TOON IN, TOON OUT - AMERICAN TELEVISION ANIMATION AND THE SHAPING OF AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE, 1948-1980 - A Thesis

Aug 25, 2026

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This thesis is a systematic study of significant American television animation programs produced between 1948 and 1980, with special attention to selected works from Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward, and Filmation. It examines how external pressures—including television network censorship, grassroots political activism, and broader social and political forces—constrained genre development and shaped producer strategies. It analyzes masculine imagery in the 1950s and 1960s and evaluates producers’ responses to concerns about violent imagery and censorship threats in the 1970s. Findings show adaptation driven by production involvement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages154

Reading Time6 h 28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Television Animation: A Unique Genre

The Evolution of Television Animation

Chapter One: “Don’t You Know I’m The Boss….?”: “Masculinity” and Television Animation in the Late 1950s and Early 1960s

Chapter Two. The “Kiddies” Didn’t Stay In The Picture: Filmation and Television Animation in the 1970s

Conclusion: Products and Legacies

‘TOON IN,‘TOON OUT: AMERICAN TELEVISION ANIMATION AND THE SHAPING OF AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE, 1948-1980 by David Perlmutter A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Joint Master’s Program – Departments of History The University of Manitoba / The University of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Copyright © 2010 by David Perlmutter Library and Archives Canada Published Heritage Branch Bibliothèque et Archives Canada Direction du Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-70189-8 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-70189-8 NOTICE: The author has granted a nonexclusive license allowing Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, communicate to the public by telecommunication or on the Internet, loan, distribute and sell theses worldwide, for commercial or noncommercial purposes, in microform, paper, electronic and/or any other formats. . The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author’s permission. AVIS: L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans lemonde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou autres formats. L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-cine doivent être imprimés ou autrementreproduits sans son autorisation. In compliance with the Canadian Privacy Act some supporting forms may have been removed from this thesis. While these forms may be included in the document page count, their removal does not represent any loss of content from the thesis. Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la protection de la vie privée, quelques formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés decette thèse. Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenumanquant. ii ABSTRACT This thesis is a systematic study of significant American television animation programs produced between 1948 and 1980, with special attention given to selected works produced by three influential studios: Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward and Filmation. It considers how outside forces such as television network censorship, grassroots political activism, and other social and political forces served to limit how the genre developed, and the extent to which producers chose to test the limits to get their points across. It provides a discussion of masculine images in television animation of the 1950s and 1960s, and of the reactions of television animation producers to outside concerns regarding violent imagery in children’s programming, and the threat of censorship related to this, in the 1970s. My thesis demonstrates that television animation producers, as a result of the need to remain actively involved in production, were forced to change and adapt with the times around them. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me through this endeavor. I have appreciated their support especially in those times when I doubted my abilities, because they never did. I particularly want to thank Professor Churchill and Professor Elvins for giving me their advice and guidance in the long and arduous process of conceiving the draft. I only hope that in further projects I will have as much support and fewer challenges to overcome. iv CONTENTS Introduction 1 Television Animation: A Unique Genre 2

FAQs

Which studios receive special attention in this thesis?

The study focuses on selected works from Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward, and Filmation.

How do outside forces affect the development of television animation in the thesis?

It analyzes how network censorship, grassroots political activism, and other social and political forces limited how the genre developed and influenced how producers pushed boundaries.

What changes does the thesis describe for the 1970s regarding content concerns?

It discusses producers’ reactions to threats of censorship connected to concerns about violent imagery in children’s programming.

Aug 25, 2026

Uploaded by Mia