History Anvilicious / WesternAnimation

** Brian has changed from being the straight man and witty intellectual to becoming basically a vehicle for the current writer to deliver his/her agenda. One of the least subtle examples is the pre-2008 election episode "Road To Germany", in which [[GodwinsLaw Stewie steals a Nazi's uniform after traveling back in time, and a [=McCain=]-Palin campaign button is attached to the uniform.]]

** More recently we have "Thanksgiving", in which Joe's son Kevin [[TheBusCameBack comes back]] and reveals that he deserted the army. Kevin is the only one who gets to debate his point with any modicum of intelligence, while [[StrawmanBall everyone who disagrees with him]] just shouts angrily and makes nonsensical emotional arguments. The sole exception is Quagmire's father, a former Navy man himself, who says that soldiers know what they're getting into when they enlist. The episode ends up siding with Kevin by pointing out an incident when his usually LawfulGood father let a robber get away because he stole food to feed his starving family.

* The first seven seasons of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' had subtle morals, but starting on season 8, it had the anvil hit very hard. As of season 17, however, the series seem to have pulled back from this, having more subtle Aesops or odd stories which lack them altogether.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' delivers its many, many messages with all the subtlety of a ten-pound sledgehammer. For example, Brian has changed from being the straight man and witty intellectual to becoming basically a vehicle for the current writer to deliver his/her agenda. One of the least subtle examples is the pre-2008 election episode "Road To Germany", in which [[GodwinsLaw Stewie steals a Nazi's uniform after traveling back in time, and a [=McCain=]-Palin campaign button is attached to the uniform.]]
** The episode where the abstinence-only agenda of schools is bashed by Lois.

** "Coma Guy" is about Peter going into a coma after a car accident and his family deciding to pull the plug on him. Peter comes back to life after sees that Lois had pulled the plug on him, his guilt-ridden family try to atone but give up when they realise that Peter was never going to forgive them. The lesson is that some relationships aren't worth saving because people would rather exploit your guilt than forgive you.

** Let's not forget "The Painted Lady," where the GreenAesop was dialed UpToEleven. It's a testament to the writers' skill that they managed to work in such a heavy-handed message that was most likely [[ExecutiveMeddling mandated by the network]] while still keeping the characters in-character. Although Katara's dialogue could have used some more work. Though it's worth noting that another message of the episode was "Don't wait for someone else to help you; help yourselves."

** "Eat, Pray, Queef" is top of the litter in regards to this trope. The near entirety of the episodes's duration reads like a twisted ''South Park'' take on [[DoubleStandard gender oppression]] and women's rights struggles, to the point where it could very well be a parody until the [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped final few minutes that give the impression of being actually sincere]].

*** This one might be a case of SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped. Lou Scheimer related in a recent DVD extra for the cartoon how he received a letter from a parent of a child who came forward about their own abuse after having seen He-Man and She-Ra talk about it. Scheimer said that it was probably [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome the most significant accomplishment of his career]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' plays with this in episode 14 "The Fortuneteller". We have Sokka, the advocater of science and reason, and the villagers mocking him for his logical ways. No, seriously, they call him "Mr. Logic and Reason," or some variation of that. One of the Fortuneteller's predictions is that a volcano will ''not'' destroy the entire village. Three guesses as to what happens, the first two don't count. Of course, SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped. [[spoiler: The end of the episode, in which a SelfFulfillingProphecy is played with- the Fortuneteller's incorrect prophecy validated itself by forcing the Gaang to stop the volcano- loosens up on this, and the main ScrewDestiny moral is delivered with much more subtlety.]]

** The show drops the anvil especially hard in the episode "EZ Jackster". The scriptwriters manage to slam ''Film/TheMatrix'' movies (the "bad kid" is black and dressed like Morpheus did in the movies) '''and''' hit the audience over the head with a story about how [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil illegally downloading music]] and nice kids don't do it. Not to mention that it [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything visually equates illicit filesharing to drug abuse]].

** Subverted in the episode "Canada on Strike!" It appears as a mean parody of the Writers Guild of America strike, but as Matt Stone and Trey Parker explained on the episode's commentary, it's exactly how they perceived how the writer's strike went down. They themselves tried to strike (not because they felt like they were being wronged in anyway, they just wanted time off from writing episodes) but were told they weren't in the union. They then claimed that most of the writers regretted voting for the strike and that the WGA screwed all the writers over and no one actually benefitted from the strike.

