And funny, fun to be with, incredibly supportive, loving, kind, sweet, beautiful, and bakes a MEAN brownie. She was instrumental in bringing me together with my now-partner, Mastodon, who I've similarly known almost a decade, but fell in love with more recently.
I think one key to our friendship, is that we both have that, "I've been through some stuff in my life, and I can't hide it," vibe going on. Indeed, the very onset of our friendship was beset by a major mutual trauma. Erin's not at all a mean girl, but she is a tough girl. Strong. But also a little shy, and typically very private. Consequently, I'm always learning new things about her.
Even so, I was flat-out shocked to learn that as a child, Erin was not allowed to watch cartoons, or engage in make-believe play.
The idea of a cartoonless existence straight-up scared me, not to mention, I believe that in order to be emotionally healthy, people NEED make-believe. To children, especially, I feel, having an imaginary world is equal in importance to, if not more important than, having access to food, shelter, or clothing. When I was a kid, and sometimes didn't have adequate food or clothing, make-believe got me through. I asked Erin if I could interview her about the experience, and was even more shocked, and delighted, when she tentatively agreed.
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| Erin McLaughlin, a Most Excellent Buddy. |
Interview: 7:27pm, 12 September 2010, at Monster.
AGS: How old were you when you were forbidden to watch cartoons?
EMcL: It started when I was seven, when my Mom found God. I was allowed to watch a series about a boy and a girl, who went back in time, and explored Old and New Testament Bible stories? It was a cartoon. I watched other ones, but only when my Mom wasn't present. She hated "Tom and Jerry" because they were always fighting with each other, so we couldn't watch that. Hanna Barbera had a Christian line. We'd get those at the Christian bookstore. And Chick-Fil-A is a Christian business. They give out Christian toys, so then we'd go there.
We were allowed to to watch "The Simpsons" on Sunday night. That was family night. We'd always watch "The Simpsons" and "Cops." I don't know why that was OK. It doesn't make sense. Also, only Christian video games. It's amazing what you can find in a Christian bookstore. We tried to convince my Mom about Sega Genesis. My Dad tried, to convince her, too, because "Genesis" is the first book of the Bible, but then she found out, and that didn't work.
"David and Goliath" and "Spiritual Warfare." Those at least were games, so they were fun to play. "Spiritual Warfare" - you had to dress up in a suit of armor and combat the world.
A Beka Books is a Christian based homeschool text from Florida. This guy came to my house and sold the books to my Mom.
I didn't like being homeschooled. Nothing about violence, fantasy, witchcraft, sorcery, make-believe, demons, evil. Examples are "Ferngully," "Alice In Wonderland." I wasn't allowed to watch "Ferngully" because pixies are make-believe. And do I feel robbed!!!?! I wish I had watched that years ago, because I would have enjoyed it more, and learned about saving the world.
We watched a lot of live-action stuff like "Jesus of Nazareth," and "The Ten Commandments." Or stuff the was about, or based off, real life, like "Boys n the Hood." She just didn't want us growing up in this make-believe world.
When you're ten years old and you think QVC is a privilege, there's something wrong.
My grandparents took us to see "Edward Scissorhands," and my Mom got REALLY mad about that. G-rated stuff was usually OK, but PG-rated stuff she had to preview first. I wasn't allowed to watch "[Who Framed] Roger Rabbit." I still am religious in some ways, but I think using your imagination is a good thing. It helps in the creative process. I think it's important to show lots of different ways to a child, so that there's not a question about what might have been.
I don't blame the Christian Church for the way I was raised. It's up to the individual how far they want to take limits.
AGS: Were you hurt by these limits?
I was sheltered. I didn't know secular music. Other kids asked me if I liked "New Kids On the Block," an I thought they meant that I was the new kid on the block. They asked me if I liked Vanilla Ice, and I thought they meant ice cream.
In a social way, I think it set me back a lot. The other kids watched cartoons, and they didn't become evil, or whatever it was they thought would happen if you watched these cartoons.
