There is always going to be a need for distractions for your children. Rainy days happen. You have your first child and hope to find the classic cartoons that you grew up with. You’re not going to find Tom & Jerry. At best, it will be the awful episodes where they are friends. It will be hard to find the Road Runner and Wile E Coyote. You’ll turn to modern options. What you’ll find are educational cartoons that always have a message (educational or social) and you know what that message is. None of your older family members understand why you smile ecstatically when an aunt gives your child a DVD set of old Tom & Jerry cartoons she got at a flea market. It’s a dark forest. Then a friend will drop the name of one cartoon and suddenly your child is watching foreign children’s entertainment.

American children’s entertainment cannot compete anymore. American shows will get viewers but they are constantly cycling through with a little lasting impact. This is a combination of ideological restrictions, and a little push from nonprofits built by academic experts to protect and educate American children. The ideological restrictions are run-of-the-mill progressive straight-jacketing that all institutions experience. Many American cartoons use anthropomorphic animals or robots, because casting has become too much of a delicate issue. One must get the proper racial representation to satisfy advocacy groups, but not turn off the massive majority audience. Ask Julie Andrews and her failed muppet show that had the two white kids be wheelchair bound or nonbinary. All messaging must affirm current progressive shibboleths. Does a child want to watch that? Do many parents even agree with that? American cartoons have removed violence that may possibly be realistic. This limitation has been mocked by cartoons that are geared to adults, yet still have a child audience component. Beyond that, the brother of billionaire Democrat donor, Tom Steyer is a well respected academic, created a center for guiding children’s entertainment. No one is getting a show without the proper messaging.

It is funny to look at successful children’s shows in the last decade. Paw Patrol is a Canadian product. It is a simple show about talking dogs that solve minor problems. Now this show was attacked in the media. The attacks focused on authoritarian vibes and the overuse of a specific cop dog, which involved a journalist calculating the percentage of times each dog was used to solve a problem. The show is considered a bit fascist. During the summer of floyd there was humorous talk of removing the cop dog. Now the show does some paint by numbers progressive framing. The mayor is a female of an indeterminate beige toned race. The main antagonist is a mayor who is a white male. Beneath that surface, one could say that it is not progressive to have a brown, female mayor be portrayed as an incompetent narcissist with a pet chicken, and that the one antagonist is a mustachioed white dandy in top hat and coattails, who is not married and oddly close with his nephew who he forces to play dirty to win. What is Disney’s answer to this? Disney has created a cartoon called Pupstruction that involves talking dogs building things wearing hats with badges exactly like Paw Patrol. They also work with a black female mayor.

Paw Patrol is annoying so maybe your child watches another foreign cartoon sensation: Masha and the Bear. Masha is a Russian cartoon along the lines of old timey goofball cartoons. Masha gets into shenanigans with the bear playing the father figure. Masha is a cute blonde girl in peasant type dress. Masha was the only female cartoon character with a positive father figure in the 2010s. Masha is entertaining and drops many references to Russian literature and classics. Masha and the Bear do constructive things and encourage normal behavior. Conflict occurs and what shines through is that they care for one another. Masha took YouTube by storm with millions of views. Netflix picked it up. What was Disney’s answer to this? Disney created Goldie and Bear about a blonde girl and a young bear going through crazy things in a story land or rural setting. Bear and his family had black voice actors. The stories twisted classic fairy tale characters.

Masha has cross gender appeal but if you have a little boy, you obviously know the show Thomas the Tank Engine. Based on century-old stories, the Thomas franchise was a small model show that is narrated by George Carlin, or Alec Baldwin. As its popularity grew in America, it switched to an animated show. The stories are simple about anthropomorphic trains. Kids learn lessons about duty, honesty and friendship and occasionally an engine had to be punished. Thomas was also attacked for being fascist. As always with time, Thomas was forced to diversify if it was going to stay in American distribution.

The best example of the differential between American cartoons, and what your children can find in foreign lands is the recent successful cartoon Bluey. This is an Australian cartoon. The creator worked on Peppa Pig, but this is definitely a departure from that horrible pig show. It focuses on a family of heeler dogs with mom, dad, and two children. There is no education just pure entertainment. It’s just a family interacting, navigating life and having fun. The parents have a healthy relationship. The creator deliberately made the father a positive force. If you listen in while multitasking, you will be shocked that the kids go to dad for answers and he is a knowledgeable, loving father. The show has adult viewers because the show will indirectly break the fourth wall and give a mom a message that’s saying “hey you’re doing a good job.” It is like watching an ‘80s family sitcom that has some serious moments. Disney has no answer to this and knew that they could not compete so they just partnered with them.

It is weird that American cartoons can’t compete for wholesome entertainment. Disney did have success over a decade ago with Phineas and Ferb. Gravity Falls was a simple two season cartoon that had an almost all white cast. As it was created before 2015, one wonders if it could be made today. This is a strange circumstance, and your parents may not understand it if your child asks for foreign cartoons when visiting their house. It is not worth a deep discussion. It is definitely not worth an argument if your parents skew left and still think the debate is the 1990s. If they do wonder and ask out loud about it, just bring up television ad families during NFL broadcasts and when they nod their head, look at them in all seriousness, and say “it’s even in kids shows.”