cartoons has Always and just couldn't Resist to be Political. It's Not what there Talking that's Political, but How we Portrayed it that Matters. So let Cartoons be Political and let Kids Learn from them, we has Cartoonist has to find a Way to tell these Stories for Kids without Forcing Political Messages. "Cartoon has Always been Cinema, it's the Industry that's too Ancient for them".😂

Don't like what cartoons are showing, then don't watch. It's your right, not theirs.

We are sooooooo back!

"No longer the joker now hes the woker" 💀💀😭💀😭💀?????

Thank you for the video, I have always got my political views from my favorite animated shows or movies and have become a better person for it, I would rather listen to the political opinions from the writers of the DCAU or Young Justice than those idiots at fox news.

Nice video but Hanna-Barbera did not make Rocky & Bullwinkle. Jay Ward Productions did.

As a Transformers fan, I remember when there were people complaining that the show Earthspark had a non-binary character, as if this franchise wasn't unfamiliar with LGBT elements. There were literally two shows with gay-coded characters, the comics had same-gender couples and trans characters, and this community has several LGBT fans, including trans ones!

the show is not dangerous because one of the protagonists is non-binary! they don't even watch the show, Nightshade is incredible! They are a kind scientist who loves their family and is always willing to help them! but these anti-woke people don't know that because they don't even watch the show!

and I have no doubt that they would hate it even more because the show has a mixed Filipino and black family, the mother of this family is a badass amputee, and one of the main themes of the show is racism and discrimination! Yes, it is discrimination against a fictional race, but the villains still act like complete bigots against the characters simply because they are not like them!

This show is genuinely really underrated, the second season sucks but the first season is incredible! If you like transformers, good action, a good story and representation, this show is really good!

I don't mean any disrespect but I feel like you and others like you making this argument know what people MEAN even if theyre using the incorrect words for what they want. I don't want a products story changed morphed or downgraded just to fit a specific agenda OVER the story. I don't want every time I judge something someone just cries bigot. I don't want assholes using "everything is political " as an ensues to hyper analyze every single person on earth. Is someone who says oh you like captain America uh you believe in a racist government then and now somehow wish for genocide because ya don't hate captain America. I'm tired of hypocrisy, if I like x product but say It has a problematic director whatever I now somehow AGREE with all they're views because I didn't boycott them, but when the situation is flipped those same people say "bro your reading to much into its just entertainment " this rules for thee except for me now its an exception. I hate haring "everything is political and uh everything is secretly racist" but don't you view it through your political lens cause thats the wrong lens. What I see is activism what you see is just conspiracy theory bro its just a movie man. I tired of everything is politically being a shield against criticism , so what your stuff is politically that doesn't automatically make it good or bad even if I agree with said politics. thats what I mean when I say why is something so political in media.

I agree with you but for Boomers making the argument, they are probably referring to old Hana Barbera things like Scooby Doo (I really can't think of anything political in that unless you want to get into the fan theory that it takes place during a recession with the gang being draft dodgers) and maybe The Flintstones and Jetsons which yes while there was occasional political jokes, the shows weren't really political excluding being a bit sexist given the era.

If its a millennial making the argument it really doesn't work though, tons of 90's and 2000's cartoons had gender swap episodes, many had environmental messages, many showed that parents weren't always great (that's literally the premise behind Fairy Odd Parents)

That's the point. People complaining about "woke culture" or "woke cartoons" are disingenuous, hateful, bigoted morons. For example the original context of the word 'woke' was appropriate about right-wingers as a catch-all term for anything forward thinking they hate.

These so called complaints are just dog whistles for right-wing reactionaries who hate not seeing a straight white man at the forefront in all media.

These people don't like women & minorities and make it very clear

It's also not political to make your main characters just as silly and comical as your side characters, so they feel more like equals.

Edit: Red Riding Rabbit was supposed to be political? How? I just assumed it was a silly parody of Little Red Riding Hood with Bugs Bunny in it.

The endless lecturing played a huge roll in why Trump won. Just remember that

I know this isn’t the point but Hanna Barbara didn’t create Rocky & Bullwinkle. Jay Ward Productions did. But i understand the confusion. Both companies cropped up around the same time.

But the broader point stands that cartoons in any sense are political. For all the handwringing about the proud family reboot being considered by the right to be too woke, it’s worth remembering the original series focused on topics like sexualization, Islamophobia, homophobia, and yes, racism.

Rugrats also had an episode about gender nonconformity (Clan of the Duck) where Phil and Chuckie try on dresses, and its sister episode (Angelica’s Lemonade Stand), was one about organized labor/worker rights when the babies protest Angelica’s lemonade stand demanding their fair share of dimes

I was wondering how you were doing! Im glad I decided to check.

Thank you!