1940s: There is serious debate over the moral influence of comic books, fueled by the publication of Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent in which he blames the rise of juvenile delinquency on the bad influence of comic books.

1970s: Reports from the Annenberg School of Communications state that violence on television is having a bad influence on children.

1990s: After several shootings at various schools across the nation, Americans question the influence that video games may have on their children.

1940s: Cowboy stars like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry play in romanticized views of cowboy life. They not only act, they sing, and their records are almost as popular as their movies.

1970s: Outlaw Josey Wales is a popular cowboy movie that stars Clint Eastwood as a gunfighter, whose wife and child are brutally killed and whose motive throughout the movie is to...