The Worst Things in Cartoons

Cartoons are easy-to-absorb and have instant appeal but can maintain the complexities of heavier drama hidden inside their framework. That doesn't stop them from trying to force the personal high-brow interests of the creators onto an audiences that came to kill some brain cells. Some of the most popular cartoons ever made are filled to bursting with themes that no fan has asked for, but can be found in most episodes. For instance:
Looney Tunes and Opera:

It's practically right there in the title, but "Looney Tunes" is rampant with classical music. It's extremely likely, as "Seinfeld" pointed out, that most people are familiar with opera simply because of "Looney Tunes." There were cartoons devoted to works such as, "The Barber of Seville," and "The Valkyire," among others. It was a complete mish-mash of the highest and lowest forms of culture in cartoons intended for slack-jawed children. "Looney Tunes" has probably done more to class up youth culture than public schools. The question remains, "Why?" It's not as if these works were ripe with comedy, but somehow they all end up being about a cross-dressing rabbit and a bald man who wants to kill him.
Family Guy and Big Band music:

Because of creator Seth Green's obsession with Big Bands like the Rat Pack and his eagerness to showcase a singing voice that later landed him a gig hosting the Oscars, there's numerous musical interludes in many episodes of "Family Guy." Obscure references like, "Shipoopi" have ground entire episodes to a stop.This is all inside the context of a show about a farting fat man and a megalomaniac baby. It adds a touch of class to a show that is famous for having no class. Additionally, these musical interludes are the least recognizable references to the audience that is already struggling to "get" all the references.
The Simpsons and Jazz:

Do you like Jazz? No. No one does.If anyone tells you they do, they're lying hipsters trying to get in your pants. Yet, every single episode of, "The Simpsons," contains at least one reference, usually in the opening credits when Lisa plays her sax. Then there's entire episodes dedicated to Lisa and Jazz, which somehow end up being the most depressing episodes in their 20 plus year run. I'm confused as to whether or not there is even a cross-over with audiences that like, "The Simpsons," and Jazz. That has to be a pretty small niche, known as the, "Dennis Miller Ratio."
"The Simpsons" even burns the musical genre of Jazz in one episode with the lines, "You have to listen to the notes they're not playing."
"I can do that at home."
G.I. Joe/He-Man/Transformers, etc. and PSAs:

Every 80's cartoon that mattered ended with a brief interlude that broke the fourth wall and gave audiences some practical advice, because the assumption was that schools and parents weren't as effective as raising kids as Optimus Prime. I have no idea how they picked which pressing issues to address. I'm assuming some Reagan-Era think tank pulled ideas out of a hat, or more likely their asses. If you want to know how well this advice holds up today, look at the meth-addicted world spiraling into a never-ending nightmare of debt, terrorism, pollution and fear-mongering. I can't recall a single time when I ran into a problem and thought, "What did Shipwreck tell me to do?" The worst offender, by far, was the mega-crossover special involving TMNT, Alf, Bugs Bunny, The Real Ghost Busters, Alvin and the Chipmunks and so many, many, many more.

It was a total cluster-fuck of every cartoon character you've ever loved in the 80's doing something terrible. That "terrible" was getting kids to say, "No," to drugs. That didn't work. In fact, the whole episode was like a Dave Chappelle sketch explaining to you exactly how awesome drugs could be by simulating the effects, because if you ever see Winnie the Pooh and the Smurfs at the same time in a show, you're probably high as fuck.
Peanuts, Futurama, Bambi, etc. and Sadness

Most people don't watch cartoons to be fucking depressed. As a medium, cartoons can have the same emotional impact as any other artistic work. That doesn't mean that should try and cover the full spectrum of human emotion. The worst part is how audiences get lured in with the common fare and then hit in the stomach. "Bambi," is a movie about a baby deer frolicking in the forest up until the moment his mother gets shot.There's a complete and total contrast that isn't supposed to exist. It's cheap tactics and it works, usually because the audience is seven-years-old and hasn't fully fathomed that death lurks around every corner and it's waiting for their loves ones.