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What's something you used to like as a kid that you now, as an adult, realize had some pretty fucked up messaging? (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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For me it's Dragon Ball Z, that was a pretty fucked up show tbh.

Like holy shit, all the characters are terrible people except maybe Gohan and Trunks.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

what's up with Mr popo

Also not dbz (probably also dbz) but pigsy from monkey magic was fucking groooss
I liked the themes of transcending boundaries, even if I can't punch holes through time

I liked Burke's Backyard and The Bill don't @ me

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

While dragon ball does have quite a bit of racist imagery, it really does end at the imagery. Mr. Popo looks like drawing him should get you thrown in a re-education camp, but he's a mild-mannered wise genie who is nothing but helpful to the main characters. Early in the series there are slightly (only slightly) less racist native Americans and a clearly Indian guy, and they're all heroes without any real negative traits.

I guess what I mean is it's not as bad as it looks, though it looks really bad.

As for gross characters, yeah, there are not one but two

(cw: blunt use of SA related terminology)

rapists

in the main cast. (Roshi and Oolong) so that more than makes up for the surprisingly low levels of racism

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

I mean technically in Journey to the West that really early Dragonball was based on Sun Wukong (goku) was based off a character that was a caricature of a "hairy northerner" combined with the myth of some giant monkey. This is all half remembered from a documentary I saw as a kid though.