Values Dissonance/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

* Where does a European viewer begin with ''[[The Simpsons]]'':

** Homer being called a bad parent [[Rule of Funny|(never mind that he strangles his only son and doesn't realize that his youngest daughter exists)]] because he gave permission for Lisa to use public transport on her own, at aged eight.

** In "$pringfield": Was Homer teaching Maggie to gamble supposed to come as a shock? If so it'd be lost on a British audience. (British gambling laws allow minors to gamble, albeit on arcade games that dispense tokens and/or tickets to the winners, kind of like what America has with Chuck E. Cheese).

*** Casinos (in Las Vegas, at least) prohibit children from ''standing still'' on the casino floor; if you're taking the kids to dinner and have to walk through the casino (and you always do), you have to keep moving.

** In fact any time [[Moral Guardians|Helen Lovejoy and/or Marge Simpson]] claim gambling is a social ill.

'''Homer''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Only in 48 states.]] }}

*** Many people in Britain do consider gambling a social ill or at best, a guilty pleasure. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557170/Gordon-Brown-scraps-super-casinos.html\] [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23403917-brown-kills-off-blairs-supercasino-plans.do\]

**** The objections to "super-casinos" wasn't to gambling per-se, but to it being an American-Las Vegas style of gambling which is unfamiliar in the UK where it would be possible to lose massive amounts of money. Most UK people will gamble casually in Bingo-Halls (the Mecca Bingo chain being the most common), Horse Racing, Dog Racing, Card Games (in pubs), the list is extensive, but consider almost every-town and village in the UK will have its own bookmakers and/or an arcade with one arm bandit machines.

** Of course, Marge is, among other things, in part a parody of so-old-fashioned-they're-not-even-quaint-but-just-weird American values, which isn't as much of a value dissonance as a case of cultural difference causing missed jokes.

** In the episode "Team Homer", the plot involving the school dress code change causes some confusion for those of us who wore uniforms all through school. Sure, uniforms suck, but it's not that big a deal.

** Australian shows can say shit freely, too. There's also a strange tendency that Americans can say faggot, but not the ''hole'' in asshole.