(When I am a kid, my family is watching the Disney movie “The Swiss Family Robinson.”)
Me: “So, where are they from? They’re not English.”
Dad: “Maybe France?”
Mom: “Germany? Or are they Dutch?”
(It took us an embarrassingly long time to figure it out.)
The Matrix came out when my brother and I were children, and my family loved it. Even though it was violent, even my conservative mother approved, so we watched it constantly. One day, my brother and I were watching TV by ourselves when Bound came on. We didn’t really get the plot, and this was a heavily edited, made-for-TV version, but we were entranced by the cinematography.
Later, on our bi-monthly Blockbuster run, we begged my mom to rent Bound, telling her it was just like The Matrix and that she would love it. We had to really wear her down to convince her, but finally, she relented.
We sat down as a family together and… Wow, we didn’t remember these scenes in the version we’d watched. My mom turned it off very quickly and yelled at my brother for exposing me to it, assuming I hadn’t watched it on TV at all and was just parroting him. Neither of us could convince her otherwise. My brother was grounded for a week.
When I was a kid, my parents wanted to approve everything I watched. We had neighbors who told us that Harry Potter would send you to Hell. Mom didn’t quite believe that, but she thought dark cartoons were linked to bad behavior. Given my penchant for dark cartoons, I tried to hide my viewing as much as possible.
On this particular day, Mom came home early and caught me watching a show I knew she would never approve of. Most episodes had murder or gore, so I knew I was going to get in trouble, but I didn’t say anything because I wanted one last hurrah.
To my extreme luck, the episode being shown was the Friendship Episode. You know, that stereotypical episode in every cartoon where they fight about something ridiculous and spend the episode resolving it and talking about how much they love each other.
Mom approved it with flying colors. She praised the cartoon for showing good relationship dynamics in a world filled with violence and sex. The very next episode, which she didn’t watch, had a person being burned to death.
And that’s the story of how dark cartoons led me to a life of crime… in my writing, at least!
(The notification on my phone is a sound effect from one of my favorite cartoons when I was younger. One day, as I’m heading to class, I realize at the last second I’ve forgotten to put my phone on silent. I stop in the hallway to do so, and just as I take it out of my purse, I receive an email and the notification goes off. The volume is low, but the hallway is pretty much empty, so I suppose it must echo a bit.)
Voice: *from around the corner, excitedly* “WHAT’S THE SITCH?!”
(Made my day!)
(I am a kid, with my sister, watching an old TV sitcom. Our mother is passing by. My mom is super strict with what we watch and read.)
Mom: “What kind of show are you watching? This is not for kids! Watch Sesame Street or a cartoon, instead!”
Me: “Mom, it’s a sitcom and it’s funny. See…”
(I start to explain what’s going on, and then a scene with the two main characters suddenly making out with some girls plays and doesn’t go away. I go silent.)
Mom: “You see? Kids shouldn’t be watching shows meant for adults! Gross, disgusting!”
(She flipped off the TV and we went to our room. Later, she learned about cartoons being meant for adults and banned ALL our cartoons, too!)
