Cartoons

Disney's movie "Dick Tracy" is big at the box office, but some local Asian and Latino groups are unhappy with Disney-owned KCAL Channel 9 for reviving a 29-year-old "Dick Tracy" cartoon series that they say contains ethnic and racial stereotypes. "When you exaggerate racial and ethnic mannerisms and characteristics, that is racism, no matter how you slice it," said Raul Ruiz, Chicano studies professor at Cal State Northridge.

For the Obama campaign, the creation of “The Life of Julia” was the latest campaign gimmick - drawing in female voters through social media to an infographic showing what a young woman's life might look like under the policies of a White House run by Mitt Romney, rather than by President Obama. But Romney does not seem amused. “This little cartoon that they have on the life of Julia really reveals the weakness of the president's policies,” the presumed Republican nominee told Fox News host Sean Hannity during a taped interview that aired Tuesday night.

No one seems immune these days from economic pressure, not even the Muppet Babies, G.I. Joe or Little Clowns of Happytown. These stars of the Saturday morning cartoon scene have been hard hit by the dollar's steep decline, particularly against the Japanese yen. A good deal of the animation work for U.S. cartoons for television has been done in Japan, but now American companies like Marvel Productions of Van Nuys are prowling other parts of Asia for cheaper alternatives.

A science teacher at an intermediate school in Oxnard was fired after students claimed to have seen her in a porn movie. No one asked why children were watching porn movies. ALSO: Clear the tracks, Beverly Hills Photo gallery: Ted Rall cartoons Doctor finds the G spot -- in Poland For more from Ted Rall, visit tedrall.com or follow him on Twitter: @TedRall .

MOVIES Barbara Hammer: Experimenting in Life and Art The avant-garde filmmaker, a leading figure in lesbian and feminist cinema, appears to screen and discuss two of her recent works. "Generations" (2010), which she made with Gina Carducci, deals with aging and passing on the tradition of personal filmmaking; "A Horse Is Not a Metaphor" (2009) confronts Hammer's battle with cancer and experiences in chemotherapy. REDCAT , 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. 8:30 p.m. $9. (213)

After two days of protests, the New York Post apologized Thursday for a cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police. The newspaper posted an editorial on its website Thursday evening saying the cartoon was meant to mock the federal economic stimulus bill, but "to those who were offended by the image, we apologize." The piece was posted hours after 200 picketers chanting "Boycott the Post! Shut it down!"

A New York Post cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police drew outrage Wednesday from civil rights leaders and elected officials who said it echoed racist stereotypes of blacks as monkeys. The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. The caption reads: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Hugh Hefner didn't get a lot of hugs as a kid. He grew up in a repressed Midwestern Puritan home, and his parents were strict. He couldn't ask them about the things he saw at his favorite movie theater in Chicago -- like the confusing censorship codes, or why an adult married couple in a film had to sleep in separate twin beds. So he began questioning these ideas on his own -- through comic books. During his junior year in high school, Hefner began his own comic autobiography, documenting the events of his life through drawings.

Few Americans now remember the vast political battles that divided the United States during World War II. We look back in a patriotic haze at a nation that seemed united but was, in fact, as divided as it is today. A decade ago, the book "Dr. Seuss Goes to War" showed that Theodor Seuss Geisel, in addition to his many children's books, was a very engaged political cartoonist during the war years. His cartoons lambasted the American isolationists and then the Axis foes daily, from 1940 to 1943, in PM, the radical New York tabloid.

When we read the article about Yogi Bear and his sidekicks, we were truly upset to learn that the artistic creations of Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna are to be used in a manner for which they were never intended ("Yogi Bear Gets a Bit of the Ren & Stimpy Attitude," by Michael P. Lucas, Sept. 23). Putting names of characters created by Barbera and Hanna on entirely different, evil and horrible replacements is an insult to the designers and the viewers, especially to children. People throughout the world truly love and appreciate these extremely talented gentlemen and their fabulous cartoons, and it seems the happy images they created are being destroyed.

