by Junebug Theory.
In a few days, we'll be starting our America Rock! series. We're both dreading it. These episodes won't be fun, and we’ve got nine of them before we finally get to look at Science Rock. But why is this season so heavy on the propaganda? What took us from I Got Six to Elbow Room? To find some answers, I started doing some reading. This would slowly evolve into a massive research project attempting to understand the historical context of Schoolhouse Rock, one that lead me down some truly wild rabbit holes. When I finally had a grasp on the story of this show, it gave me an idea: before we get into the bad history lessons of America Rock!, why not try to do better?
Welcome to HISTORY ROCK! SUCKS ASS, where we'll be telling the true story of Schoolhouse Rock: a story of violence, marketing, censorship, music, and Reaganomics. We've got analysis! We've got sources! We’ve even got our own musical interlude (sorta)! Schoolhouse Rock didn't just appear out of thin air, it was made by specific people for a specific reason. If we want to try and understand the show, the best thing we can do is learn it’s historical context and discover what those reasons are. Why was it so successful? Why did it eventually die? And why is America Rock! so… like that? Let’s find out together.
PART 1: THE 70S KINDA SUCKED
To understand why Schoolhouse Rock was so perfectly primed to be a hit, we need to understand the media landscape it arrived on. In the 1950s, studios finally began shifting away from Disney's animation style, with its focus on realism and high budgets. Most well known here is United Productions of America (UPA), who experimented with extremely limited animation techniques, using fewer drawings per animation as a minimalist modern artistic choice.1 However, what started as an artistic decision would be copied by the entire industry as using fewer drawings also greatly reduced costs. Eventually, costs would be so low that animating multiple episodes of television was a viable option, and the studio Hannah-Barbera would attempt to do so. The Ruff And Reddy Show was a success the studio followed with hit after hit, bringing animation to the small screen for good and becoming a juggernaut of a company.
They’d go on to rule the next decade of animated television, creating The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, The Flinstones, Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, and a thousand other cartoons. Their animation style cut costs at every opportunity; animations were reused and characters moved as little as possible, all supplemented by dialog heavy writing that required less art. It was so simplistic that legendary animator Chuck Jones would call their shows “illustrated radio”, and he’d arguably be proven right 30 years later when their cartoons were re-dubbed with new dialog to make shows like Space Ghost Coast To Coast and Sealab 2021. Arguments about artistic value aside, it certainly made money. By the 1960s they and their competitors had turned television animation into a massive industry.
Meanwhile, America was exploding. 1968-69 brought about two separate high-profile assassinations (MLK Jr. and Robert Kennedy) alongside massive protests for civil rights and the continuation of the Vietnam war, one of the most unpopular wars in American history. The populace didn’t just hear about these things, either; television became the main source of news, Vietnam earning the name The First Televised War.2 Entertainment was also changing, the era of safe, family sitcoms like I Love Lucy giving way to more adult fare like MASH or Columbo. Children’s television was an exception to this. In response to the (false) belief that the world had grown more violent, parents blamed children watching violent cartoons and TV shows.3 Horror and action cartoons such as Johnny Quest, Space Ghost, and Frankenstein Jr. would be canceled and replaced by shows that seemed more safe and inoffensive, such as everyone’s favorite weed smoking polycule, Scooby Doo.
Online, the blame for this shift often falls on Action For Children's Television (ACT), an organization started by Peggy Charon. As far as I can tell, this isn’t entirely correct. The group only came into existence in 1968 and didn’t really start making their mark until the early 1970s, after the shift in programming was well underway.4 Additionally, they were a loudly anti-censorship organization, their focus always being heavily not on obscene content but rather on commercialization.5 They argued television hosts should not be able to advertise to children, that commercials in children’s entertainment had to be kept to a minimum, and that kids shows should attempt to be educational instead of commercial.
With time their pressure grew to be strong enough that major TV networks reacted. In 1973 the network's self regulation organization, the NAB, put out a statement asking networks to restrict the number of commercials during children’s shows and prevent shows/hosts from directly advertising to children. The next year the FCC itself would add guidelines suggesting the networks do… basically exactly what they had already done.6 The goal was a sort of soft regulation that would keep the companies regulating themselves by threatening real regulations if they didn’t. This would have a few knock on effects. It arguably drove the final nail into the coffin for local Children’s programming; the main benefit of those shows was having hosts advertise, so any channel that hadn’t already switched to cheap cartoons and such did so now, much to ACT's dismay. Also, channels started looking for educational content they could use to promote towards groups such as ACT.
