There is always some major premise going on that I don’t know to fully appreciate the cartoon. But that’s OK because the whole time the cartoon is on, someone will update me on that premise.
There are all kinds of hidden jokes in cartoons. Voices, comments about other characters they may play. But that’s OK, because the whole time the cartoon is on, I will receive narration on those hidden jokes. Soda does not squirt out my nose.
There are hidden objects. Look there is a Mickey. I don’t care.
Some of the animation freaks me out. I find the artistry, like in the movie 300, completely disturbing. Computerized emotion is wrong.
Other than Baby Einstein, classical music is no longer a component of cartoons.
I doubt that something like Peace On Earth would make it into production these days…
TV these days is specialized and tries to cater to one small demographic. Back in the days of Loonytoons, there wasn’t 100 channels and a TV in every room and shows needed a broader appeal. Look at Foghorn Leghorn. his theme music was the chicken reel and his persona was based off of Senator Claghorn. Kids wouldn’t get the reference, but their parents at the time would. Rocky and Bullwinkle was filled with jokes and puns that would please more than just one narrow demographic. It seems to have shifted to a different marketing style.
Is there sound with Peace on Earth? I don’t hear any.
And although Foghorn Leghorn, one of my favorites, I must say, was based on a Senator, I never had to sit through one of his cartoons while someone talked the whole time about the Senator. Maybe it’s not the cartoons that are getting on my nerves so much.
The last cartoon I watched was “Princess Mononoke” and I’m pretty sure that’s not the kind of thing Mute is talking about. “Princess Mononoke” was picked up in a charity shop as a DVD. The other Cartoon I watched was “Despicable Me” which I enjoyed immensely.
It sounds as though the OP is about short cartoons, on TV. I like to keep an eye on animation. Most of the stuff I catch, in thirty-second segments as I dress in the morning, seems to be in association with the Film Board of Canada. “League of Super-Evil”, “Frankenstein’s Cat” and those French ones with the Bear and the Lion, which are always a little depressing. Netherlands used to have a nice line in cartoons with an ecological theme, but I haven’t seen anything like that for a while.
Yes, short TV cartoons have gone downmarket.
I’m surprised you find The Simpsons bothersome.
That show started so long ago, I don’t even think
of it as modern anymore. But maybe my “modern”
is not thine.
Thank you so much for that Peace on Earth link,
ID10T. I have long loved and searched for that
with no luck. It’s sad that the idealistic animators
later found themselves drawing jingoistic cartoons
for the War effort.
I remembered seeing Peace on Earth early in the morning (probably 4:00-5:00 am) around the age of 10. It kind of stuck with me. Another that I remember was The Little Mole. I remember at the time thinking that the “moral” of the story (as I interpreted it) disturbed and disgusted me.
When the kids were about five years old we picked up a video of old Warner Brothers cartoons dating from way back. It had the original Bugs Bunny cartoon in it. It also had cartoon versions of Abbott and Costello, which were dire. Some of those cartoons were plain racism, and very nasty stuff. Didn’t seem to rub off on the kids, I’m happy to say.
Thank you all for your comments.
“Peace on Earth” was sweet. I would have thought so as a child too.
Princess Mononoke had beautiful graphics til I saw the people’s faces.
Despicable Me had nice emotion. I would have watched that cartoon. I was surprised by “Up” too and watched and cried through the whole movie.
Uncanny Valley looked really creepy and I only looked at the image on Wikipedia. That is even more disturbing than 300.
There was another one that I watched too. I was glad that the people behind “Speed Racer” found more work.
The Uncanny Valley is not a cartoon. It is the name of a
phenomenon of human perception that says the closer a
robot or computer animation comes to looking like a real
face, the creepier we think it looks. It’s pretty fascinating.
So, R2D2 looks like a trash can and so is less creepy
than C3PO, who is less creepy than the Polar Express
characters, who looks practically human but not quite.
This chart shows Lady Gaga deep in the uncanny valley,
which strikes a chord with me.
