If the children of the
80s share one thing in common, it's that our parents fervently hated our
favorite cartoons. Whether they were pursing their lips when transforming
robots took to the screen, groaning audibly over the Transformers theme song,
or extorting us to "go play outside" while G.I.Joe was telling us
about half the battle (the other half is blowing shit up), disapproval radiated from our progenitors every
Saturday.
"Thirty minute toy
commercials," our parents complained. Rainbow Brite, He-Man and the
Masters of the Universe, Care Bears, Thundercats . . . every popular kid's show was a waste
of brain cells with no redeeming qualities, decieving the naive youth into
believing happiness was just one Transformer or pony away. Despicable!
Things are not much
different these days. Substitute Pokemon for He-Man and Digimon for Strawberry
Shortcake and welcome to the 00sand 10s. Well, I've taken enough grief from mainstream
America. I ENJOY those thirty minute toy commercials! LONG LIVE CARTOONS!
True, the "thirty
minute ad campaign" criticism is somewhat justified. Most cartoons are
marketing tools on some level. How convenient that after watching Spider-Man web up the Big Man, we can buy a nice spidey plushie, eh?
Critics of commercial children's TV point to this and claim that cartoons are
created to push toys on the naive, unsuspecting youth of America, children who
are young and therefore vunerable to marketing.
To these critics, I say
. . . get real.
Firstly, most toy-based
shows are based on toys that are ALREADY popular. Transformers didn't get its
own TV show and comic book until it was clear that the toys were flying off the
shelves. Same thing with any other franvhise--first popularity, THEN a show. That's
not "poor widdle children being twicked into buying toys"--that's
kids influencing the companies' decisions by buying toys they LIKE. Here's a
hint, people--kids like toys. Kids will ALWAYS like toys, beg for toys, and buy
toys, even if they never see a toy-based cartoon.
Of course, the ironic
thing about the "naive youth" argument is that it doesn't take into
account that adults are also influenced by advertising. Twenty-six
percent of any half-hour sitcom is dedicated to advertising. Obviously the
various skin cream, car, food, and battery companies are buying up thousands of
dollars of commercial space because advertising doesn't influence adults! Yeah,
THAT'S it!
While some people rant
about the advertising influence of animated television, others reject the whole
genre, citing inadequate storylines and substandard plots. Again, this is true
in some cases. These days I find it hard to stomach some of the worse aspects
of the old My Little Pony and Transformers cartoon, which often had scripts
hammered out with little attention to continuity or quality. (Best quote from a
Transformers scriptwriter: "To be honest, when I watched the show - even
though I wrote it - I had a hard time figuring just what was going on!")
But consider the audience. These are shows aimed at children. They don't have
to be Emmy-winning shows; they just have to appeal to their target audience. To
expect every kids cartoon to live up to adult expectations is like complaining
that "the cut scenes in Sesame Street featuring the ABCs broke the flow of
the show, distracting the viewers while adding nothing to the plot." This
would be a problem on Seinfield, but consider the age bracket.
(Speaking of sitcoms, I
really don't think that anyone who watches them with any frequency has any room
to complain about the stupidity or simplemindedness of cartoons. Okay, I'm
going to do my impression of the average American sitcom. Are you ready? Here
goes . . . "Sex! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Bodily functions! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Sex!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!" (Repeat for twenty-two minutes.)
That's one of the nice
things about kids cartoons . . . no matter how stupid they are, at least the
swearing and sexual content will be minimal. But in fact there are many
well-written cartoons which can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
Cartoons shouldn't be rejected out of hand because they're cartoons.
Animated shows can produce just as much drama and depth as any live-action
feature, and I'm not just talking about those fancy-smancy animes,either. I'm
talking about your standard, run-of-the-mill comes-with-a-related-toyline
cartoon. For every horrific episode of Captain Planet there's a fantastic
episode of Batman: The Animated Series, and when an animated show is
well-done, it really flourishes. Or these days, for every terrible episode of Dan Vs., there's an awesome episode of Transformers: Prime.
Anything can be brought to life through animation, and
without a huge special effects budget. (I wish the movie moguls would wake up
and realize that animation is the ideal medium for Batman.) Fond as I am of the
80s, the late 90s and 00s are surpassing the cartoons of my heyday. Digimon has
transformed from an entertaining, if average, cartoon to a well thought out
show with a great plotline and in depth, entertaining characters. Justice
League is a fine action/adventure show, beautifully animated. Powerpuff Girls
is brilliantly funny, unafraid to poke fun at itself and everything else.
Batman Beyond returned us to dark and gritty Gotham. Beast Wars, an excellent
sci-fi series that happened to promote a toyline, was noted not only for its
stunning computer-generated graphics, but for the depth of its characters and
the intricacies of its plot and actually WON AN EMMY. Justice League has
inspired to a whole new generation of comic geeks. This is quality TV.
But the old stereotype
is hard to combat. I tried to convince my parents to watch Justice League and
got nowhere. I went on Amazon.com to buy the Beast Wars and found Amazon's
reviewer complaining about "the way the filmmakers trot out every toy in
every episode", as if that had anything to do with the quality of the writing.
(It's an inaccurate critiscism in any case, since only half the toys, possibly
less, ever appeared in the show. CGI models are expensive to render.) Despite
the reviewer's Righteous Indignation(TM) at the thought of mere TOYS being used
as characters (GASP!), my thirty-two year old brother (who, unlike me, is no
toy geek) was enthralled by the show when I popped in a Beast Wars video a few
weeks ago, to the extent that I finally had to stop the tape lest he continue
staring at the screen and occassionally doubling over with laughter instead of
fixing my computer . . . yess. ^_~
The plea here is
familiar; don't judge a book by it's cover and don't judge a show by it's
medium. That "thirty minute toy commercial" could provide thirty
minutes of entertainment (and increasingly rare sex-free, non-cussing
entertainment, at that!) Quality animation is a joy forever.
And the additional
bonus to watching cartoons? No Carrot Top commercials. Now that is the
icing on the cake!
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