Cartoon nostalgia snobs are missing out
I was a dedicated connoisseur of cartoons as a child, and despite my dad’s assurances to the contrary, I remain a dedicated connoisseur of cartoons to this very day, as an adult woman, and I intend to remain one well into my dotage. As someone who still watches cartoons to this day, I’m always baffled when people around my age go around moping that cartoons now a days just aren’t as good as they used to be, and kids are missing out on soooo much because all they have is Spongebob.
First off, I hate Dora the Explorer. When I’m at someone’s house and a kid is watching it I feel like poking my own eyeballs out. However, I have a good feeling this is the case because I’m not 16 months old. No shit I don’t enjoy a show meant to entertain toddlers. The same with stuff like Blues Clues and all the other “educational” sorts of TV programming for people which have not long existed outside the womb–I can’t really comment on it because it’s not meant for me.
But Spongebob! Spongebob is the fuckin sheezy fo reazy. Admittedly, I have not seen anything in Spongebob as subversive and full of innuendo as anything I saw on Rocko’s Modern Life, but it’s still hilarious. It’s totally random, and the exaggerated depiction of the workforce always kills me. Squidward is the best character ever. Adults can’t relate to Spongebob–they are all Squidward–the jaded bastard who hates the perky fuckers at work and just wants it all to go away–and still cling to their dreams of stardom but really can’t play a musical instrument well and will never be rock stars. I think most of the people who use Spongebob as an example of new shitty cartoons stopped watching cartoons long ago and just assume that it’s bad, ’cause it ain’t bad, it’s endless entertainment. Although I wouldn’t know, I assume it’s even better while smoking a fat doobie.
This kind of attitude probably makes people miss out on all sorts of good stuff. I suppose I’m committing the biggest faux paux ever when I say this, but the new Ninja Turtles cartoon kicked 31 flavors of ass. All sorts of people I talked to about it lamented the bastardization of one of their favorite old cartoons. I loved the old Ninja Turtles cartoon, but the new one was even better. Even movie critics were guilty of this–so many of them whined that the new CGI TMNT movie just didn’t have the charm of the old movies, but when you look at the old movies, they ALSO got shitty reviews. I guess that could mean they’re saying the new movie was more lousy than shit movies, but I think their minds were just clouded by nostalgia and they couldn’t appreciate the new one for what it was. Also, people were so confused by April and Casey in that movie, while I kept thinking, well if you watched the new cartoon this would not seem so foreign to you! I loved that movie, btw.
There are also a lot of good Cartoon Network cartoons that are nominally for kids. I love Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. I also own the Powerpuff Girls Movie, although I think that show went downhill after the first couple of seasons. The Adventures of Billy and Mandy is twisted and fun to watch. And so far as cartoons for adults, Venture Bros. is close to replacing Futurama as my favorite show ever, and I freakin’ love and adore Futurama.
When I watch cartoons I enjoyed in my youth I actually DON’T think a lot of them were as good as stuff I watch now. I used to love Ren and Stimpy but I when I’ve watched a few of them now I don’t think it’s nearly as funny as I used to. I used to watch Garfield and Friends religiously, and even back then I wanted the barnyard episodes to get over with quickly because they were fucking boring. Maybe I’d appreciate them more now but I don’t feel like finding out.
I remember watching some Bugs Bunny cartoon or something as a kid and my mom saying, “now a days they never make cartoons that creative.”
I just shrugged her comments off as teenagers are wont to do, but what I should have asked was, “when is the last time you watched a cartoon made within the last 5 years?”
This is the question I pose to people who comment on Pinky and the Brain clips with stuff like “cartoons made now will never be as good as cartoons made in the 90’s.” I mean, I agree that Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs and Freakazoid and Tiny Toons and Rocko’s Modern Life and Angry Beavers and Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles were totally friggin’ awesome, but just remember that your parents thought all of that was shit compared to Looney Tunes and Popeye.
Actually I’m not sure something as great as Gargoyles that’s specifically made for kids will happen again any time soon. I put that show up there with Darkwing Duck and Futurama, although every time I turn on Toon Disney they’re playing the same friggin’ episodes where Oberon tries to steal the kid of Fox and Xanatos and I just get tired of seeing the same episodes over and over. I really need to buy all the episodes somehow.
And what kind of values was Ducktales instilling in kids? For fuck’s sake, Scrooge’s greatest enemy was the second richest anthropomorphic duck dude in the world, and the huge conflict was remaining #1 in the more money than god competition. I swear he could spare some money for the local SPCA or something–although pets in a world with anthromorphized animals always seems bizarre to me. I’m looking at you, Pluto.
Ok now I want to make a blog about how awesome Darkwing Duck was. I always loved Gosalyn because she was just like me. A tomboy who dreams of being a superhero with a thing for really freakin’ nerdy guys. Maybe some other time.
Anyway the lesson to be learned from this is–saying cartoons made in the years post your childhood are crappy just makes you look old and bitter.