I went to public school till third grade. Then I went to home and private school for fourth. Back to public for fifth, sixth was homeschool. Public for seventh through tenth, then I got my GED. I tried to go back to school, but my Mom didn't want me to. She saw it as more beneficial to have me out of school. I was supporting her and myself [for awhile.]
[Erin goes on to discuss the specifics of her mother's current financial situation, which she later asked me to strike, for legal reasons.]
...which is fine, because it's less financial pressure for me [now.] It seems like she lives more in a fantasy world than the cartoons.
My Mom was in a Christian Metal band, so we used to go to Christian Metal shows; Stryper, One Bad Pig, DC Talk. They were a DC rap group. Sometimes they would come to our house for parties.
AGS: Did Stryper ever come to your house for a party?
Yeah! They came to a couple parties. Which were food. No drinking. No one ever drank in our house.
My Mom drinks a little now. She's still very active in church music programs. When I was a kid, we went to church three or four times a week. She works with the teenage group, takes them to Metal shows. She teaches not to judge people by their appearances. Metal is not always evil. The kind of world I lived in was more real, no cartoons and stuff. There was always practicing. A lot of people were always in the house all the time, like teenagers, because everyone knew it was a safe place. Even people that weren't Christians. Going to shows and stuff, I thought a lot of people would go to these shows.
Oh, and we didn't celebrate Halloween. Sometimes, I would sneak off to my grandparents', and they'd have a costume waiting for me. Sometimes that worked, but not always.
I went to five different elementary schools, aside from being homeschooled. It was nerve-wracking. I knew I was different from other kids. I was trapped in this Christian bubble. My friends from church were allowed to watch Full House. (Though, when I watch it now, I'm glad I wasn't allowed to watch it. My Mom was probably just annoyed.)
The pastor's daughter gave me a rabbit's foot, for good luck, and my Mom tossed it. Accused me of witchcraft. My Mom had a lot more freedom. Aware of the world. She was a bad child. She knew a lot of the world, and tried to keep me away from those things. You can kind of see her good in it. Anything fantasy she wanted no part of, because she thought it was foolish to put those beliefs off on kids. If I asked if I could watch Tiny Toons, she'd say, "Erin, that's not real. And the way their eyes bug out is disgusting."
She didn't like the Tasmanian Devil, because he had the word "Devil" in his name.
I think cartoons are helpful to interact socially, and to take life light-heartedly. Not take life too seriously. There are different ways to look at different situations. Not everything is the end of the world, as they think of it.I think it's a good outlet for kids, too.
AGS: I wanted to ask you to talk about "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."
We did, as a family, watch the whole thing once. I was about eight or nine. We were not allowed to watch it again after that.
The Snow Queen has little villains working for her. The Lion is good and the Snow Queen is bad. It's like in the Second Testament, they capture the Lion like how they captured Jesus. And as they bring him to where he's going to be crucified, they heckle him and spit on him and stuff like that. Then they nail him to a board or something. My Mom didn't like that because he's supposed to be representing Jesus. My Mom didn't like that because in Exodus, it says, "Thou shalt not have any other God," so she took that a step beyond, no one else but Jesus can represent God, a lion being portrayed as Jesus was sinful and wrong.
As a child, I could see what they were doing, but she couldn't see it. An animal posing as Jesus was not OK, but "Jesus of Nazareth" was OK because it was literal.
I've never understood fantasy love novels. Those are for certain people. I just watched "Clash of the Titans." [Note: Not sure if Erin is referencing the original or the remake.] It got a Razzie, but I really liked it. I had a basic concept of mythology when I was a kid, but I wasn't allowed to watch it.
AGS: Do you watch cartoons now?
Yup. I love it. I like Adult Swim. Nickelodeon has some funny cartoons. I watch cartoons now for the humor, the lightness of it. Characters that have distinct personalities and eccentric behaviors are really fun to watch.
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