# Was anyone else forbidden to watch He-Man because of "elements of the occult"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262 "2010-11-29T06:42:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/41 "2010-11-30T01:01:34Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I was forbidden to watch He-Man but not because of the occult. Rather, it was because of Hanna-Barbera’s lazy animation style. He-Man was by Filmation, not Hanna-Barbera. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/42 "2010-11-30T01:21:15Z")
> [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > My mom would let us watch whatever we wanted, as long as it was regular broadcast TV. (No HBO, Cinemax, or GOD FORBID, MTV!) One of the things I can remember Mom getting actively offended at was Sir Mixalot’s Baby Got Back video. Ha, I’d totally forgotten about my mother’s shocked “She isn’t wearing a bra!” exclamation at Madonna’s “Vogue” video. She didn’t forbid me to watch it, though - she just disapproved of her bralessness. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/43 "2010-11-30T02:53:20Z")
My best friend, whose family never set foot in a church as far as I know, was forbidden from watching He-Man because He-Man’s catchphrase was, “I HAVE THE POWER!” and, as we all know, only GOD has the power. My extremely religious Catholic mother, on the other hand, let us watch He-Man every night at the dinner table. Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, and Transformers were banned on the grounds of being too violent, bizarrely enough. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/44 "2010-11-30T03:04:01Z")
> [@buckgully](#): > > The Box? > [The Box (American TV channel) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Box_%28US_TV_channel%29) It was called Jukebox first, then they changed it for whatever reason. > [@Pyper](#): > > My best friend, whose family never set foot in a church as far as I know, was forbidden from watching He-Man because He-Man’s catchphrase was, “I HAVE THE POWER!” and, as we all know, only GOD has the power. Oh. My. God. I am going to have to make a new internet acronym for how hard I am laughing: ALDOL. That means “almost literally dying of laughter.” My mom said the same, exact thing. “Only GOD has the power.” Ha ha ha, oh man. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/45 "2010-11-30T03:04:51Z")
My parents were religious but they never forbade me from watching He-Man. They never let me watch sitcoms or shows like 90210 though. Cartoons were fine. I remember my favorite movie used to be He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword. It’s the movie about She-Ra’s origins. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/46 "2010-11-30T03:10:31Z")
My grandparents forbad the Munsters and parts of Seseme Street. Why? Because they portrayed vampires as eccentric, but safe characters. To them, vampires were very real and very, very dangerous things. The Twilight books and movies would have totally freaked them out. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/47 "2010-11-30T03:45:49Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > My mom wasn’t religious. She took me to church every Sunday until I was about 13, just out of a sense of duty. She’s since become an atheist. > > But she was a fucking crackpot. I could watch any violent shit in the world, but not the slightest bit of sex. We’d watch Terminator together, for example, and she’d make me leave during the very brief sex scene between Reiss and Sarah Connor. She’d say things like “I don’t want you to think that sex is like that.” Like what? Like being chased by a murderous fucking CYBORG??? No, I know it’s not like that. > > Joe My mother used to say the same thing, word for word, whenever she would frantically lunge to change the channel at any hint of sex on TV. It makes me wonder if there is some big book of parental catchphrases none of us know about. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/48 "2010-11-30T04:04:07Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > My grandparents forbad the Munsters and parts of Seseme Street. Why? Because they portrayed vampires as eccentric, but safe characters. To them, vampires were very real and very, very dangerous things. The Twilight books and movies would have totally freaked them out. That’s _awesome_. My best friend in grade school was also forbidden from watching The Simpsons. She was, however, allowed to watch In Living Color. I don’t get it either. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/49 "2010-11-30T08:36:47Z")
I didn’t get to watch any kids shows on TV because we didn’t have no stinking TV. We had this thing called a “radio” and we had to listen to it without benefit of pictures. And of course, back then, the networks had censors so we never heard anything off color or salacious. It was a kinder, gentler world back then. The only frightening things I ever heard were our Southern Baptist preacher, and my deeply religious grandmother and her equally deeply religious friends telling me I would die and go to hell to be burned forever by the same god who loved me. Or would have loved me if I hadn’t been so evil. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/50 "2010-11-30T19:29:58Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I didn’t get to watch any kids shows on TV because we didn’t have no stinking TV. We had this thing called a “radio” and we had to listen to it without benefit of pictures. Back in my day, TV was called books. Anyway, my mother enforced a no TV on school nights rule for a while. We had to fill our time with board games and playing outside like a bunch of suckers. My mom had a bunch of wacky rules, as did everyone’s, but the bizarre things I was forbidden to watch due to religiosity was cracking me up at the time I composed this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/51 "2010-11-30T19:53:26Z")
