I didn't watch this when it was on the air since I wasn't even born yet but watching it on Netflix, I can see some of it really isn't appropriate at all. Was this a prime time cartoon or something? Which can explain why some parts didn't seem to be for children's eyes.
"Boys only want love if it's torture"
I watched this when it was originally on when I was six if I may ask what is inappropriate for children with it?
My guardian diety is a planet with the sea of sand,the soldier of embrace, Sailor Neptune!
There seems to be a lot of senseless violence and love triangles, stuff that's on soap operas not on a children's show. I just watched an episode this morning and in the same episode there was violence against women, lots of kidnapping and near death experiences, plus they seem to kiss on every episode.
"Boys only want love if it's torture"
I think it's okay for children (i'm biased though) honestly the only children's cartoon I found in appropriate for children was inhumanoids.
My guardian diety is a planet with the sea of sand,the soldier of embrace, Sailor Neptune!
I guess to each their own I suppose but I'm not sure if it's that appropriate on some parts. I mean a rival music group whose manager seems to be a sociopath that's always trying to kill or kidnap them? In the episode I watched earlier they kidnapped a 13 year old girl and locked her in a trunk just so Jem and the Holograms could miss a show! That's a bit much I actually heard one of the songs where they actually say "making love" I mean really? I mean I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that that meant something else back then but IDK though.
"Boys only want love if it's torture"
Oh no wonder you were watching the five part pilot it starts changing after that.
My guardian diety is a planet with the sea of sand,the soldier of embrace, Sailor Neptune!
Yeah I just found out this was on Netflix and I've been watching some on there and most don't seem as bad as others. I have co-worker who was a child during the time period who said that it was probably the best cartoon for girls during the time period since some of the others were a bit on the "every girl is a princess, rainbows and lollipops side", her words not mines, LOL. But I guessing it's no different then stuff like Batman or Power Rangers that has lots of violence though.
Also watching some episodes, I'm really not like Rio, he's a jealous hypocritical prick! Since he seems to have no problem dating Jem and Jerrica at the same time. He better be glad they are the same person or I don't see how anyone would put up with that but yet he gets jealous when Jem or Jerrica even looks at another guy like that guy he decked on the movie set.
"Boys only want love if it's torture"
Granted, 'Jem' is still a million times better than shows like 'Batman' - especially the 90s animated series version and its spin-offs which SHOVE violence and sex down children's throat.
Now as I've said before, Rio is no more jealous and hypocritical than Jem. Rio may have decked that guy on the movie set, but Jem got all pissy and temperamental when Rio ended up helping Pizzazz on the set!! They both deserve each other I guess. lol.
Not to mention the fact that Rio never kissed any other women - Minx forcibly kissed him once, but he had ZERO interest in her. Jem on the other hand made out with Riot multiple times - even going on a cruise with him!!!! And Nick, the guy on the movie set, definitely got a kick out of making Rio jealous by kissing Jem as passionately as possible and giving him dirty looks etc......Nick had it coming to him, I would say, even though I understand why you have a problem with violence against human beings on a cartoon.
I agree. Rio was an awful boyfriend. He was unfaithful, jealous, possessive, and controlling. I never noticed those things when I watched as a child, but as an adult, I'm kind if surprised they would create a character like that as an example of what was supposed to be a good relationship.
shareAgain, the unfaithful one was not Rio but JERRICA/JEM who cheated on him with Riot, and flirted with a number of other guys over the course of the show too. The ONLY person Rio ever showed any romantic interest in was Jem/Jerrica (i.e: the SAME person).
So perhaps I should say, I'm surprised they created a character like that as an example of what was supposed to be a 'good girl' and a role model for girls. Ha!
Maybe because most of the show’s writers were men.
shareJCCrewgirl is right, actually. I became a huge fan of the show at the age of 5, myself, but it's really not ideal for children at all. It changes after the five part pilot for a WHILE, but the love triangles return......Kimber/Jeff/Max, Kimber/Jeff/Sean, Jem/Rio/Riot etc (the last of which dominated an entire mini-season!!)
