Clutch Cargo reflects long-past American culture
When you watch Clutch Cargo, never mind the the unique, Syncro-Vox, lip-synching imprinted animation. You realize just how vastly different American culture, behavior, values, mores, and customs were back in 1960.
Just what would people today think about a grown man, whose legal relationship with a pre-adolescent boy is vague and undefined, takes the boy around the world into dangerous situations involving international criminals and bandits? But Clutch Cargo reflected the post-World War II, all-American, patriotic, manly, white/Anglo-Saxon/Protestant hero. Watching this cartoon if you think like an American of 1960, you begin to understand that 1960 was a infinitely more innocent time than 2010. Clutch Cargo was supposed to be a moral, ethical, patriotic, and manly inspiration to young, American boys. In other words, Clutch Cargo served as the model of the 'near-perfect' American man to admire and inspire. Clutch Cargo was brave, calm, poised, intelligent, courageous and adventurous to boot, which appealed to the adventurous spirit of young boys. As an adult you see that Clutch Cargo showed absolutely no involvement or discussion of the opposite sex. Sometimes it felt like Clutch Cargo was almost part, acetic monk, like one of those ancient crusader, Knights Templars. Clutch served as a father figure, uncle figure, much elder brother figure, and inspirational authority figure to young Spinner.
Today in 2010, we jaded and cynical Americans have seen and been through way too much. We wince at this animated cartoon series of a bachelor, middle-aged adventurer taking a pubescent, girly boy along with his sentient pet daschund dog around the world in a Bellanca C-27A Airbus cargo/transport, single-engined prop plane for adventures that involved great danger against ethnic stereotype bad guys. Even the foreign good guys were hilarious, such as the Tibetan prince, 'Prince Gung Ho'. LMAO. Political correctness didn't exist back then I suppose. Yet, Clutch Cargo remains a near and dear cartoon memory for many an adult over the age of 45 today.