* Speaking ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'', how about the gun control story of "Let's Not Be Skeletons"? With such moments as a "Respect my rights!" line and K.O and Mr. Gar having a stand-off with their skeleton remotes, it is hardly subtle in its representation of the opposing side, to say nothing of how awkwardly it makes its own argument in both an in-universe and meta level. It's hard to see how being turned into a talking skeleton is a big deal when one of the supporting characters is a talking skeleton, and those who are transformed aren't much more than mildly annoyed by the act instead of, you know, dead or anything that truly has stakes. More distressing, though, is how opposing arguments are brought up in any real, non-caricature fashion ''once'' -- only to he outright ignored and never addressed ever again. [[SarcasmMode Looking at this kind of stuff, one has to wonder why the gun control debate has become so polarized, it reached the point of total stagnation. Could be anything, honestly. Guess it'll just a riddle for the ages.]]

--> '''Ratcliffe:''' ''They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil!''

* Speaking ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'', how about the gun control story of "Let's Not Be Skeletons"? With such moments as a "Respect my rights!" line and K.O and Mr. Gar having a stand-off with their skeleton remotes, it is hardly subtle in its representation of the opposing side, to say nothing of how awkwardly it makes its own argument in both an in-universe and meta level. It's hard to see how being turned into a talking skeleton is a big deal when one of the supporting characters is a talking skeleton, and those who are transformed aren't much more than mildly annoyed by the act instead of, you know, dead or anything that truly has stakes. Also of note is at one point, opposing arguments are brought up but outright ignored and never actually addressed.

* "One Beer", a [[ThreeShorts mini-episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', does a send-up of heavy-handed CantGetAwayWithNuthin cartoons about the dangers of underage drinking. They have a bottle of beer. Hampton notes they usually wouldn't touch such a thing, but Buster [[LampshadeHanging replies]] that they have to [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption act out of character]] [[IdiotBall for the plot to work]]. The single bottle of beer (split between Buster, Hampton, and Plucky, which means each got about four ounces) puts them into a foggy dreamland, in which they eventually drive a car off a cliff and die. Not surprisingly, the executives eventually refused to re-air the episode, because they felt it was so heavy-handed that it came off as sarcastic. (Which was, in fact, the series writers' intent all along; in response to some attempted ExecutiveMeddling by some figures at Warner Bros. Television, who thought ''Tiny Toons'' needed to be more "educational", all three segments of that particular episode ("''Elephant Issues''") were deliberately written to come across as moral sledgehammers delivered as un-subtly as possible, in hopes that it would discourage the censors and network execs from asking them to do it again. It worked.)

** "Screams of Silence"'s plot repeatedly says "Domestic Abuse is Bad". This would carry a bit more weight if they [[CriticalResearchFailure portrayed the characters as more than]] [[FlatCharacter victim and asshole]], didn't portray the police more useless than necessary (Joe's word is not enough to investigate the issue, despite being well known as a near incorruptible cop), if the speech Quagmire, of all people, gave wasn't so insulting (if you're a victim of abuse and don't seek help, you're not a person no matter the circumstances), and ''if this message wasn't delivered by a TV show that spent the last ten years [[{{Hypocrite}} making fun of this very issue.]]'' It doesn't help that the solution was [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality murder]], rather than getting the man the help he clearly needs to stop being such a horrible person (which they did attempt ''with the victim'').

** There's the ''She-Ra'' episode ''The Price of Freedom''. [[spoiler:A village enslaved to the Horde give up everything but the clothes on their backs to escape to freedom, while He-Man comes probably the closest ever, in that particular declared kids' show, to ''dying'' when he helps them escape after She-Ra's gone for reinforcements. It's hammered in again and again about how freedom is worth any price.]] Yet the 'what did we learn this episode?' was about the dangers of ''fire'', based on the village being burnt.

* The ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' episode "Disney/DerFuehrersFace": "Boy, am I glad to be a citizen of the [[{{Eagleland}} United States of America]]!"

* Disney's ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}'' is very {{Anvilicious}} in the way it portrays conflict between the two conflicting peoples, particularly during the final scene when Pocahontas makes her speech about what the evils of hatred have brought them to.

* The ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "Who Messed Up The Treehouse?" makes it very obvious that the treehouse being untidy is a metaphor for trash filling Planet Earth, and that we should take care of the place where we live. Then again, TropesAreTools, and this is a very important message in this day and age.

