成人動畫片的研究與評估

成人動畫片在美國和英國都取得了巨大的成功，它們有一群忠實的觀眾，這些動畫片非常有趣并具有娛樂性，其中包含了一些成人內容。他們就像是在以一個動畫的形式演繹情景喜劇。然而有些人可能低估了成人動畫片要傳達的思想；他們對動畫片的發展造成了大量的損失，因為對于是否應該生產成人動畫片這一問題，受到了很多爭議和辯論。這些動畫片的特點就是提出一些敏感的社會問題。我將分析《辛普森一家》、《惡搞之家》和《衰仔樂園》這三部動畫片；并比較和評估這些動畫片呈現敏感的社會問題的方式。
 

成人動畫片在每一集里都會出現一些社會問題，諸如種族、性取向不忠和暴力等。當選定一個問題時，可能他們這一集就是講述這個問題。成人動畫片不用處理媒體的強烈反對和批評，媒體造成的爭議越大吸引的觀眾就越多。所以我問自己為什么成人動畫片主要只關注社會問題？我得出的結論是，在我們所生活的社會里，社會問題都是有所隱藏或沒有談及的。如青少年意外懷孕這方面的社會問題，我們往往都是選擇忘記或不承認的。
 

Adult cartoons are a great success both in America and in Britain, they have a loyal mass audience, these cartoons are funny and entertaining and their contents contains adult material. They can be seen as a sitcom just in an animation form. However some may underestimate the power adult cartoons transmit; they can cause lots of damage with their story lines and the majority of adult cartoons have been the subject to much controversy and debate whether adult cartoons should even be produced. These cartoons feature sensitive social issues much of it is presented in either a degrading manner or a negative form. I will be analysing cartoons such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park; I will be comparing and assessing the way these cartoons present such sensitive social issues.
 

Adult cartoons frequently present social issues in each episode, from things such as race, sexuality to infidelity and violence. You name the issues and most likely they have had an episode about it. Adult cartoons do not fare the media backlash and criticism they may face, the more controversy they create the more viewers they get. So I asked myself why do adult cartoons predominantly only focus on social issues? I came to the conclusion that we live in a society where social issues are somewhat hidden or not spoken about. Aspects such as teen pregnancy are things we tend to forget about or not acknowledge. Adult cartoons focus on presenting social issues were audiences opinions on them are kept secret to maintain political correctness, adult cartoons expose and then present them in a humorous way. So we the audience can laugh at things we dare not speak about however are intrigued about.
 

Adult cartoons are infamous for being crude, humorous, having controversial story plots, surreal, and satire. The way they represent these issues is what I will be analysing. Family Guy created by Seth MacFarlane, The Simpsons created byMatt Groening both sitcoms involve dysfunctional families. From watching both sitcoms myself I can identify with certain characters and especially the way their family life is revealed. Both main characters in the Simpsons and Family Guy are men. Pete Griffin and Homer Simpson and both are very similar, they are lazy, over weight, dim-witted and working class, with loving, attractive wives and both spend their evenings in their local drinking. South Park created by Trey ParkerandMatt Stoneis based on four fourth graders—Stan Marsh,Kyle Broflovski,Eric Cartman, andKenny McCormick. The sitcom is based on their adventures in everyday life.
 

In my belief social issues in adult cartons are predominately shown in a humorous form. Many argue that adult cartoon seem oblivious to the fact that social issues are a sensitive issue in the society we live in. Most definitely they are no laughing matter; however adult cartoons chose deny this factor .We all love to laugh and adult cartoons main purpose is to entertain, amuse and present social issues in a humorous laughable manner. Social issues such as religion, disability, sexuality and gender seem to be attacked by using the weapon of wit. Humour makes everything so much more appealing. Humour can said to a healing tool, laughing is good for your health as doctors say, ‘communities often engage in self-deprecating humour as a way to deal with a painful past or the harsh realities of a present existence' 
 

