MovieChat Forums > Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Discussion > That cartoon Daniel was fired from.

That cartoon Daniel was fired from.

posted 5 years ago by GreenGoblinsOck8 (7414)
8 replies | jump to latest

I recently watched this for the first time in many years and that cartoon was rather offensive. I grew up in the 90s but was always told by teachers at school not to smoke. My own parents didn't smoke. I guess it's kind of shocking seeing a cartoon within a movie from the early 90s that encourages kids to smoke. I honestly didn't watch any cartoons like that growing up in the 90s. And yes I did at some point watch that cartoon with Alvin and the Chipmunks, Loony Toons characters, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where they all talk about how you shouldn't do drugs. It's just seeing that cartoon, and the way they wanted Danny to voice it, I can't blame him for quitting. That was some pretty offensive crap! I guess that beginning part is just not something you'd ever see in today's world.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12376) 5 years ago

That particular scene was played for dark comedy. Like when he advocates not smoking and then yells at the guys in the sound booth if they think smoking is okay to show to kids in a cartoon, and then the camera cuts to all three guys in there, smoking like chimneys.

While I have seen [non-anime] cartoon characters smoking cigars before, it was mostly the bad guys or bad-ass characters doing it, not usually the heroes or the innocent characters doing it. In a few cases, the heroes only smoked briefly to set stuff on fire, or light a cannon, rather than doing it habitually.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7414) 5 years ago

Yeah. That was messed up like I said.

[–] marktayloruk (2382) 2 years ago

People are hysterical about smoking.

[–] hurricane (1910) a year ago

I don't think that we were meant to infer that Daniel was in the wrong though. Even if other characters in the film gave him grief for being fired.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7414) a year ago

I wasn't inferring that he was in the wrong. Just that you would not see an American cartoon like that around that era.

[–] Furienna (3322) a year ago

You could see some characters smoke in cartoons from the '90s.
But like an earlier poster said, it was only the villain or "tough" characters who did it by that point.

Nowadays, there will be no smoking at all in Disney's works and probably not in other family-friendly works either.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7414) a year ago

I mean a movie now has to be PG-13 if there's smoking in it. Which I think is a little dumb as your kid might have relatives that smoke and you can't even go to a store or restaurant without seeing people smoking outside them. I don't want kids to smoke but it's not something you can make your kid not ever see. Then again you could say the same thing about cussing which also effects ratings.

[–] JohnnyCastle (393) 6 months ago

I don't think that was a real cartoon on TV though. I think they were making it seem like Daniel is a bit irresponsible, losing his job over that, but you also see the respect and responsibility he has to children with that scene. He's all about them having fun, being silly, and having a good time. He's not going to be part of something that might make kids want to smoke.