I’m just a miiiiight too young for He-Man (well, the original run, the redone series was on when I was a little older), so no. My family wasn’t religious, my dad was an Atheist but he and my mom divorced around 4th grade and I didn’t really see him, my mom was schizophrenically religious, but out denomination wasn’t really into banning things. However, she did decide that she was going to be Very Concerned™ when my friend got D&D and I played with him, though she seemed fine with it once I described what a typical game was like. The weirdest one was the Simpsons, I wasn’t allowed to watch it because it was “for grownups” and yet just a year, maybe two after that conversation she let me watch South Park (which she watched an episode of with me to make sure it’s okay) and Futurama… but still not Simpsons. It still makes my brain hurt. I had a friend in high school whose parents bought into the whole “Pokemon is demonic” thing and forbade her from having any contact it when she was little, however. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/52 "2010-11-30T21:07:23Z")
My mum was an atheist, so nothing was out on religious grounds. She was also a militant feminist though, so Barbies and Enid Blyton books were banned for promoting sexist stereotypes of women. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/53 "2010-11-30T21:09:40Z")
Anything that smacked of the occult (playing Dungeons and Dragons, Ouiji board) was right out. But mainly b/c these were interactive I guess. My parents, as religious as there are, I don’t think would have considered a Saturday morning cartoon to be too dangerous, occult-wise. So I probably could have watched He-Man and such if I wanted but my tastes were more towards Bugs Bunny / Roadrunner and stuff like that. BUT, shows like The Love Boat and Fantasy Island were not allowed b/c of the supposed glorification of casual sex and hook-ups. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/54 "2010-11-30T21:10:47Z")
He-Man was way after my time, but mother wouldn’t let us, get this, utter the name of the diminutive villain from Underdog. Simon Bar Sinister is, apparently, a dig at some Jewish hero named Simon Bar Kopka or something and mom was the “Hebrew Reader” in her seminary and up on her high horse in a very grad student kind of way. Years later she admitted is was a dumb ass rule, which was fine since we totally ignored it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/55 "2010-11-30T21:56:10Z")
We weren’t allowed to watch “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “Three’s Company,” or “Newhart.” Yeah, I know that last one is a puzzler. One of my favorite childhood memories is asking Dad if I could watch the TV in my parents’ room because the family TV was in use. Me: Dad, can I watch TV in your room? Dad: What is it you’re planning on watching? Me: “Diff’rent Strokes” and “Facts of Life”! Dad: _nearly has aneurysm_ Apparently, my dad had a dirty mind. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/56 "2010-11-30T22:22:30Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Yes. But I can beat that. My grandmother took us out of the Care Bears movie because parts of it “seemed evil”. I remember the warnings about the Care Bears and the Smurfs, too - all of them supposedly used elements of the occult. I think we were forbidden to watch it because it was bad TV - which was far more important to my parents. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/57 "2010-12-01T00:13:13Z")
My mom was fine with He-Man, but she didn’t want me watching TMNT, due to the apparent violence (even though in the cartoon, most of the violence, what little there was, was being inflicted on robots, not human ninjas). So I only got to watch the show on Thursday & Friday, when she had to take my brother to soccer. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/58 "2010-12-01T02:22:09Z")
As far as I can remember, my parents didn’t forbid us from watching anything–as long as the volume was down and we weren’t fighting with each other. I guess having five kids under the age of 10 kind makes you choose your battles very carefully. To those of you with draconian TV watching rules, did you ever discuss those rules with your parents when you were an adult? What did they have to say about their earlier decisions? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/59 "2010-12-01T02:30:22Z")
I haven’t brought it up with my parents. Nothing good can come from it. I don’t really care anymore, and they’re not going to suddenly overcome their religiosity, which is the reason I couldn’t watch “He-Man” or “Bewitched” in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262/60 "2010-12-01T02:45:43Z")
Nope – in fact, I dressed up as She-Ra for Halloween when I was eight. My cousins and I were crazy about She-Ra and He-Man. I wasn’t allowed to watch _Married…With Children_ when I was about eleven, because my mother hated the way they portrayed women, but after a year or so, she let me watch it. By the time I was thirteen, she stopped monitoring what I watched. (Besides, one of the priests at our church, my confirmation teacher, used to watch MWC – he heard us discussing one of the episodes and joined in on the discussion.) My sister was only about, oh, eight when _Beavis and Butthead_ came out. (I was fifteen). She wasn’t allowed to watch it, but when I was feeling generous, and our parents weren’t around, I’d let her watch it. Heh. 😃 I was pretty much allowed to watch whatever I wanted. I used to watch soap operas with my mom from the time I can remember. We used to watch _Guiding Light_ all the time and when I was three I could have told you entire plotlines, and knew who every character was. The ONLY thing forbidden were horror movies, when I was little. Because I’d always end up having nightmares, or being unable to sleep, and then naturally, climbing in bed with my parents. My mother, wanting to be able to sleep at night, pretty much banned them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-anyone-else-forbidden-to-watch-he-man-because-of-elements-of-the-occult/562262.md?page=4)