It’s not really ACT’s fault that cartoons sucked in the 70s, but they absolutely did7. Limited animation had reached the height of its influence with studios premiering new shows based on any mediocre IP or name they could think of every month. The new advertising restrictions ended up being an opportunity for networks to lower their already cheap budgets for children’s television, and the moral panic meant they didn’t wish to push any boundaries.
If only there was a mid-1970s show that had shockingly good art and music for the time, that looked educational and safe to parents, that could be slot in by a network without disrupting their other shows...
PART 2: PROPAGANDA JAZZ
Amazingly, Schoolhouse Rock was mostly an accident. The show was created when an advertising executive8 got mad his kids could remember rolling stones songs but not their multiplication tables. He asked if anyone could write a song to solve this, and all the songs they wrote were absolutely terrible. Then, someone suggested a guy they knew named Bob Dorough.
PART MUSICAL INTERLUDE: IN WHICH I MUST BEGRUDGINGLY APOLOGIZE TO BOB DOROUGH
We've made fun of Bob a bit on this blog, for his occasional bad talk-singing or his goofy lyrics. However, after my research I am forced to acknowledge that the guy was very successful with his talk singing and goofy lyrics and was a fantastic jazz composer to boot. He worked with Miles Davis, Tony Bennett, Blossom Dearie (Another Schoolhouse Rock alumni) along with many others. Wildest among these was a collaboration he did with the beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg, where Ginsberg wanted to set 18th century poet William Blake's writing to music. I can’t necessarily say I'm into all his music, but he made a lot of fascinating shit. Good job, Bob.
RETURN TO PART 2
Hiring Bob Dorough worked better than they could have dreamed. They liked the song so much that a member of the ad agency drew up some drawings to go with it. Someone suggested pitching the song to their biggest advertising client (ABC Network), and they got a meeting with the VP of children’s programming Michael Eisner9. As luck would have it, they wanted some animations for a variety-esque show called The Curiosity Shop.10
While the curiosity shop would be mostly forgotten, Schoolhouse Rock would become an odd success. The short segments were perfect for slotting in between shows, using for a cartoon compilation, or even replacing some of the commercials they couldn’t air. Better yet, it made them look good; schoolhouse rock was Educational Television that pleased angry parents. The first two seasons aired in 1973 and 1974, and near the end of 1975 they premiered their third season, America Rock!
So why was America Rocks like that? I think the best explanation comes from looking at the state of America itself. The country America Rock! premiered to in September 1975 was markedly different than the turmoil of 1969. After years of being bombarded with the news of our horrific actions in Vietnam, the war had finally ended, and many white moderate voters didn’t want to face the crimes of America. They wanted to be proud of themselves like they were after World War 2. They wanted to pretend that a president like Nixon and a scandal like Watergate hadn’t happened, and go back to dreams of being “normal” that mostly covered up the state of America for anyone not a middle class white person. What better opportunity than the literal 200th birthday of the country?
The bicentennial is actually the main reason America Rocks was commissioned. It wasn’t just meant to be a history lesson, it was propaganda to be shown during a national celebration. ABC television didn’t want to talk about all the ways America failed, poking at recent nerves like Vietnam and Watergate. They wanted to stoke positivity about America to go with the bicentennial, commissioning propaganda like these shorts.
Schoolhouse rock would keep going, making one more big series on the 70s in Science Rock. The media landscape around it was changing, however; superhero and action cartoons were coming back into fashion and studios were pushing up against their boundaries. Moral panics had changed and their self-imposed regulations on advertising were not making them the infinite money they wanted. And remember, the FCC only set guidelines, not laws. No bills were passed, no matter how hard ACT fought. They argued the networks would regulate themselves out of fear that the FCC would intervene. So what happens if the FCC just stops intervening?
PART 3: REAGANOMICS, BABY!
