this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
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I've noticed this too. It feels like we're culturally losing touch with even the relatively recent past, and I'm not sure what to think about it.
I guess it concerns me in the "those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it" kind of way.
Like so many things, it goes back to Ronald Reagan.
Reagan loosened up the rules on children's TV. That let the networks/advertisers run half hour long commercials with names like "GI Joe" and "Masters Of The Universe." Back in the day, the folks writing Bugs Bunny could put anyone in a cartoon, but the new guys were being pushed to create characters that could be sold as toys. The same applies to movies. The studios would rather finance a science fiction movie with a dozen tie-in products than a historical picture that has a bunch of public domain characters.
As always, look for the money trail.
Yeah, the G.I. Joe and Transformer cartoons (and a lot more, I'm sure) were basically created to be commercials for the toys from the get go.