I was just watching Looney Tunes (The classic series, not the horrible Cartoon Network sitcom and a really disturbing episode started. In this episode were two mice. Feeling that they had accomplished all that life offered, they decided to commit suicide. They go to a cat and essentially beg the cat to eat them. The cat, out of confusion, decides not to eat the mice. Assuming he has gone mental, he decides to end his life as well. He goes to a dog and demands that the dog "Massacre" him. The dog tries to figure out the cat and mice but eventually also ultimately commits suicide. That's all folks. Another Merrie Melody.
Classic Looney Tunes is very different from the sanitized Looney Tunes of today. (Just like traditional fairy tales are MUCH MUCH darker than the Disney versions we're all familiar with today.) And actually classic cartoons also tended to relying on racial and ethic stereotypes and by today's standards borders on racism. For example look up "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs", a Merry Melodies cartoon from 1943 that's a parody of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", except with an (obviously) black cast of characters. It's considered one of the greatest cartoons ever made, with a pretty cool African-American-inspired jazz and swing soundtrack. But you'll never see it on Cartoon Network, because it relies heavily on racial stereotypes. "Tom and Jerry" is still a popular cartoon today....but it was heavily censored and edited for modern audiences. Originally Tom and Jerry's human antagonist was an overweight African-American Southern "mammy" stereotype named "Mammy Two-Shoes". The cartoons were completely edited to replace Mammy Two-Shoes with a skinny white woman for Cartoon Network. A lot of American cartoons from the World War II-era, after Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and we were at war with Japan, rely heavily on ethnic stereotypes of Japanese people, or "Japs", as they call them. Whether all the censorship and editing is a good thing or a bad thing is still debated today. Personally I am opposed to censorship and editing of classic cartoons, and I think they should just be left alone and presented as products of their time.
Yeah, there was one Tom and Jerry ("Blue Cat Blues") where both Jerry and Tom commit suicide after their respective girlfriends spurn them. There's a Cracked article about "messed up classic cartoons" I'll post after I get a chance. Gotta remember, cartoons weren't necessarily targeted towards kids back then. While a lot of Disney cartoons were made to appeal to a wider audience, Looney Tunes and its ilk were made to appeal to an older, "raunchier" audience. Not that they don't still appeal to children- talking animals and bright colors tend to have that affect. But yeah. I don't agree with censorship either. Do what Looney Tunes did when they released their collections on DVD and include a disclaimer- but absolutely don't go in there and screw with the content. Funnily enough, I remember seeing the old Mammy episodes on Cartoon Network. I think I just assumed she was their kinda tired owner.
