Really, this is more thinking on ratings in general, because it’s interesting to watch the evolution.

In digging around, I discovered Darkwing Duck (which started in 1991) had the Y7 rating, making it the earliest cartoon I’m aware of where the Y7 rating was used. Around the same time, Batman series were being released with a PG rating while still being included in the after-school line-up (and if those Batman series were PG, why wasn’t X-Men, which came out around the same time as Batman: The Animated Series?).

Even more interesting, Thundercats, which I watched every day after school as a child, also has the PG rating (which really makes you wonder how X-Men avoided a higher rating a few years later).

Although I really thought I saw it in high school, many sources agree that the FV (Fantasy Violence) rating was added in 1997 to indicate “intense violence”. Examples of “intense violence” cited included the Power Rangers series and Digimon. having seen Digimon, I have to start wondering again where that line is. I didn’t find it particularly violent, and I don’t consider myself desensitized.

A British report, Safer Children in a Digital World, out in 2008 lays out standards for children’s media. It sets levels for what’s appropriate in terms of violence and language for various age groups, and then raises the question of why no one seems to be using a uniform ratings methodology across all children’s media (movies, television shows, and video games).

It really is one of those things that we think we’re dealing with, or at least making attempts to deal with. At the same time, though, it’s hard to know where the right lines can be drawn. Add to that the fact that children are often deciding what they watch or play, and it becomes more a of a “best intentions” measure.

It’s just interesting to think about, both when planning and viewing children’s media.

The Challenge: Do something that is typically seen as inappropriate for someone of your age.

My mother tells this story (I actually remember this) about taking me to see Star Wars when it first came out. I sat in the backseat of our Buick and played with my action figures and bubblegum cards while we watched, matching the scenes on the cards with what was happening on the screen.

A couple of years ago, someone brought me a pile of toys he’d rescued from being thrown out. Most of them were Pokemon figurines, but a couple of them were action figures. He didn’t recognize either of them, but I did! One was Will from W.I.T.C.H., which I enjoyed while it was on a station I could see. That other was the Dark Magician from Yu-Gi-Oh, which I happen to be watching right now.

Watching cartoons (outside of anime and shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy) is generally enough to make any kid look at you like you’ve lost your mind to begin with, but I decided to really have fun today. I pulled out Dark Magician (who usually lives right beside my Yu-Gi-Oh manga). He’s sitting on my bed watching this morning’s episodes (which happen to have been my first exposure to Yu-Gi-Oh several years ago because I didn’t turn the television off quickly enough after Jackie Chan Adventures one afternoon, and also happen to be among my favorite episodes). I was watching with him up until I decided I should probably upload pictures and write this post.

Sadly, I can’t seem to get a good picture of Dark Magician and the episode for documentation, but hopefully this will work for now!

For those curious, I ended up watching because Kaiba fascinated me. He’s still my favorite thing about this show and the manga.

When  Dinosaur King first showed up a couple of years ago, I almost turned it off because it sounded like another Pokemon. Once I got past the voice actors, though, I found that the cartoon actually reminded me of my favorite childhood cartoon, M.A.S.K.

In Dinosaur King, a paleontologist’s son and his friends travel all over the world looking for modern-day dinosaurs. They’ll be tracking down a dinosaur, and then find that a team of adults is also trying to catch the same dinosaur. It becomes a race where each group’s dinosaurs often have to battle (and the good guys don’t always win).

In M.A.S.K., a philanthropist and his son would be somewhere in the world where the philanthropist was usually conducting business. Then, whatever they were supposed to be visiting would go missing or they would see the bad guys trying to mess with what they were supposed to be visiting, and the philanthropist called in his team and fireworks would ensue.

What caused me to draw the connection between Dinosaur King and M.A.S.K. was the globe-hopping. While the characters in either cartoon are on their mission or in the build-up to the mission, they’re exploring the location. When I was a child, I loved those parts of M.A.S.K. because it was a chance to learn about somewhere far away from where I lived, somewhere I probably wouldn’t get to go on my own. I see the same thing in Dinosaur King, a chance to expose a child to small facts about life around the world in an engaging setting. Even if all they’re doing is following the dinosaurs, they’re bound to pick up something.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to watch an episode of each together. It was the best hour I’d spent watching television in a while.

While attending voiceover workshops last summer, one of the things I learned is that the voiceover industry tends to be male-dominated. Despite the fact I noticed both workshops had more women attending, I really didn’t think much about it until I was watching TV last night. I had just finished watching one of the America’s Next Top Model cycles, had just finished watching a young woman win a Cover Girl contract (based in part on a commercial she shot during the competition)…and listened to a man announce a Cover Girl commercial.

Somehow, that just seems wrong to me. It’s a product for women. Women are featured in the ads. Why isn’t a woman narrating those commercials?

I started digging around, and while I didn’t find much I did find that studies have discovered that we tend to find women believable and men authoritative when we listen to voiceovers. I also discovered how much I don’t pay attention to movie trailers. I think in the back of my mind I’ve always recognized that movie trailers are narrated by men, but with Don LaFontaine’s passing last year there has been a slow, subtle movement to hire women to do these trailers. It hasn’t always been successful because of the movies involved, but there has still at last been an effort.

It’s something I want to start paying more attention to. Does it matter whether the material needs to be believable or come from an authority figure? Is the right gender advertising the product? Are women really not well-represented in the voiceover industry?