Exposing sensitive issues in a not so sensitive way is something these cartoons are great at doing, the present the issues in a in-your face fashion, which can mostly creates the audience to laugh ‘mostly through farce and irony'. Disability is something that we all agree that it is something unfortunate; the representation of disability can be difficult as producers are aware of how it may be perceived. Adult cartoons however ignore this rule and like all other social issues they represent in the form of satire. The Simpson with ‘King Size Homer', this episode Homer hates working at the nuclear plant as they have started a compulsory employee exercise class. Homer discovers that if he gains a ludicrous amount of weight he will be allegeable for disability that will enable him to work from home. This episode was positively received; it also has been one of the most successful episodes in Simpson history. However this episode portrays that having disabilities brings beneficial befits. Homer is respected and treated more kindly in the episode. Many can argue that this is the way we treat disabled people, however making people aware of this might not be the right approach.
 

South Park had many episodes that feature disability, they have the character Timmy, the ‘mentally disabled' that uses a wheelchair and uses a four word vocabulary. One episode features Timmy apart of a rock band; crowd members shout remarks such as, ‘Dude that handicapped kid rocks!' Another comment an audience member shouts out is ‘you guys are terrible...They're ridiculing that singer', ‘boys, you shouldn't laugh at him! He's handicapped.' After Timmy performs and win's the competition many of audience protest ‘I think it's a horrible tragedy. Isn't it? I mean people aren't going to see Timmy for his musical skills. They are laughing at him and I think you shouldn't laugh at people with disabilities.'#p#分頁標題#e#
 

Stereotypes are something that we all find funny, we all can fit into a certain stereotype and with time we have come to deal with it and even laugh at it. Adult cartoon have many of their characters if not all of them representing a certain stereotypes. An example of this can be seen in an episode of Family Guy. The episode was called ‘Family Gay' the indication of the title may inform that audience that the episode will be about ‘Gays'. This particular episode in Family Guy plays heavily on gay stereotypes, for much of its humour.
 

Peter Griffin decides to take part in a medical trail to earn money to pay of his debts. He is infected with the ‘gay' gene; Peter giggles throughout the episode he also decides to wear ascot. Peter later on in the episode decides to leave his family and wife and pursue a gay relationship. He then arranges an orgy with a number of other men. This episode plays on stereotypes that many people believe ‘gay' men are about. Jan Moir column writer for the Daily Mail, caused lots of conservancy after writing her article ‘A strange lonely and troubling death…' Jan Moir seems to blame that death of the singer to his bad gay lifestyle, seemingly focusing on stereotypes of ‘gay' men. ‘Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one.'
 

 ‘Undeniable humour that draws audiences of old and young alike to their televisions to watch the cast of poorly computer-animated 4th graders say the most outrageous things'.South Park has four main characters that are all in fourth grade, Kyle, Stan, Kenny and Eric. When I watch South Park I see them as four children getting up to no good, the audience like me will see them as harmless, curious children. 'Cover of innocence' could act as a vehicle for expressing very extreme points of view.' Audiences will find themselves disconnecting with the fact that these four boys are committing wrongful acts. Their response will be to laugh at what they watch; children in real life couldn't do such things so they just let it slip.
 

Adult cartoon are a form of postmodernism text, social issues in these cartoons can be seen as presented in a postmodern style. Postmodernism is the movement that merged from modernism. There has been much debate how postmodernism has affected society and media postmodernism was said to be what led popular culture to form. South Park, The Simpsons and the majority of adult cartoons in general are all forms of postmodern texts. They ‘are known for referencing past events in there narratives, and then acknowledging a common joke between animation television shows of this time, that the character do in fact know they're on a television show.'
 

