Dennis And Gnasher - A Rebuttal On Why The Relaunch Isn't Politically Correct

The "News" Article In Question: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/2583051/Dennis-The-Menace-is-de-menaced-by-BBC.html

With the exception of the internet, I rarely watch shows on TV. But sometimes, they'll always be a show that comes up, turns up on TV and you might stumble upon it by accident and actually enjoy it. That's where Dennis and Gnasher comes in.



When I initially heard of the show, it was from Mr. Coat. When I heard of the so-called politically correct aspect of this show initially, I wasn't all that interested in the show.



But as of recently, I stumbled upon the series by accident on ABC3 and I ended up enjoying it. The first episode that I watched called 'Bad Dad' involved Dennis using a multi-catapult to attack Walter and his dad with water balloons and it was hilarious. That and I've seen every main episode but as of this writing, I haven't seen all the in-between segments but from what I saw, it made me laugh.
But aside from how I discovered Dennis and Gnasher, I decided to make this blog post for a specific reason and that was to defend to show as it, to me, is not as awful as people are making it out to be. That, and it definitely isn't at all politically correct and I'm going to prove that by making my points and backing them up with evidence as to why the show is not at all toned down to such the extreme as people make it out to be.
Let's start off with the news article from The Sun, ripping apart each part of the article piece by piece.
Let's start with the picture:



Already I can see problems.

Let's start with the fact that they're judging the show/comic simply on the basis of only images and not even any video evidence of such changes occurring. It felt rather biased and shallow to me. Also, with the fact that Dennis actually does use weapons in the show itself. For example, there is a scene in Episode 10 where not only does Dennis' Dad refer to him as a menace (Dennis also refers to himself as a menace) but Dennis ends up firing water balloons at both Walter and his dad with a multi-catapult (even though it isn't a traditional catapult, he still uses one). Here's a video of the episode in question (the evidence speaks for itself):

http://www.3kid.net/docs/0205/1289957742.htm

Also, at the start of episode 2, Dennis is seen was a mega slingshot at the time, trying to launch Gnasher into space:



Also, in episode 48, Dennis is seen with a water pistol:



(I think this speaks for itself and I'd also like to apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I couldn't find the episode online.)

He admittedly doesn't use a peashooter in the cartoon (from what I've seen) but then again, he doesn't use it in the 90s cartoon so what difference does it make? He still uses other weapons and they're awesome.

Which reminds me, Gnasher (this is evident on the recent cartoon's website where one of the clips of Gnasher's profile involves this) bites people in a hilarious fashion:



But that's not the only time he bites people (as seen in these links):



http://www.3kid.net/docs/0205/1291305565.htm

Granted, he does also bite other things in the show (again, in a funny way) so Gnasher hasn't been banned from biting anything at all.

Also, corporal punishment hasn't been used in the comic strip since the 1980s and besides, it's fallen into poor taste nowadays so moving on from that would be a wise decision but that doesn't mean he's a goody two-shoes or he has ever escaped being punished. He does get punished and there was even an episode entirely dedicated to Dennis being grounded "forever":

http://www.3kid.net/docs/0205/1295277750.htm

Also, the inventions that Dennis makes or buys either cause panicking to others or harm by a certain prank. Imaginative, yes. Harmless, no. They don't call him 'Dennis the Menace' for no good reason:






Also, Gnasher's not a mutt. He's an Abyssinian wire-haired tripehound. Anyone who's ever read the comics or seen the animated material will tell you this. It clearly shows me how much they did their research and of course Dennis has different expressions in the cartoon. The comic examples are so obvious I won't even bother showing them. But I'll show a few out of one episode (episode 13) of the series to prove a point as to why the 'boyish grin' is one the stupidest defenses for their their "Dennis Gone PC" argument I've ever heard:



You were saying?

But onward with the rebuttal on this stupid "news" article. Of course he looks different but that's mostly because of the art style. He's still the menace I know and like and just because his appearance is altered, does not make him politically correct. He's been changing for the past 60 years and seeing changes like these aren't a bad thing (depending on your own personal opinion of the changes). Change is good and this is why we don't live in the stone age anymore. British comics have adapted to changes throughout the many generations which is why the comic is no longer dated. Time's change and they're for the better (though I'm not against the most recent comic incarnation but it's hit or miss in terms of ideas).

