THE IMPACT OF HANNA-BARBERA CARTOONS 1

The Impact of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons

Julia C. Jank

Germanna Community College

Massaponax High School

ENG 112: College Composition

April 1 2022
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Abstract

Throughout this paper, the author strives to relay the negative impacts of Hanna-Barbera

cartoons on the youth population. Now, the main way the author stresses her point is through

connecting interviews, studies, and scholarly sources to certain traits of a couple of cartoons such

as Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons. She discusses the pitfalls of such cartoons in

regard to racism, gender stereotypes, and violence; however, she also counters those arguments

by stating that the audience has some power over how they interpret the scenes, and that Hanna-

Barbera cartoons influence audiences positively by acting as a foundation for newer progressive

cartoons. In the end, through her research, a lot of the ethics and logic of these old cartoons are

put to question; plus, the author includes pathos when she mentions a part of her personal

experience with these cartoons in regard to the violent scenes she watched. On the whole, the

varying research and reasoning included within this paper successfully helps shed some light

onto this controversial topic.

Keywords: Hanna-Barbera, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, cartoons, cartoon influence,

define cartoon, media, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, violence, blackface, racism,

gender roles, gender stereotypes, children, kids, audiences, kids’ shows

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The Impact of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons

Define “Cartoon”

Cartoons, per the words of Amity University’s assistant communications professor

Chaudhury, are pieces of media and plot that seek to establish humor through its scenes or panels

(2021). No matter the context or language, these pieces of entertainment should be able to bring

joy and understanding to all who view it (Chaudhury, 2021). Every piece of work that society

deems a cartoon has at least some form of humor in it. Now, whether that humor be sarcastic,

satirical, or normal is what creates the differences in meaning and tone for all of them. From

comic strips to political cartoons, they all try to extract some form of laughter from the people.

Furthermore, the audience must be able to discern what type of humor the author relays to them

and understand the message of its content. Why would anyone read or watch a cartoon that they

have no chance of understanding? On the whole, if any potential cartoon fails to universally

communicate meaning and portray some form of humor, how can one deem it a cartoon? In other

words, in their most basic form, cartoons are the result of humor and storytelling that an audience

can comprehend.

What is “Hanna-Barbera?”

Notably, Hanna-Barbera cartoons are some of the most successful pieces of media in

expressing humor and short stories to an audience. These cartoons, Thomas Jefferson University

professor of Ethnic Studies and Communications Dr. Browsh states in an interview, including

classics such as Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Josie and the Pussycats, The

Smurfs, Scooby Doo, and Yogi Bear, remain popular despite their age due to their constant reruns

and original appearances on old Saturday morning television (J. Browsh, personal

communication, March 2, 2022). In the end, whether one grows up watching such cartoons or
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not, it is obvious, simply due to the amount of Emmy and Academy Awards these cartoons have,

that they are tremendously popular (Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, 2008).

Thesis

With this in mind, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera have successfully crafted many

cartoons within their lifetimes. However, Hannah-Barbera, though their cartoons provide joy and

lighthearted entertainment to all, negatively impact younger audiences around the world through

their incorporation of underlying racism, reinforcement of gender stereotypes, and exposure of

excessive violence.

Racism

First, many Hanna-Barbera cartoons incorporate racism into their jokes that can be

harmful to the audiences watching them, no matter if it is through satire or blatant

discrimination. For instance, in an interview with Dr. Browsh, he touched upon the fact that there

is very little representation of people of color in these cartoons due to marketing purposes, and

that the miniscule representation incorporated usually has racist undertones (J. Browsh, personal

communication, March 2, 2022). One example the professor provided is Mammy Too Shoes, a

character in Tom and Jerry (see Appendix A) (J. Browsh, personal communication, March 2,

2022). Cartoonists based this “racist caricature” on cultural and discriminatory stereotypes,

which are harmful to audience perceptions of African Americans, Browsh further explained (J.

Browsh, personal communication, March 2, 2022). When young children watch scenes like this

that portray people of other races in stereotypical and degrading ways, it can eventually lead to

them thinking of others of that race in similar ways. The children might think that all African

Americans have these traits and stigmatize their whole culture, which is not correct.

