Once upon a time, Disney created an animated television programming block known as Disney Afternoon that aired from September 10, 1990 until August 29, 1997. This was the highlight of a child’s life growing up in the ‘90s. Many of the shows were spin offs from Disney’s feature films that came out at the time, such as Aladdin, Hercules, and The Little Mermaid, while others were comedy shows starring anthropomorphic animals such as Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, and TaleSpin. All of these shows were great shows for their time and are beloved by nostalgia today. They all garnered recognitions and assorted awards and started a new direction in animated television. But one show stands out among the rest: Gargoyles. A completely original show, it
…show more content…
Given today’s discussions on gun control it is still relevant. One of the gargoyles, Broadway, is obsessed with a new Western movie he sees in theatres and becomes fascinated with guns. When he visits Elisa he finds her gun because she did not put it away in a safe place. She has used her gun on the show and it has not been questioned because she is a police officer. She needs a gun. It’s such a simple and unquestioned thing even in a children’s cartoon. But this show takes it further than any other show had before or has since. Elisa lives alone and assumed she did not need to lock it up. But when Broadway picks up the gun and plays with it, reenacting a gunslinger scene from the Western, the gun goes off and he accidentally shoots Elisa. Blood is shown on the floor and on Broadway’s hands when he rushes her to the hospital. Even animated movies rarely if ever show blood when someone is injured. And this is a Disney show in 1994 for the Disney Afternoon. Furthermore, when Elisa is in the hospital, she nearly dies twice from her injuries. Everything is realistic. Greg Weisman, one of Gargoyles’ creators explained on his website “we wanted to send a message about repercussions. Real world repercussions. I wanted our series to be ABOUT repercussions…Without those laws, you remove the dramatic law of repercussions. The real world law that actions have repercussions.” At the end of the episode, the moral was not that “guns are bad” it was that both Broadway and Elisa were at fault for their actions. Broadway learns that he should not have been playing with the gun because guns are not toys, and Elisa admits that she should have been more careful where she left it and they both must be more careful in the future. Even so,
Given today’s discussions on gun control it is still relevant. One of the gargoyles, Broadway, is obsessed with a new Western movie he sees in theatres and becomes fascinated with guns. When he visits Elisa he finds her gun because she did not put it away in a safe place. She has used her gun on the show and it has not been questioned because she is a police officer. She needs a gun. It’s such a simple and unquestioned thing even in a children’s cartoon. But this show takes it further than any other show had before or has since. Elisa lives alone and assumed she did not need to lock it up. But when Broadway picks up the gun and plays with it, reenacting a gunslinger scene from the Western, the gun goes off and he accidentally shoots Elisa. Blood is shown on the floor and on Broadway’s hands when he rushes her to the hospital. Even animated movies rarely if ever show blood when someone is injured. And this is a Disney show in 1994 for the Disney Afternoon. Furthermore, when Elisa is in the hospital, she nearly dies twice from her injuries. Everything is realistic. Greg Weisman, one of Gargoyles’ creators explained on his website “we wanted to send a message about repercussions. Real world repercussions. I wanted our series to be ABOUT repercussions…Without those laws, you remove the dramatic law of repercussions. The real world law that actions have repercussions.” At the end of the episode, the moral was not that “guns are bad” it was that both Broadway and Elisa were at fault for their actions. Broadway learns that he should not have been playing with the gun because guns are not toys, and Elisa admits that she should have been more careful where she left it and they both must be more careful in the future. Even so,