This article answers the question as to why animation is better than live action and why you can cross the line more in animation. In this article, the author goes over different reasons why he believes this to be true, but it is his number one reason why I chose to include this. Animation gives you open, creative freedom. “While live action is bound by laws of physics that require cheesy computer generated effects to bypass, animation is bound only by the limits of imagination and budget, and thus I argue that there are greater artistic possibilities to be taken advantage of in animation than in live action.” In animation, anything goes. You can cross the line in animation obviously because of this reason. We can’t or shouldn’t want to attempt certain things we see in animation, and that’s why we express our desires, our anger and sadness through it that we just can’t with real life. You don’t need to worry about physical limitations; it’s just a cartoon in the end. You have the ability to create something that does not exist yet, and animation is a fast, effective way into explaining and illustrating anything you want to get across. Click below to see article.
Airing only once in 1991, this episode of Tiny Toon Adventures was pulled and banned in the U.S. by Warner Bros. In the episode we see our underage cartoon characters get wasted, harass girls, only followed by stealing a cop car and driving off a cliff to their deaths; in fact the last shot is the characters floating up towards the sky with angel wings. The episode was initially supposed to show "the evils of alcohol" but Warner Bros quickly saw the problem and pulled the episode. You can still find it on DVD and YouTube though, if you wanted to see three adorable characters fall into a spiral of drunken tales.
Beavis and Butthead is a very well known animated show to have caused some controversy. The episode “Heroes” is no different to this. Because it involves Beavis and Butthead buying guns underage, only followed by them shooting down a plane with them, the episode was pulled and never aired again. MTV had never been big on showing guns on their network anyway, so when two of their biggest characters shot down an aircraft not even two years after September 11, it was a no brainer for MTV to pull the episode shortly after airing. This isn’t the only episode of Beavis and Butthead to be taken down because of gun violence though; the episode “Incognito” was also pulled by MTV because in that particularly one the boys bring a gun to school. The episode was pulled due school shootings in America, but unlike “Heroes”, it was shortly put back into rotation.
Ren & Stimpy is a show most people can agree when looking back that it was an extremely vulgar show to be airing on a network like Nickelodeon. It is known for crude adult humor, sexual references, and graphic cartoon imagery among others. The episode “Man’s Best Friend” is famous for Ren & Stimpy, seeing as it was the episode that Nickelodeon banned and is accredited to them firing creator of the show, John Kricfalusi. The episode sees Ren & Stimpy being adopted by Mr. George Liquor, and him trying to train them both to be proper pets. For every lesson they complete, George would give them a cigar shaped treat. But that wasn’t the reason this episode was banned and considered too far; it was the scene where, to the horror of Stimpy, Ren beats the holy hell out of George with an oar during a training lesson to learn how to protect him. George loves it, and rewards them both with a cigar-shaped treat. The graphic violence was too much for Nickelodeon executives, and the episode never even made it to air. The episode did however manage to get air on a completely different network nearly a decade later.
Arguably the number one show recognized for its crude humor and willingness to break the rules and make every one and thing a target, South Park has had numerous episodes that many would consider crossing the line. “Trapped in the Closet” is one of South Park’s biggest achievements with one of its biggest targets: Scientology. Revealing what scientologists actually believe and making fun of big celebrities who are involved in the church, the episode focused on Stan Marsh being the supposed reincarnation of Scientology creator, L Ron Hubbard. After Stan calls Tom Cruise a bad actor and hides in Stan’s closet, the episode then becomes focused on trying to convince Cruise to “come out of the closet.” After the episode aired though is when things started getting very interesting. Creators Matt and Trey weeks before the episode aired warned Chef’s actor Isaac Hayes about the plot, which to him was apparently fine. Not even a month later though, Hayes quit the show, with Hayes son saying that it was not his choice, and the church forced him into doing so. Matt and Trey also warned Paramount and Viacom, who own Comedy Central, and once Tom Cruise saw the episode threatened to not promote Mission Impossible III if the episode got a rerun. The most shocking of all though is that because South Park crossed this line of going after the church, Scientologists actually had hired investigators to spy on the creators and staff at South Park Studios, all from looking through their trash to following them too and from work.
The two part episodes of “200” and “201” were celebratory of the show for reaching the milestone of 200 episodes, and it was definitely a celebration to remember. The episodes feature multiple different plot lines from previous episodes, and many reappearances of celebrities the show previously mocked. Most notably though is the revisited censorship of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Throughout the episode, Tom Cruise and the other celebrities out of jealousy focus on bringing the prophet into the public view to steal his "goo" which makes the prophet immune to ridicule. The prophet’s public picture is mocked a couple of times by characters in the form of a stick figure drawing, to a black bar with the word censored across it, to finally Muhammad being put in a bear suit. The reason this episode is thought to have crossed the line though is that threats by Islamic group Revolution Muslim, who called for a protest of the show. From a statement by one of the group’s members, “We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.” Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker who was killed by Islamic militant after his film bringing to light the abuses women faced in Islamic communities. The creators of South Park then decided to self censor the episode to their dissatisfaction, but then revealed the network went as far as even censoring the prophets name every time it came up in the episode. It ended up working great for Matt and Trey, as both episodes were nominated for Emmy’s in the Outstanding Animated Program category.
Family Guy is a show many recall for its characters. The main family is one we can at times attribute to our own, but it doesn’t excuse Family Guy for being a show that has seen many different episodes come under fire for going too far. We’ve seen Stewie fight Osama Bin Laden and his crew with a rubber chicken; we’ve seen Peter and OJ Simpson become best friends, Quagmire’s sister the victim of physical abuse, and the show itself tackle abortion, amongst many more topics. One episode that got critics and audiences talking though was Season 10’s “Back to the Pilot” where Brian and Stewie go back in time to give Brian a feeling of self-fulfillment. We watch as Brian and Stewie prevent the attacks on 9/11 in the plane along with Brian’s “Mohammad oughta stay home” line, plus a one liner of fallen solider of friendly fire Pat Tillman being “tackled by his own team.” Once they stop the attacks, they travel far in the future to see if it does the world well, only to see a post-apocalyptic wasteland due to the attacks never happening. Once they see this they travel back and let the attacks happen as they did, followed by them cheering and high fiving to them letting 9/11 happen. It was a very self aware episode too though, as right after Stewie states that could be horrible if taken out of context and he wonders if it makes them look good or not by saying that. Another example of the self-awareness is they showcase what exactly the family does during their famous cutaway sequences. The episode did get some love though from critics as well for not being afraid to be one of the first to ask if it’s finally okay to make a joke concerning 9/11.