Additionally, in the book Hanna-Barbera: A History, the author explains how Tom and Jerry
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utilizes many more racist scenes when it includes blackface in some of its episodes (see

Appendix B) (Browsh, 2022, p. 30-32). The “black colored” faces resulting from soot,

explosions, or any other causes all make a joke that thrives off of its relation to African

American skin color. Additionally, one can even relate the brief pigmentation of the beloved

characters’ skin to a time during the Jim Crow Era where an actor would put on a demeaning and

disgraceful performance whilst dressed as an African American man (see Appendix C). Within

this scene, the joke being made is that the characters’ faces turn black. This black color derives

from an unsavory event in the cartoon, which can make others associate the look with humor or

disaster. On the whole, the influence these images have on audiences is negative since they

solidify harmful perceptions of other races around the world and thrive off of making fun of

another race. Plus, when kids view jokes and images such as these, they may grow up to build

their interpretations of others around those unethical scenes. In the end, Dr. Browsh revealed in

his interview that even though current cartoons are fixing this issue, the old and racist ones still

replay today; meaning, they are still exposing many generations of children to this type of media

(J. Browsh, personal communication, March 2, 2022), which is not helping them form a newer

progressive mindset.

Even so, one would like to think that as society progresses, so too does the innate mindset

of the population. As Browsh stated in his interview, newer generations’ cartoons often build off

of the animation styles of Hanna-Barbera and depict more “progressive beliefs” and

representations for the newer generation (J. Browsh, personal communication, March 2, 2022).

Therefore, even though Hanna-Barbera cartoons may not have the best representation and

include racism in their jokes, they are still able to positively influence society by aiding in the

inspiration and creation of current cartoons about more ethical and inclusive content.
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Gender Stereotypes

Next, Hanna-Barbera cartoons help cement old world views of gender roles, because

many of their cartoons from the past tend to idealize the idea of a “middle class nuclear family”

(Burrel, 2021, p. 27). To enumerate, a type of family such as this often depicts each gendered

family member in correlation to a specific job. For example, these family units glorify the

husband as the breadwinner for the family and make the wife belong in the household (Burrel,

2021). Markedly, during the 1960s, society already plastered this ideology into the population’s

mind, and cartoons like Hanna-Barbera’s The Jetsons and The Flintstones further immortalized it

(Burrel, 2021). For instance, while watching The Picnic, a season two episode of The

Flintstones, I noted that Wilma and Betty make their husbands meals in the kitchen for a good

portion of the show, while Fred and all of the other males only focus on sporting events. Also,

when shopping for picnic food, the characters mention how Wilma always goes shopping on

Saturday because Fred gets paid on Friday, which reinforces the breadwinner and homemaker

stereotype. To sum up, it is important to note these scenes because they are prime examples of

the gendered content within Hanna-Barbera cartoons. On the negative side, this type of

representation harms the youth’s perception of their roles in society since children’s cartoon

“role models” influence them through their thoughts, jobs, and portrayal in the media (Kassay,

2019, p. 687). Thus, seeing a character with their gender set in a specific job or stereotype

predisposes their minds to accept those roles and see them as normal. Understanding the scope of

this issue, one can clearly see that cartoons, or any type of media for that matter, are a huge

factor in the creation of a child’s mindset (Gezen, 2020). All in all, when we show children the

wrong types of examples, such as the ones in Hanna-Barbera cartoons, they will end up

incorporating those stereotypes into their minds.

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However, it is also important to realize that children’s minds are more powerful than one

may think. In other words, they have the ability to “reinterpret” information that they receive and

change the meaning they assign information (Kassay, 2019, p. 687). Thus, critics cannot state

Hanna-Barbera cartoons only negatively influence children with gender stereotypes, since the

kids have the ability to take what information they want from the shows and apply it to their lives

in different, independent, and even positive ways.

Violence

Growing up, I personally remember watching many cartoons with violence motivated

scenes. Of those cartoons, a majority of them were from the Hanna-Barbera company. Thus, I

can attest to any information brought up about the excessive violence in these cartoons, since I

have witnessed it firsthand. However, I do not feel the violence was that big of a deal, seeing

how I grew up fine. Furthermore, these cartoons are a highly loveable and significant part of

many kids’ childhoods, since they include funny characters and stimulating stories. Therefore,

these cartoons should still have the same opportunities to relay those positive messages to youth;

especially, since not all of their episodes involved excess violence.

