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Cartoon channels under lens for ‘long lip-locks’, peeping Toms

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A content regulator for television has received dozens of complaints about ‘inappropriate’ content on children’s channels.

New Delhi: Children’s cartoons depicting fat-shaming and “long lip-locks”, and seemingly normalising voyeurism, are among the television programmes flagged for inappropriate content in 2018 by worried Indian parents and others.

As many as 46 of the complaints filed with a non-news content regulator of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the apex representative body for TV channels, last year pertained to children’s cartoons or shows targeted at young ones. These were registered between January and August.

The regulator, the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), vets viewer complaints about the 273 general entertainment channels under IBF and checks whether they are adhering to the self-regulatory code. The IBF has 385 channels under it, including those for news, while there are some channels that fall outside its purview.

The ‘transgressions’

Most complaints filed last year centred on channels Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon Junior, Pogo and Discovery Kids, with the issues raised including kissing scenes to use of vulgar slang.

For example, one pertained to a show called Birthday Bum on Nickelodeon Junior 1 for the use of the slang “GPL”, a crass abbreviation for the phrase “kick in the butt”.

Another pertained to a Discovery Kids show about comedian Charlie Chaplin that featured “kissing and romantic scenes”.

A programme named Henry and Peter on Cartoon Network was flagged for carrying foul language and purportedly showing theft by children as normal behaviour, and the Indian show Chhota Bheem for surrogate advertising.

There were also complaints against children’s “candid conversation” programme Kutty Chutties on Tamil channel Sun TV for asking under-10-year-olds questions about girlfriend and boyfriend issues.

However, the most number of complaints — 34 — came for the Indian animated series Bandbudh & Budbak on Discovery Kids, where a group of students was seen making fun of overweight children.


Also read: 2018 in cartoons: 10 biting takes from cartoonists on the year’s big stories


Japanese cartoons on the radar

Some complaints centred on Japanese shows, including a dubbed version of the controversial series Shin Chan on Hungama TV. Based on a precocious protagonist known to shoot from the hip, Shin Chan upset some viewers for showing the lead character nude.

Shin Chan, popular among kids, was earlier banned in 2008 by the information and broadcasting ministry, before a sanitised version was allowed back on air.

Another Japanese cartoon, Doraemon on Disney channel, was the subject of two complaints: One for apparently showing a character, Nobita, peeping into a girl’s bathroom, and the other for a scene featuring the same character inspecting a girl named Suzuka “with the medical box gadget given to him by Doraemon”.

“… And while doing so he removed her clothes, for which Doraemon closed his eyes,” the complaint states.

There were also multiple complaints against Animax, a Japanese language television channel with English subtitles offering anime content, a highly popular form of animation. Aimed at a core target audience aged between 15 and 24 years, the channel is also watched by children.

The complaints referred to “adult scenes” in animated shows like Sket Dance II and Kamisama Kiss that apparently sexualised women’s bodies. It was also pointed out that the shows presented no disclaimer for viewers’ discretion at the outset.

Industry sources told ThePrint that several of these shows and cartoons were not even shown in Japan, apart from other countries, anymore.

“But many Indian cartoon channels started telecasting them and they quickly gained popularity here,” said a source. “However, self-regulation is the key and violators are sent notices by the BCCC regularly for adherence to the codes,” the source added. “Censorship is not the solution.”


Also read: Picture abhi patriarchy hai: Studying Bollywood’s sexism disease


Over the years

The BCCC has for years now been trying to crack down on inappropriate television content for children.

 

Complaints in earlier years have included one against the Nickelodeon Junior show Alvin and the Chipmunks in 2017 for showing children talking about romance and kissing.

The same year, a complaint was registered against Cartoon Network for a show called Teen Titans Go for telecasting “prolonged lip-lock scenes between two cartoon characters”, including a protagonist named Robin.

While most channels last year were let off with advisories, others have been warned of serious action. For example, Animax was warned with the possible shift of controversial shows to the ‘watershed slot’, the 9pm to 5am window, when it is believed that children don’t watch TV, as was done in Singapore.

In a 2013 advisory, the BCCC had told channels, “While the BCCC wants to avoid being a censoring agency, it advises all IBF member channels, particularly children’s/cartoon channels, to be more cautious of the selection of the content shown, considering the impressionable minds of their target viewers.”

Apart from the BCCC, the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre under the information and broadcasting ministry also keeps a watch on television channels, including those that are not under the IBF, to see if they are adhering to rules on advertising and programming.

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