Yes, even though Dennis does technically use Gnasher as a "cleaning device", he never forces him do so and thus, it isn't animal abuse. Gnasher does it by his own choice. But from the sound of it however, they make it sound like Dennis made Gnasher into a living vacuum cleaner but that is such a lie, I'm going to gladly show the clip(s) to prove my point (also, Gnasher did help clean up the house in other episodes but he was never forced to do it):







Also, about the opening paragraph in bold, Dennis (I'm talking about the relaunch but even then) was never a softy. He's always been referred to as a menace and acts as such. What, just because he's likable means he's a softy? Ridiculous and that's another thing, the 90s Dennis the Menace's animated series' international title is...'Dennis and Gnasher' so it makes the 2009 series title useless for the media to make false claims of political correctness and even then, it may have been for copyright reasons due to the US cartoon of Dennis the Menace from the 1980s (even I thought the copyright idea was kind of ridiculous). In the 90s series, Dennis never once used a slingshot or peashooter and that show was awesome! So, what? You're gonna complain about it simply based on nitpicking? Pathetic.



My previous points and the latter ones still stand.

The theme song doesn't lie to me.



It represents Dennis in the best way possible. He doesn't play by the rules, implying he gets in trouble on a regular basis (which he usually does), he's constantly trying to starve off boredom by doing many fun and awesome things, Gnasher bites (who knew?) and it shows Dennis at his most energetic.

Oh, and while I'm on the topic of "political correctness", I'm going to take the time to write some instances of what would've been cases of political correctness but never were to begin with:

1. Gnasher. He might have had smaller jaws and wouldn't have bit people. Hell, he might have been an idiot because political correctness would've not allow him to have enough intelligence to understand Dennis and others or he would not be in the show at all if political correctness did happen in the show. But no, it's the complete opposite of what I just said.

2. Pie-Face. He would've been eating fruit and veggies and not pies. He would not have been named Pie-Face but for some stupid reason, people would be saying it promotes obesity or something stupid like that but no, he's the opposite of what I said.

3. Mrs. Creecher. She wouldn't have a Welsh accent and she would be overly nice if political correctness happened. But it never did.

4. Dennis would be annoyingly nice all the time and always be a goody two-shoes. He would never make any weapons or cool stuff like a big monster out of park parts and he would constantly sucking up to everyone he knows. But he doesn't, he isn't and never will be because political correctness NEVER happened!

Also, about the fact he helps his family out and even friends. All I can say is that he may be a menace but he's not a monster. In the comic, he has friends he has a stable friendship with, he has his best friend Gnasher and does care about his little sister Bea. Believe me, it actually helps his character a lot more to at least be a bit more caring every once in a while.

Now, a response to the people who were a part of the article:

To the anonymous insider: don't assume kids are stupid.

About the purists, they shouldn't be angry. The comic's been changing gradually for the past 60 years so I'm not going to complain over something so trivial.

I can see where the kid's coming from with thinking the new show's silly (it is at times), but then again so is the 90s series. They're both still a lot of fun to watch.

I also thought it was ridiculous... but then I watched the show and found Dennis to be still the troublemaker that people respect him for. Granted, he is slightly different, but it's not bad and as a final note to the article, I agree with the spokesperson. It kind of contradicts what the article was accusing him of, eh?

Now, about the character profile that Mr. Coat himself, I like your stuff (I usually watch your stuff as soon as it's uploaded), but nowadays, the video of the 2 Dennis' now just rubs me the wrong way and I would never use 'gentle' to describe Dennis (not even the 2009 incarnation). I's clear you got some awful sources for so-called "news" about the show and I would consider watching the show fully in order to fully appreciate it like I do now. It's even gotten me interested in reading The Beano more and fully appreciating Dennis the Menace and Gnasher. Don't get me wrong, I like (most of) the different incarnations of Dennis the Menace but even then, I just felt (and still do) put off by that part of the video because you fell for lies.

Well, if you reached this far, thank you for reading my rebuttal on The Sun's "news" story about the new Dennis the Menace relaunch and I'm not looking for any other news articles to debunk. Most of them are just cut and paste of the one I just ripped apart and quite frankly, it's pointless and that is why with backed up evidence that the show 'Dennis and Gnasher' is not politically correct.

I recommend taking a look at another rebuttal by a professional comic book artist named Lew Stringer and his blog post defending the show was absolutely wonderful. Give it a read, it's great: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/another-political-correctness-gone-mad.html

Also, I recommend giving the Beano website a look as well as the show's website a look at, there's enough to prove that the relaunched comic and show are not politically correct:

http://www.dennisandgnasher.com/
http://www.beano.com/

Also, one last thing. The 2nd series of Dennis and Gnasher is coming this year to coincide with the 75th anniversary of The Beano. I'm personally looking forward to it and I hope it will be very good. So, yeah. Thanks for reading this.

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