In 1981, Ronald “Rot In Hell” Reagan appointed Mark S. Fowler to be the head of the FCC. Fowler was an ex-disc jockey ("Madman Mark") with a similar approach to government as most of Reagan's goons: do as little as possible by deregulating everything you can. "Mr. Deregulation" as he called himself argued that a television set was basically the same as a toaster, allowed huge media conglomerates to merge into near monopolies, and when he left office in 1987 said that he wished he could have shut down the FCC entirely since the free market could do his job better.11 Networks reacted by immediately breaking their promised regulations. He-Man arrived in 1983, ignoring the guidelines set forth by the FCC against program-related product promotion. When no reprimand came from the FCC, this was followed by hundreds of similar shows such as Transformers, My Little Pony, G. I Joe, or Rubik The Amazing Cube.
ACT responded by filing a complaint that this violated previous rulings of the FCC; the FCC responded by abandoning all guidelines they had set and saying "marketplace forces can better determine commercial levels than our own rules". One year later they'd then publish a report that said children’s programming was better than ever and toy-based programming was an "innovative technique to fund children's programming". While ACT would continue to fight against the onslaught of commercial kids television for the rest of the 1980s, it wouldn’t be till 1990 that a bill would finally pass restricting advertising on children’s television12.
Schoolhouse Rock would not survive this flood. Four more cartoons would be made after 1982, but these cartoons were slow to arrive and the program would be canceled by 1985. Years later, nostalgia would fuel several revivals of the show when kids raised on Grammar Rock became adults looking for cartoons themselves, but it would never quite recapture the spirit of the originals.
Nostalgia would also destroy the cultural image of ACT, which disbanded in 1992 after their desired regulations became law. Online they are often portrayed as moral guardians, out to destroy cartoons once and for all; in certain truly rancid nerd spaces Peggy Charon is considered a demon of sorts. This legacy seems to be mostly created by Peggy's regular media appearances debating shows like He-man, Transformers, and other toy based content; she and her organization loudly distanced themselves from right wing censorship groups as often and loudly as possible.
PART 4: DREAMING OF AMERICA
So why tell this story? Well, some lessons we can learn from it are obvious. Trusting companies to self-regulate doesn’t work, fights against capitalism have to be stronger than moral outrage, the 70s had pretty bad cartoons, I could go on. However, I think Schoolhouse Rock represents something more complex in the context of our story. Schoolhouse rock is the failed dream of the liberal politics of the 70s.
ACT was always very heavily influenced by educational programs on PBS; Mr. Rogers was a strong supporter of ACT, and members would help out with shows like Sesame Street and Arthur. These were the shows they wanted network children’s media to emulate. Their group was bipartisan and generally moderate, relying more on sponsoring research, sending letters, and applying pressure to the FCC than on things like boycotts. Strong, but not kicking down doors to change the world.13
Instead, they dreamed that capitalism would loosen its grip once it was regulated. They wanted a world where programs like Sesame Street were being made by every channel, where the FCC would restrict companies enough that they'd have to make good children's shows. A dream that parents protesting, organizing, and doing research could change America simply out of a love for their kids, and companies would be forced to go along with it. They wanted the carrot of success from the free market, the stick of regulation from the FCC, and the guilt of doing the right thing to make a difference to these companies. They dreamed of this specific hopeful future for television.
And for a while, Schoolhouse Rock fulfilled their dream. In fact, I think it's arguable that Schoolhouse Rock fulfilled that dream better than any cartoon ever did. While other quality educational cartoons existed on network television14, it was a uniquely successful experiment on networks. It won Emmys next to Sesame Street, one of the most lauded educational shows of all time. ACT’s dream was made real in this show made by an advertising agency for a major network that taught and educated kids; Profit motive tamed by regulations and used for good.
This dream, of course, was a mirage. Schoolhouse Rock was not one part of a swathe of great shows, it was one of a few rare outliers. The 1970s are remembered as a wasteland of bad cartoons. Their protests failed to make the changes they so desperately needed for 20 years, their cries were purposefully ignored for the entirety of the 70s in favor of vague promises and studies that went nowhere. And when the other shoe dropped, it dropped hard. The commercialization of the 70s looks relatively harmless compared to the wasteland of toy-shows in the 80s as all the worst excesses of television were made real. Even the propaganda of this era was more insidious; as much as we tear into America Rocks, can we really say it’s worse than G.I. Joe?15
This isn't to say that they failed completely, however. Their movement can very much be credited with changing discussions about children's television, and the bill they helped pass in 1990 did make a noticeable difference. The 90s had a huge number of great educational shows, if not directly caused by the bill then certainly influenced by their decades of activism.16 But this too, would not last; internet media, further deregulation, and our modern defunding of organizations such as PBS have meant that there's arguably less educational content than there's ever been.