** The episode "Decision 3012" is even less subtle than "Proposition Infinity", with [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama a nigh-messianic Presidential candidate (born in Kenya, grew up in Hawaii, was a community organizer, went to Harvard, and has a Nobel Prize) being persecuted by ignorant bigots who think he's not from around here]]. And then for good measure, they say Nixon created a BadFuture by building a fence to block illegal (alien) immigration, and [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong the other candidate is trying to prevent that]].

** One episode of ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' is a crossover with ''Captain Planet'' and is basically an extended mockery of its anvil-dropping. Amongst other things, Lord Boxman lampshades that Dr. Blight polluting the world ForTheEvulz is [[StupidEvil idiotic]] ("Why would we want to destroy the world exactly? We do ''live'' on the world...") and the ending points out that [[RealityEnsues beating little kids over the head with messages about climate change probably isn't going to change much]]; after all, [[FridgeLogic what are kids watching Saturday morning cartoons supposed to do about worldwide issues like global warming and pollution]]?

* Spoofed mercilessly in a "U.S. Acres" short from ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. Roy got a job on "The Buddy Bears", an [[TastesLikeDiabetes obnoxiously cheerful]] kids' ShowWithinAShow, where part of his role as "Big Bad Buddy Bird" was to have [[AnvilOnHead sixteen-ton safes]] dropped on his head for not agreeing with the singing, dancing ursines. The quite literally {{anvilicious}} moral, according to the Buddy Bears: "[[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Always go along with the group]], or someone may drop a sixteen-ton safe on you."

** BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor. Also, "It's A Wishful Life" states: "Do nice things to be nice, not to get rewarded" after showing Timmy how much better things were [[WonderfulLife without him]] after he wanted some acknowledgement.

** One episode of ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' is a crossover with ''Captain Planet'' and is basically an extended mockery of it's anvil-dropping. Amongst other things, Lord Boxman lampshades that Dr. Blight polluting the world ForTheEvulz is [[StupidEvil idiotic]] ("Why would we want to destroy the world exactly? We do ''live'' on the world...") and the ending points out that [[RealityEnsues beating little kids over the head with messages about climate change probably isn't going to change much]]; after all, [[FridgeLogic what are kids watching Saturday morning cartoons supposed to do about worldwide issues like global warming and pollution]]?

** And when ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' wants to discuss factory farming, their approach is as follows: Compare it to the Holocaust. No explanation, no exploration of the cruelties and abuses of factory farms - just compare it to the Holocaust. With a pun. "Da-cow".

** "Screams of Silence"'s plot repeatedly says "Domestic Abuse is Bad". This would carry a bit more weight if they [[CriticalResearchFailure portrayed the characters as more than]] [[FlatCharacter victim and asshole]], didn't portray the police more useless than necessary (Joe's word is not enough to investigate the issue, despite being well known as a near incorruptible cop), if the speech Quagmire, of all people, gave wasn't so damn insulting (if you're a victim of abuse and don't seek help, you're not a person no matter the circumstances), and ''if this message wasn't delivered by a TV show that spent the last ten years [[{{Hypocrite}} making fun of this very issue!]]'' It doesn't help that the solution was [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality murder]], rather than getting the man the help he clearly needs to stop being such a horrible person (which they did attempt ''with the victim'').

** In all fairness, this was a propaganda piece from when America was gearing up for World War II. Several other propaganda pieces from the same time exist, including one based on the Three Little Pigs which ended in artillery barrages.
*** That being said, it promotes the idea that all German soldiers lived in muddy holes, survived on ridiculously small rations, were exploited in weapon factories, and swearing blind loyalty to Hitler that required them to salute every single picture of him that came by. When he wakes up in his comfy American home, in his comfy American bed, with his comfy American pajama's, it's clear which side the propoganda piece was written for.

*** This one might be a case of SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped. Lou Scheimer related in a recent DVD extra for the cartoon how he received a letter from a parent of a child who came forward about their own abuse after having seen He-Man and She-Ra talk about it. Scheimer said that it was probably [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the most significant accomplishment of his career]].

* ''InspectorGadget'' never even bothered to make their anvil messages into part of the plot. They were merely tacked on as filler.

** And when ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' wants to discuss factory farming, their approach is as follows: Compare it to the Holocaust. No explanation, no exploration of the cruelties and abuses of factory farms- just compare it to the Holocaust. With a pun. "Da-cow".