Was Looney Tunes considered a cartoon for adults?
My siblings and I watched Looney Tunes growing up. This was before I was aware there was such a thing as cartoons for adults. Adults wouldn't really watch Looney Tunes, except when they were with us.
This was in the 1990s, but Looney Tunes started in the 1930s. Moreover, it is quite violent. I would think twice before showing it to a child today. Besides the beating with blunt weapons and dynamite explosions, there are multiple veiled references to rape, and at least one instance where Yosemite Sam proposes to "draw and quarter" Bugs Bunny. Check out that term on Wikipedia.
My question is: In the heyday of Looney Tunes, in the 1940s and 1950s, was it considered an adult or a kids cartoon?
Best Answer
In the heyday of Looney Tunes, in the 1940s and 1950s, was it considered an adult cartoon or a kids cartoon?
Both
Cartoons were shown to all audiences as "filler" between movies, much as trailers and previews are today.
Certainly the cartoons are "violent" but it is cartoon violence and is not subject to the limitations and censorship rules then and, more recently, now.
I'm not sure why you think adults would not watch Looney Tunes, comic strips in the newspapers were very popular in the period in question, and these are merely animated versions of the same.
Modern adults might not watch these movies any more but certainly, in the day, these were highly popular with all audiences.
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Were cartoons originally meant for adults?
In the early 1950s and 1960s, the voracious need for content in television saw old film shorts originally intended for general audiences repurposed for broadcast during children's programming hours. This practice went on for decades, ensuring pop-culture iconic status for Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and others.Who was Looney Tunes target audience?
Cartoon Network delivers an average of over 1.6 million viewers with each original The Looney Tunes Show episode. The Looney Tunes Show is the #1 Show in its time period on Cartoon Network with Kids 2-11. The Looney Tunes Show continually matches its Cartoon Network prior year time period ranking with Boys 6-11.Are Looney Tunes cartoons for kids?
While it's far from reality (and, let's be real, undeniably funny), it's also a constant possibility in some of the stories, whether it's physically present or just threatened to be so. Either way, this remake is a solid pick for tweens and up and especially fun for parents to watch with their older kids.Is the new Looney Tunes for adults?
HBO's new Looney Tunes show is great for kids and adults, no guns needed - Polygon.Looney Tunes Cartoon isn't creepy...
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Answer 2
Was Looney Tunes considered a cartoon for adults?
Yes, it was more of later developments which made it kid-friendly. From Chicago Tribune:
Age segregation also is a fairly new development in animation as well, according to animation lecturer Robert McKimson Jr., whose father directed 35 Bugs Bunny cartoons and created Foghorn Leghorn, Tasmanian Devil and Speedy Gonzales, among other characters, for Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes.
"The Warner cartoons were aimed strictly for adults--they were never meant for children," McKimson said.
Warner cartoons and other animated short subjects (Disney characters, Popeye, Tom and Jerry and so on) were screened for audiences of all ages at movie houses before the feature presentation. But when television began packing Saturday mornings and after-school hours with those classics during the `60s, many were trimmed of excessive violence, sexual innuendo and drug and alcohol references.
Or, as McKimson puts it: "They chopped the hell out of them."
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