Beavis and Butt-head, MTV's politically incorrect, rude and obnoxious cartoon adolescents, have infuriated parents, teachers and other authority figures the world over since their TV show premiered two years ago.
Inappropriate and dangerous behavior by children, even the death of a 2-year-old girl, have been blamed on the network's irreverent duo, whose dark and sometimes cruel humor has attracted viewers less than half the age of their intended audience of young adults and teens.But their subsequent assault on the print medium has, by comparison, drawn little ire from the public.
Except in Utah.
Beavis and Butt-head's "Ensucklopedia," popular enough among Americans to make two national best-seller lists, has prompted censorship requests here.
Dan Higley, a second-grade teacher at Sandy Elementary School, and at least 31 other people who filed similar complaints, should find out this week whether the Salt Lake County Library System will agree to their demands to ban or restrict all Beavis and Butt-head materials.
Such action is unlikely. The system has removed only one book, despite dozens of formal complaints, since Eileen Longsworth became its director in 1987. And County Commissioner Mary Callaghan has gone on record in support of the library's decision to include Beavis and Butt-head in its collection.
Officials with the American Library Association, People for the American Way and MTV say they know of no other attempts to ban the books from a public library.
"Beavis and Butt-head, to those of us who are more or less mature adults, are kind of disgusting," said Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. "But they are hysterical to the kids. Kids like them, they've seen them on television, and they've just found them in another medium.
"What are these people's problems?"
Higley's problem is that a 7-year-old brought the "Ensucklopedia" into his classroom after checking it out at the Sandy Branch Library, where Higley said the book was shelved next to books featuring Charlie Brown and Garfield. The strong language, sexual references and adult situations depicted in the book could be emotionally damaging to unsuspecting youngsters, he said.
"Chances are, if they're 7 years old, they aren't going to understand what they're looking at and there isn't going to be any harm done, real or imagined," Krug said.
A 5-year-old boy in Ohio understood at least part of what he saw on the TV show in October 1993. Emulating an act he saw Beavis and Butt-head perform, the boy burned down his house. His 2-year-old sister died in the blaze.
MTV responded by deleting all references to fire from the program and pushing its East Coast air time back to 11 p.m. It had aired at 7 p.m.
Currently, MTV broadcasts at least two half-hour Beavis and Butt-head episodes every night. In Salt Lake City, the first show airs at 9 p.m. weeknights, 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Beavis and Butt-head are no longer pyromaniacs but are still the hottest product on the market for Viacom Inc., MTV's parent company. They have generated more than $100 million from sales of video games, books, T-shirts and other merchandise.
"They have been critically praised, and there have also been people who've given them positive reviews even though they haven't agreed with the content," said Caroline Vincent, MTV's New York-based director of communications. "MTV has a standards and practices department like all of the major broadcast networks. They ensure that we don't air programming that shows nudity and obscenities or that would glorify drug use or violence or poor action toward women or minorities."
All MTV publications are put through a similar review process, she said.
"MTV targets an audience of (ages) 12-34," she added. "We would certainly never look at attracting a younger audience. Our sister network, Nickelodeon, does a great job of that."
Higley contends younger readers are attracted to the books simply because they are cartoons. They are unaware of what awaits them inside the cover, he said.
Longsworth and Callaghan say it's up to parents to screen what their children check out at the library.
"The library is following national standard practices based on freedom of speech and the philosophy that parents should dictate (what children read) rather than the government," Callaghan said.
But Amy Owen, director of the State Library Division, said libraries must also respond to the people they serve. Difficulties arise when the public is split on what it wants.
"Libraries are always trying to balance content issues against demand issues," Owen said. "I suspect many libraries are getting a real demand for (the "Ensucklopedia") from the people.
"Every library has to weigh the tastes and the interests of its community, and I think most libraries try to walk a fine line between responding to public demand without stepping over the line and circulating materials that are genuinely obscene."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Setting a bad example for the kids
Since they premiered on MTV in March 1993, Beavis and Butt-head have been blamed for a number of inappropriate and even deadly acts perpetrated by youngsters, including:
- Officials in Sidney, Ohio, said three girls who started a fire in their home in August 1993 got the idea from watching the show.
- In September 1993, a teenage boy in Santa Cruz, Calif., killed a cat by inserting and lighting an M-80 in the cat's rectum, mimicking an act performed by Beavis and Butt-head.
- A woman in the Dayton, Ohio, suburb of Moraine blamed the show for an October 1993 house fire started by her 5-year-old son. The woman's 2-year-old daughter died in the blaze.
- An 11-year-old boy attending a North Hollywood, Calif., elementary school was disciplined in the fall of 1993 for mooning his teacher in class, something he saw Beavis and Butt-head do.
- A woman in Norwalk, Ohio, said Beavis and Butt-head prompted her 5-year-old boy to set a fire that destroyed her family's home in November 1993.