What things were very popular at one time that would never fly now? I’ll start it off with a couple of my own.
A man singing in a gravely voice, or any voice, really, “Thank heaven for little girls.”
A male photographer, or artist, say like Degas, hanging around backstage recording the rehearsal of 14-year-old ballerinas.
Honestly, I like Darren_Garrison’s take on the subject better than the OP’s oddly exclusive focus on forms of artistic creation that might nowadays be perceived as sexualizing children.
Can this whole thread be about the disappearance of flight capability in formerly flying objects or animals, please? I’ll submit the New Zealand kakapo and the Spirit of St. Louis.
[self-threadbanning for gratuitous hijackery, bye all]
And indeed, the notion that OP’s two specific cases are examples of things that were once “very popular” is… a little odd.
Calling Brazil nuts n****r toes. Didn’t know what they were really called until I was a teenager, but damn mom said a lot of things that would be considered racist today. A lot of racist sayings and stereotypes wouldn’t fly today, which is why Disney will not re-release Song of the South again in North America and Gone With Wind now starts with a disclaimer.
Not following you, do you think Thank Heaven for Little Girls was not very popular? I’m not sure what is meant by the Degas reference, his works were very popular at times.
Anyway, in some forms the sexualizing of children was once very popular and does not fly today. Or at least has to fly a lot lower these days.
Me either. People still take pictures of young girls performing ballet. It’s not like they are nude.
I got into an argument with another kid when I was in the 4th grade in the 50s over that very thing. His parents were fairly progressive for the time and had taught him not to use the “N” word. They had a bowl of nuts on a table and I referred to a Brazil nut as a n****** toe, which is what I learned at home. He glanced toward the kitchen where his dad was and said "No, they’re called “Negro toes”. And a heated discussion ensued because one’s parents are never wrong, right?
I don’t know much about Degas, was he known as some kind of pervert?
I would think that parents would pay Degas good money to paint their children performing ballet today.
Degas was just obsessed with dancers and dancing.
The singer you are thinking of is Maurice Chevalier. That song was popular when I was a child.
In the 1980s one of the most requested songs on the Dr. Demento Show was Kinko the Clown.
Minstrel shows.
Cramming kids into cars without car seats. We I was a kid in the UK we had a big estate (station wagon in the US) Peugeot with three rows of seats (there were four of us kids), when we had to carry other kids (e.g. the church youth group my mum ran) my folks would just cram us in there, no seat belts for most of us. I can’t remember our record, but it was well over 10 kids (including at least one kid in the trunk). Especially funny as my mum was generally ahead of the curve when it comes to health and safety (she forced us to wear bike helmets long before it was a thing, causing all sorts of mockery from other kids).
Nowadays that would not fly on either side of the Atlantic. I wouldn’t surprised if you’d end up with a felony and/or being referred to CPS in the states if a cop pulled you over with 10+ kids squeezed into your station wagon. I can barely fit my three kids into my SUV, which has three rows, with their car seats.
Jokes about domestic violence (just saw an episode of Andy Griffith - Otis is in jail overnight because he hit his mother-in-law hard enough to require s dentist’s treatment; he’s out later that day)
A whole bunch of stuff that would rightly be considered sexual assault today. Anyone remember “goosing”?
Fair enough on the first example in terms of the popularity of the song itself, but the way it was expressed (and more so in the second example) seemed to be focused on the behavior of the artist, that’s what I found confusing. Is the suggestion that Degas is an example of a popular practice among visual artists to use minors as subjects in a creepy manner? Or that Degas’ ballerina paintings have declined in public popularity because they are seen as tainted by his creepy behavior?
Casual corporal punishment in kids comic books:
Riding in the back of an open Pick-up truck. We did it all the time back in the day.
Yes, that makes sense. His second statement was very directed toward the behavior making the OP unclear in it’s intent.