5 Cartoons That Tried (and Failed) to Tackle Serious Issues
Each and every one of these episodes means well (we assume), but the results range from merely misguided to downright traumatic.
Children's entertainment shouldn't be afraid to tackle serious, important issues from time to time -- in fact, you might argue the industry has a responsibility to do so, considering that they spend way more time with kids than their parents do in many cases. Still, there are times when cartoons nobly attempt to teach valuable social lessons only to quickly demonstrate that perhaps Batman isn't the best place to talk about domestic violence and SpongeBob SquarePants isn't really equipped to teach kids about the suicide hotline.
Each and every one of these episodes means well (we assume), but the results range from merely misguided to downright traumatic:
#5. Bill Cosby Uses Fat Albert to Teach Kids About Getting Raped in Prison
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is a show about Fat Albert and his friends learning valuable lessons about life, with live-action sections hosted by Bill Cosby. However, the show rarely sugarcoats things -- on Fat Albert, little children get shot and killed and Neo-Nazis desecrate synagogues. The point of these intense episodes was to teach the show's young audience the horrific real-life consequences of racism, gang violence, and bigotry (although recent events suggest that these episodes may owe at least a portion of their existence to the fact that Cosby is shit-whistlingly insane).
Bill Cosby: *rape joke*
Each and every one of these episodes means well (we assume), but the results range from merely misguided to downright traumatic:
#5. Bill Cosby Uses Fat Albert to Teach Kids About Getting Raped in Prison
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is a show about Fat Albert and his friends learning valuable lessons about life, with live-action sections hosted by Bill Cosby. However, the show rarely sugarcoats things -- on Fat Albert, little children get shot and killed and Neo-Nazis desecrate synagogues. The point of these intense episodes was to teach the show's young audience the horrific real-life consequences of racism, gang violence, and bigotry (although recent events suggest that these episodes may owe at least a portion of their existence to the fact that Cosby is shit-whistlingly insane).
