LOS ANGELES -- A shotgun-wielding hunter mercilessly pursues his target. Angry space aliens vaporize a defenseless town. A bloodthirsty shark preys on the weak and tiny.

As pop culture mimics today's permissive social values, violence and veiled sexual references have crept into the seemingly innocent cartoon landscape, giving parents new reason to do research beyond the ratings.

It's also a reflection of movie studios following the formula of hits such as the “Toy Story” and “Shrek” films, whose sophisticated scripts include plenty of subtle jokes aimed at adults.

So the octopus-armed alien robots in “Chicken Little,” who shred a cornfield and use their laser-gaze to zap away the town's animal citizens, are just typical cartoon characters. The film's allusion to “Girls Gone Wild” is just another cultural reference. The melons held chest-high by the heroine in “Wallace & Gromit” are just large pieces of fruit.

Historically, cartoons have always contained some strong elements. Bambi's mother is shot and killed in the 1942 Disney classic, and Daffy Duck took many a shotgun blast from Elmer Fudd. But as animation techniques become more sophisticated and cartoons speak to audiences of all ages, the animated world looks more like reality, said Elayne Rapping, professor of film history and theory at the University of Buffalo.

A series of Harvard studies confirms that violence has increased during the history of animated G-rated films. In one study, more than half of all G-rated animated features showed characters using alcohol or tobacco. These movies are also likely to contain more violent content than their live-action counterparts.

The Los Angeles-based ratings board is a full-time panel of 10 to 13 members, many of whom are parents. They evaluate the amount of violence, language, sexuality and drug use in each film before deciding a rating by majority vote.

A G rating means the movie is “good for all audiences,” containing nothing that would be offensive to parents whose younger children view the film. But culture isn't static, and not all parents have the same values, so the definition of “offensive” can vary wildly.

“It's not the MPAA's fault,” said James Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit parent resource group. He founded the organization in 2003 to provide parents with more insight into children's entertainment.

This is cache, read story here