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In reply to the discussion: When Your Favorite Childhood Films Are a Little More Homophobic Than You Remembered [View all]Johonny
(21,193 posts)I had a hard time believing as a kid I liked watching that show. A lot of older cartoons are violent, but Woody Wood Pecker is just a mean spirited *hole. Unlike Bugs bunny or Tom and Jerry there is rarely any attempt at sympathy so you root for Woody. I fact in watching a few episodes a few years back I was hoping Woody would lose and lose badly. The show is dreadful.
You have to remember what appears horribly racist today, might not seem horribly racist pre-1980. Prior to that just having an open gay, an Asian, a native American even be considered as a regularly occurring character was a breakthrough and was considered a big deal. It was considered progressive to just have a show that pointed out they actually existed on Earth. It was even longer until you had enough writers, actors and directors that could possibly portray and want to portray them with any since of realism or for non-comic effect. Hell read Lincoln or Darwin and by today's standards they seem like complete racist bastards. It isn't wrong to watch or read things and accept there historical context. Except Woody Wood Pecker which probably should be burned so as to not inflict future generations.