The postmodern view on social issues religion in adult cartoons is shown as religion being boring and something the characters seem to be forced into, i.e. Marge Simpson forcing Homer and the kids to go to church on Sunday. Homer many times has tried to get out if it with numerous excuses. Springfield church, the majority of resident that live in Springfield go to the Sunday service, however the Sunday service is shown as boring and lifeless. The characters mostly always sleep or trying to stay awake. ‘The church is often shown as a hotbed of hypocrisy'. The church has been shown in previous episodes holding bingo nights even though it is supposedly suppose to be against gambling.#p#分頁標題#e#
 

Other way's adult cartoons present social issues can be seen in the form of ‘Parody.' Parody can be seen as a ‘spoof' this is where the cartoons poke fun at famous films celebrities' famous work. Linda Hutcheon in ‘The Politics of Postmodernism' states that, 'Parody-often called ironic quotation; pastiche, appropriation or intertextuality- is usually considered central to Postmodernism, both for its detractors and defenders.' (Hutcheon, L. 1989)
 

An example I would like to share is an episode of ‘South Park where they make a parody of the film Passion of the Christ. They name the episode as a satire to the original film, ‘The passion of Jew'. In this episode we can see the way they present the social issue of racism. The episode has many references to Jews being evil. Many South Park episodes show parodies of Christianity and the portrayal of Jesus Christ. The sitcom has used racial slur ‘nigger' many times, they have shown the depiction of ‘Virgin Mary', ‘Bloody Mary' and ‘Prophet Mohammed', mockery of God is something that is very constant.
 

Rare is there an episode in which both male characters do not make some ignorant or sexist remark in regards to their wives, daughters, or women in general. 
 

The portrayal of woman in postmodern texts seems to be of a derogatory nature, woman can be seen as being treated as traditional sexual objects, house wives and dedicated mothers and wives. Denzin 1988 states that' sexuality or violence as a tool to signify freedom and self expression' is another factor of postmodern films.
 

The character of Marge in the Simpsons is of a good wife and mother who remains in the sanctum of her home. However in episode before she married Homer she was a passionate feminist who burned her bar in high school. Many of Marge's old traits pass on to Lisa. Lisa is a strong female character at such a tender age, she's the most intelligent eight year old in Springfield, Lisa thrives to be successful and is very ambitious. We see in one episode she become's passionate about becoming a vegetarian.
 

Disability is something that we all agree that it is something unfortunate; the representation of disability can be difficult as we are not aware of how it may be perceived. Adult cartoons however ignore this rule and like all other social issues they represent it in a humorous way. The Simpson with ‘King Size Homer', this episode Homer hates working at the nuclear plant as they have started a compulsory employee exercise class. Homer discovers that if he gains a ludicrous amount of weight he will be allegeable for disability that will enable him to work from home. This episode was positively received; it also has been one of the most successful episodes in Simpson history. However this episode portrays that having disabilities brings beneficial befits. Homer is respected and treated more kindly in the episode. Many can argue that this is the way we treat disabled people, however making people aware of this might not be the right approach.#p#分頁標題#e#
 

South Park had many episodes that feature disability, they have the character Timmy, the ‘mentally disabled' that uses a wheelchair and uses a four word vocabulary. One episode features Timmy apart of a rock band; crowd members shout remarks such as, ‘Dude that handicapped kid rocks!' Another comment an audience member shouts out is ‘you guys are terrible...They're ridiculing that singer', ‘boys, you shouldn't laugh at him! He's handicapped.' After Timmy performs and win's the competition many of audience protest ‘I think it's a horrible tragedy. Isn't it? I mean people aren't going to see Timmy for his musical skills. They are laughing at him and I think you shouldn't laugh at people with disabilities.'
 

Adults cartoons may underestimate how powerful there messages can be conveyed. They can cause some serious damage, cartoons were primarily produced for children and adult cartoons can easily be watched by children. Now things are so easy to access, the Simpson's come on during the day on many different channels; I myself started watching them at a very early age. Children are easily impressionable at that tender age. Aspects as racism should never be something that they are subjected to. Children and adults after a period of watching something start to become decentralized and soon without knowing they have influenced your thinking. Laughing at people of Afghanistan who have had endless years of suffering or laughing at ‘black' jokes in my opinion will never be acceptable. I think Adult Cartoons primarily wish to make me laugh however what they fail to acknowledge the feelings and emotions of the people the jokes are about.