Of all the things to get excited about, I’ve never quite understood why conservatives seem a little fixated on animated cartoons.
The #1 movie in the country, the animated film “Happy Feet,” is “an entertaining story about a young bird’s journey toward self-acceptance.” But to Fox News’ Neil Cavuto it’s insidious “far left” political propaganda.
Cavuto saw the movie with his sons and found it “offensive.” Cavuto objected to the fact that penguins in the movie have trouble finding food because of overfishing and oil drilling. Cavuto called the film “an animated ‘Inconvenient Truth.’ I half expected to see an animated version of Al Gore pop-up.”
Indeed, this wasn’t just a random complaint. Fox News devoted a segment to the issue of whether “Happy Feet” is “promoting an agenda.” Cavuto interviewed entertainment critic Holly McClure, who complained about the movie’s “subtle messages.” Cavuto went on to tell viewers that Hollywood was “foisting [politics] on my kids,” which was “a big-time objectionable.”
As long-time readers may recall, this is the latest in a long line of over-the-top conservative criticism (and paranoia) regarding animation.
Jerry Falwell got the ball rolling in 1999, alerting Christian parents to the dangers posed by Tinky Winky the Teletubby. Falwell wanted families to know that the purple, triangle-headed one might be part of the “homosexual agenda.”
Then, in early 2004, the Traditional Values Coalition, one of the nuttiest groups in an already nutty movement, published a “parents beware” warning about Shrek 2, which the TVC believed was part of a DreamWorks effort to help the “transgender agenda…by promoting cross dressing and transgenderism.”
A few months later, the American Family Association issued a warning to parents about the movie “Shark Tale.” The group insisted that the movie is designed to brainwash children into accepting gay rights. (The group came to this conclusion because “Shark Tale” deals with a shark who just doesn’t fit in because he doesn’t like to eat meat, like the other sharks do.)
Of course, SpongeBob SquarePants has been a subject of intense scrutiny by conservatives for years. Alan Sears of the Alliance Defense Fund seriously suggested in a book that SpongeBob SquarePants is gay, while James Dobson launched a broadside against the character in 2005.
And we certainly shouldn’t overlook the flap last year when Bush’s Education Department went a little crazy about “Postcards from Buster,” a PBS show that, in one episode, contained a brief segment featuring a lesbian couple in Vermont. (Education Secretary Margaret Spellings sent a nasty threatening letter to PBS, and most affiliates refused to air that episode.)
None of this includes the generic criticism conservatives have made about The Simpsons and South Park for years.
Note to the right: they’re just cartoons. It’s probably time for a priority check.