Be that as it may, there is still a possibility for children to glean negative actions due to

their exposure to cartoons like previously described. One study conducted, commonly referred to

as the Bobo Doll Study, is a prominent example of what can happen to children who view violent

videos. In this study, researchers placed children in a room and showed them videos with violent

content and a certain type of adult in order to test how parents’ actions could affect aggression in

children that results from watching violent clips (Miranda et al., 2009). Since the researchers

already knew that viewing violence affected children’s behavior negatively, they wanted to

figure out if anything could lessen the effect. In conclusion, after researchers had the videos play
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and they placed the children in another room with toys, they found that the children who played

less aggressively with the toys saw the video with an aggression-disproving-adult in it, while the

children who viewed the video with a silent adult in it acted more violently towards the toys

(Miranda et al., 2009). All in all, the point of describing this study is to explain the fact that, no

matter what type of adult is present, kids who watch violent videos display some form of

increased hostility. Thus, when people connect that same logic to the younger generation

viewing violent Hanna-Barbera cartoons, one can confidently state it would likely have a

negative effect on their actions and thoughts.

At the same time, it is important to recognize that Hanna-Barbera cartoons weren’t the

only shows depicting violence filled scenes. A lot of other cartoons, such as Warner Brothers’

Looney Tunes, utilized violence as well. However, just because other companies incorporated

violence into their works doesn’t justify the fact that Hanna-Barbera did it as well. Adults and

animators still need to understand that, when evaluating different cartoons Hanna and Barbera

created, people have found that they can have negative effects on childhood aggression.

Therefore, raising this awareness can help in rectifying the issue.

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though many people enjoy Hanna-Barbera cartoons, society cannot

always describe the impact they have on the youth of our population as positive. Whether that be

through their racist, gender stereotypical, or violent content, there is more often than not

something to be cautious of when deciding to let children watch these shows. Adults and present

cartoon makers need to take into consideration the fact that even though these shows are no

longer in production, they continue to replay old world thoughts and opinions to the youth of

each generation through reruns and DVDs. Thus, children are still gaining easy access to racist
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depictions of characters, are forming their cartoon heroes from characters in gender roles, and are

being subconsciously affected by the vast amount of violence in shows such as Tom and Jerry.

Even so, with proper care and the recent increase in progressive cartoons, children can still watch

these decades old shows.

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References

Borwsh, J. (2022). Hanna-Barbera: A history (pp. 30-32). McFarland & Company, Inc.

Burrel, E. (2021). Race, class, and Rosey the Robot: Critical study of The Jetsons. Popular

Culture Studies Journal, 9(1), 27-30. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erin-Burrell-

3/publication/353004200_Burrell-Race-Class-and-Rosey-the-Robot-Final-

Draft/links/60e3be24a6fdccb7450ad945/Burrell-Race-Class-and-Rosey-the-Robot-Final-

Draft.pdf

Chaudhury, S. (2021). A study of YouTube cartoons translated in Santhali (in context to Tom

and

Jerry). Global Media Journal, 19(46).

Foster, W., Maltese, M., & Phillips, A. (Writers), & Barbera, J., & Hanna, W. (Directors). (1961,

December 15). The picnic (Season 2, Episode 13) [TVseries episode]. In J. Barbera & W.

Hanna (Executive Producers), The Flintstones. Hanna-Barbera.

Gezen, A. (2020). Gender representations in cartoons: Niloya and Biz Ikimiz. In G. Sari (Ed.),

Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts. Gender and Diversity Representation in

Mass Media (pp. 90-91). Information Science Reference.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7946100017/GVRL?u=viva2_vccs&sid=bookmark-

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Hanna and Barbera. (2008). In Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, 28. Retrieved from

Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints

Kassay, R. (2019). Barbie princesses and Star Wars clones: Gender stereotypes in the
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representation of children’s favorite heroes—a participant study in urban and rural

contexts, among Hungarians from Romania. Feminist Media Studies, 19(5), 684–701.

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Miranda, P., McCluskey, N., Silber, J., Von Phole, D., & Bainum, K. (2009). Effect of adult

disapproval of cartoon violence on children’s aggressive play. Psi Chi Journal of

Undergraduate Research, 14(2), 79–84. https://doi-org.ezgcc.vccs.edu/10.24839/1089-

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Appendix A

Tom and Jerry’s Mammy Too Shoes

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Appendix B

Blackface in Tom and Jerry episode “The Truce Hurts”

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Appendix C

Jim Crow Era Blackface