How fitting that we're about to cover America Rock, in fact, given the nature of its propaganda. The bicentennial show celebrates America, tells you about its proud history and how things are getting better, constantly ignoring the crimes and evil just below the surface. It believes that America is fundamentally good. ACT too believed in America, one where capitalist TV networks could serve children, make educational content, and help create the better world they wanted.
Both dreams are lies that crumble under the pressure of the real.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy our upcoming pulling apart of cartoons, and hope you go do some research on some hyperspecific historical diversion yourself. Lets all do better than these cartoons will. See you next time, on a very unfortunate No More Kings.
Up Next: Somehow, they've invented a way to be racist and transmisogynist against King James I. It's off to a great start for America Rock!
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And hot damn those cartoons ruled. Check out Rooty Toot Toot, Gerald McBoingBoing, and The Tell Tale Heart to get an idea of their style. For more info, I recommend reading Cartoon Modern - Style and Design in Fifties Animation, which can be found here for free.
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Mandelbaum, Michael. “Vietnam: The Television War.” Daedalus 111, no. 4 (1982): 157–69. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024822.
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Lazar, Bonnie A. “Under the Influence: An Analysis of Children’s Television Regulation.” Social Work 39, no. 1 (1994): 67–74. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23717025.
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Patricia MC Cormack, “Teach Tots To Discriminate,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, July 4, 1971. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=J4c1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=dmYEAAAAIBAJ&dq=judy%20chalfen%20action%20for%20children's%20television&pg=2481%2C1053612 (accessed Jan 20, 2023).
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There is a fair critique to be had about the fact that they wanted more"educational children's television", and what that MEANT often fell in line with organizations trying to censor television for religious reasons or such. Children's content meant not being "obscene", and obscenity included LGBT issues at the time. However, they loudly disavowed religious right wing groups trying to censor television, the people they are most often conflated with online. They did not hate He-man because it was violent, but rather because it was trying to sell kids toys.
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This one's the same source as 3. I just think it's a real good source. Check it out.
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This is just my opinion, sure, but like. think about cartoons from the 70s. Cmon.
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Yes, schoolhouse rock was run by an advertising company! That's part of why the episodes had those styles of animation. This will be important much later during Science Rock, just wait.
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Yes, Arch-enemy of Defunctland Michael Eisner.
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George Newall and Tom Yohe, Schoolhouse Rock!: The Updated Official Guide, 1st ed. (2023)
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Jerry Knight, “MARK FOWLER PLANS TO RESIGN AS FCC CHAIRMAN IN SPRING,” The Washington Post, January 17, 1987. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/01/17/mark-fowler-plans-to-resign-as-fcc-chairman-in-spring/0e0131e4-fe53-49c3-9f2f-917f0c74af3b/ (accessed Jan 20, 2023).
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Congress.gov. "H.R.1677 - 101st Congress (1989-1990): Children's Television Act of 1990." October 17, 1990. https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/house-bill/1677.
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Naeemah Clark, “THESE DAMES ARE BANANAS: THE HISTORY OF ACTION FOR CHILDREN’S TELEVISION. 1969-1992” PhD diss., (University of Florida, 2002) More than anything else, this thesis was an amazing source. I am going to email the author and thank them. It's great stuff, go read it if you're down to read a long fuckin thesis about some awesome people
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The most notable animated one would be Fat Albert, which deserves it's own essay by someone who was into it (and probably is less white than me), but there were a fair number of attempts at live action educational shows. Some were more successful than others, and almost all got cancelled in the 80s.
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FROM CO-BLOG OWNER SHEL: Yes, definitely. G.I. Joe is pretty bad too though.
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Maybe when we finish schoolhouse rock we can talk about those. Magic school bus, anyone?