This book is a study of how individuals and institutions over the years have tried to change the content of animation. At times they have turned it into a controversial medium by subjecting it to blacklisting, several types of censorship, and well-organized attacks including boycotts. Religious organizations and civic groups have held demonstrations against the release of features from Disney's Song of the South (1946) to Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin (1975). In the 1950s an animation studio was forced out of business because the owners were said to have once been communists. In 1952 UPA had to fire several staff members who were suspected of having once belonged to left-wing organizations. More recently the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee protested slurs against Arabs in Disney's Aladdin (1993). The Southern Baptist Church, the American Family Association and other groups formed a national boycott of Disney in 1995 to protest allegedly sexual images in cartoon features, as well as the company's "domestic partner" policy awarding spousal benefits to the partners of homosexual employees.
When this study was begun it was assumed that censorship reflected the moral tone of the country. As the study progressed it became obvious that the issue was instead pressure groups who wished to impose their values on the United States population at large, values that were not necessarily accepted by the majority. They succeeded in 1934, and for 34 years theatrical animation was subjected to full censorship. Censors made Disney cover cow udders with dresses, and they made Betty Boop lower her hemline so her garter would no longer be seen by the public. Censors sometimes demanded absurd changes in cartoon scripts and in completed works. For example, Tweety, the clever bird that Sylvester the Cat tries to catch in Warner Bros. cartoons, was painted pink in his first film. According to animator Bob Clampett, when a censor claimed the bird looked nude, the studio painted Tweety's body yellow so it appeared he was covered with feathers.1 When we look back at what was considered too shocking to include in a cartoon between 1934 and 1968, many of the decisions seem ridiculous.
Censorship of theatrical films ended in 1968 and was replaced with a rating system that advises people whether a feature is wholesome, slightly offensive or very sexual or violent. This system allows directors of theatrical films more artistic freedom. Television broadcasts, on the other hand, have become increasingly controlled by censorship policies. Pressure groups concerned with violence, morality, racism and other issues have considerable input when it comes to censoring the content of the medium. Television executives do their best to avoid offending the public as local stations and networks are vulnerable to economic boycotts and to letter-writing campaigns to sponsors and to the Federal Communications Commission.
For years television censors have been cutting anything that could possibly be considered offensive from both old theatrical cartoons and animation made for television. Shows made in Japan that are acceptable for that country's audiences have been heavily censored when shown in the United States, including the Robotech series. Shows produced in the United States, including The Simpsons, Beavis and Butt-Head and The Ren and Stimpy Show, have also had trouble getting past the censors.
Censorship comes in many forms. Films have been cut by the film industry's Production Code Administration and by state and local censorship boards. Producers sometimes practice self-censorship of their work to avoid trouble. Distributors and exhibitors also self-censor when they avoid handling certain films and videos. Many theaters and video rental stores will not show or rent X-rated material. Blockbuster Video, the nation's largest video chain, is proud of its family-oriented policy. The chain does not sell or rent tapes that its corporate administrators consider objectionable.
Pressure groups vary in size and in point of view. They vary from "politically correct" left-wing organizations to intolerant members of conservative religious groups. Some of their demands are logical, while others seem absurd. Several groups have staged well-organized demonstrations and boycotts.
One protest that had an enormous amount of press coverage was the attack against Mighty Mouse in 1988 by the Rev. Donald Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, a conservative consumer action group. On April 23, 1988, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures included a 3½-second scene that showed the mouse inhaling what CBS said was flower petals and Wildmon said was cocaine. The attack on the show was in the news for weeks until CBS agreed to cut the scene from the program.2
The most degrading form of censorship occurred in the 1950s, when individuals were prevented from working in the animation industry and other areas of film production because of political beliefs they might have held. These men and women were blacklisted because they were believed to have once been sympathetic to or held membership in the Communist party.
Those who were blacklisted were not charged with doing anything illegal. They were not accused of being spies or terrorists. It did not matter if they were no longer (or ever had actually been) party members or supporters, or if they had served in the armed forces during World War II. What mattered was that those on the blacklist had their pride and moral integrity and refused to confess their supposed sins to the witch hunters. People who did go through the cleansing ritual were allowed to go back to work. Those who refused to recant their past, and to name others who took part in their alleged sins, were condemned to remain on the blacklist. Thus the work they might have created became forbidden animation, just like the scenes scissored from decades' worth of cartoons. The difference is that while Betty Boop's garter and Mighty Mouse's inhalations can be rescued from obscurity by persevering fans, the work that might have been is lost to us forever.