Universal Moral lessons in Cartoons

TV is a medium of repetition. Sitcoms are based on using slight variations of the same handful of jokes every episode. Different unrelated sitcoms use the same characters with different names. Any British show that enjoys a small amount of success is translated into a poorly done American show that fails after one season (with a few notable exceptions.) Cartoons are a particularly recidivistic offender (Two words: Scooby Doo.) "Educational" cartoons tend to make flailing swipes at moral lessons, and there seems to be a common pool from which these lessons are drawn. I have collected some of these, listed below.

Moral Lessons you will find in any educational cartoon series:



- You don't need luck. You just need to believe in yourself.


Plot: A character has to do something that they are afraid of doing. This will most likely involve some sort of performance. They believe that in order to succeed that must carry a lucky object with them. Before the event begins, they lose the object, only to have one of their friends turn up with it at the last minute. They perform perfectly, afterwards they find out that their friend pulled a trick on them, and what they thought was their lucky object was an ordinary impostor. They didn't need their lucky maguffin after all! All they needed was confidence!

What the moral should be: Confidence is, without talent and ability, just as useless as luck. If you want to succeed, work hard and practice. Also, don't stake your identity on your success at a given task, because you may just be naturally bad at it.



- Bullies aren't really bad people. They just need to be loved.

Plot: A character is being picked on by a big bully. They envision all kinds of ways to get back at this bully, but have second thoughts when they find out that the bully is in some sort of trouble and needs help. The character helps the bully, and as a result of their kindness the bully sees the error of his/her ways, and becomes good friends with the character.

What the moral should have been: Kindness certainly is the right way treat any person. However, a bully is not hurting you because he needs a friend. Chances are he has at least two friends. They're the guys holding you down while he pummels you. The bully is hurting you because he enjoys it, and has never had to consider the consequences of his actions. Just try to avoid him. If he is ever in trouble and needs your help, then help him out of kindness in a well lit and public area, and then continue trying to avoid him.



- Be kind to others, even if they are (______), because later on you'll need to call in a favor.

Plot: The protagonist encounters a character who appears to be in someway unsavory. They might be of a economic or racial background that the media informs us is universally disliked. They might be really scary looking. They might behave oddly, or be really old. Whatever the quality, the protagonist overcomes their prejudices and helps them. Later, the protagonist is in trouble, and the character they helped earlier comes to their rescue. The protagonists expresses how happy they are that they decided to help the other person in spite of their misgivings about them.

What the moral should have been: Be kind to others, understanding that the reward may never be realized in this life.



- Accidental positive results excuse bad behavior.

Plot: The main character spends most of the show interfering in others business, getting into things that he shouldn't be getting into, and generally acting as a force of chaos and anarchy. Entirely by coincidence, their actions result in a positive outcome ranging anywhere from teaching an old curmudgeon to enjoy his life to discovering a long lost treasure. In the end, everyone is glad the main character behaved that way, and what was originally considered bad behavior is retconned to be good behavior.

What the moral should have been: Unless there is a dated and notarized letter explaining that you knew for a fact that your actions would result in this outcome prior to these events, you're grounded.