This week the University of Texas student newspaper let go of its editorial cartoonist after an uproar over a cartoon about the Trayvon Martin shooting -- or, rather, about news coverage of the event and its aftermath. As my colleague Molly Hennessy-Fiske reported, the offending cartoon "showed a mother sitting in a chair labeled 'the media' reading to a child from a book titled, "'Treyvon [sic] Martin and the Case of Yellow Journalism.' "The mother says: "And then the big bad 'white' man killed the handsome, sweet, innocent 'colored' boy.'" . . . "On Wednesday, as students gathered to protest the cartoon with handmade signs saying, 'Daily Texan Racist,' the newspaper's editorial board published an apology editorial , saying that the cartoonist responsible, Stephanie Eisner, had left the paper.

The controversial cartoon that appeared this week in the University of Texas at Austin's Daily Texan showed a mother sitting in a chair labeled "the media" reading to a child from a book titled, "Treyvon [sic] Martin and the case of yellow journalism.” The mother says: “And then the big bad 'white' man killed the handsome, sweet, innocent 'colored' boy.” The cartoon appeared in the paper Tuesday, just as students and residents held a rally in downtown Austin for Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old youth shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.

Cal State trustees vote to hire two new presidents at $324,550 and $303,660, respectively, 10% more than their predecessors. Meanwhile, students face tuition hikes, shrinking services and canceled classes. What will become of these Cal State students? Cartoonist Ted Rall takes an educated guess. ALSO: Cal State's closed-door plan Photo gallery: Ted Rall cartoons Santa Monica College: Lost opportunity costs Photo: Ted Rall cartoon.

Science wins out Re " F. Sherwood Rowland, 1927-2012: Nobel winner tied ozone damage to use of CFCs ," Obituary, March 12 Some years ago, at the height of the anti-ozone-depletion-science political cartoon frenzy, Sherwood and Joan Rowland were attending an event for the conservation group Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks. I asked the always approachable, gentlemanly Sherry if the rash of mostly unfriendly cartoons in newspapers and magazines bothered him. He smiled and said he understood the alarm his research caused, adding that he collected the cartoons sent to him by friends around the world.

"Gravity Falls" doesn't sound like classic Disney animation. The new cartoon comedy series follows twins Dipper and Mabel, whose school vacation plans are dashed when their parents ship them off to spend the summer with cranky old Uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Ore., where pterodactyls swoop overhead and gnomes plot to abduct Mabel and make her their queen. "Disney wasn't the first place I would have thought of going to," said the show's creator, Alex Hirsch, who grew up watching Fox's irreverent animated comedy "The Simpsons.

Postal Service heroes Re "Recalling first-class kindness," Opinion, Dec. 21 Ben Kamin's article about the U.S. Postal Service brought back pleasant memories. In the 1950s my future husband was in Air Force basic training in San Antonio. I would wait for our postman "Mac" every day; most days I was rewarded with a letter. One day as he walked by our house he called out "Nope, not today. " He was two houses down before he came back with my letter. He thought it was the funniest practical joke.

Newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad that have sparked anger among Muslims since they first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September. The Middle East Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet, and publication of the drawings has divided opinion within Europe. French and German papers cited freedom of expression in publishing the cartoons.

China has announced a ban on cartoons that blend animated elements with live-action actors, a move aimed at nurturing local animators and apparently curbing the use of foreign cartoons. Popular children's television shows featuring human hosts and animated elements such as "Blue's Clues" from the United States and "Teletubbies" from Britain could be included in the ban.

A celebration of holiday cheer and retro kitsch, Santa's Cool Holiday Film Festival features such time-warped gems as "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964) and Max Fleischer's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1948), as well as vintage cartoons and trailers. Regent Theatre, 1045 Broxton Ave., L.A. Midnight Fri.-Sat. $10.50. (310) 208-3250. http://www.santamartiansmovie.com

Crime-fighting canine McGruff the Crime Dog is looking to take a bite out of counterfeiting. The talking cartoon dog, sporting his trademark trench coat, is part of a new anti-counterfeiting campaign by the nonprofit National Crime Prevention Council and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which is part of the Justice Department. The campaign seeks to dispel any notion that counterfeiting is a victimless crime. "It costs the U.S. economy tens of billions of dollars each year, deprives people of their livelihoods, encourages criminal activities by gangs and organized crime groups, and sometimes results in serious illness or injury," the campaign Web page said.