The song lyrics may have been softened after the five part pilot, but the lasciviousness only ENHANCED - and greatly so! We see a number of guys hitting on Jem, and Jem often giving them the time of day - even if she was never technically unfaithful to Rio until she met Riot. It was all rather subtle, but it can still skew a child's mind.
Both men and women were sexualized on the show, particularly in the music videos - again, subtly, but potently nevertheless. Watch such music videos as:
*. 'Jealousy'
*. 'Love is Doin' It To Me' (at one point no less than 3 different guys are presented to either Aja or Shana, I can't remember which, as "options")
*. The 2nd 'She Makes an Impression' in the episode SCANDAL (in which all the girls who roller-skating with guys we've never seen before)
*. 'Free and Easy' (in which the Misfits fantasize about being fanned by half-naked men on the beach)
The idea presented to children is that grown-ups can casually go out with/date/have fun with the opposite sex as much as they want, particularly if they're glamorous people like the Holograms and the Misfits.
It may be inappropriate to kids nowadays, but kids were different back then.. they were'nt as sheltered.
sharePeople should watch the old sesame street episodes from the 70s and 80s. They actually had to put a disclaimer on the DVD box when the episodes were re-released that some of the episodes weren't appropriate for modern viewers. Yes, kids were a lot less sheltered back then.
shareAnxiety, that is almost exactly what I was going to say.
Sorry, but kids back then were not as stupid, coddled, sheltered and immature as they are these days. Any time you see someone on message boards talking about things like this show and how it wasn't appropriate or any other 80's movie being inappropriate it is almost always people who weren't even born when those movies and shows were made. :-/
Dick, I am VERY disappointed.
Exactly!^
shareI do think there IS such a thing as "The Seduction of the Innocent", however.
shareI completely agree!
shareTotally agree!
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Guess it can be construed as inappropriate when we see certain characters like Kimber, and to a lesser extent Jem/Jerrica, being attracted to MULTIPLE PEOPLE over the course of the show - as if it's fashionable to have guys on "rotation".
shareThis show aired Sunday mornings for about seven minutes in a line up. It was later aired around 4:30pm monday through friday for children. I remember talking about the show to my friends on the playground about how we couldn't wait to get home to watch Jem. Most of the little girls I knew back then, including myself, would consider Jem as a kid's soap opera.
shareChristy Marx, the creator/head writer specifically referred to the soap opera elements of the show, in fact. It was thrilling as a child, but looking back, I can see how some of it was just too much!!
Still, A GAZILLION TIMES better than the Disney movies that were made from 'The Little Mermaid' onwards, not to mention those horribly vulgar Disney Channel shows with young pop singers. Basically, anything by Disney (that was made AFTER Walt Disney died) on the one hand - or Warner Bros on the other hand, with their 'Batman: The Animated Series' and the spin-offs (Justice League, Superman, Teen Titans etc) - makes 'Jem' look like a prayer.
IT came on after Transformers, it has 'older' material cause it's for preteen girls and since girls mature faster than boys in pretty much all ways except for pettiness it makes perfect sense to me.
?
and transformers, GI Joe had guns....so what do you want guns and canage or this??
Jem was one of the few cartoons my parents let us watch when we were little.
But was it actually marketed to tween girls? I think younger girls were the market for selling the dolls.
And if they were the actual target auduence, tweens don’t need to be exposed to all the mean girl drama and bad role models in this show.
I was an adult at the time this was made. I loved watching it as a soap/fantasy, but I didn’t let my kid watch it.
I watched it when it originally aired, and I was 3-5yrs old. I was too young to really catch any of he adult themes in the show. It was funny rewatching as an adult and realizing that I didn't even understand the concept of a hologram back then.
shareI m watching it on tubi. I didn't watch much of it in the past,I was more of a casual viewer. I m on ep 6 and the plot revolves around Jem and friends being in a movie,the leading actor mentions a love scene to Jem. Nothing is too graphic that i ve seen maybe it can be a low tv pg
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