Violence in cartoons, and why cartoons suck now a-days.

[Xerra]

I never liked really old cartoons, half the time I felt bad for Tom getting bent over and raped by that mouse when all the cat wanted was to do his job. Granted I think most typical animations point carnivores out as more villains. Also I dislike animations that have no overall story or continuity, the grab and go shows with no on going plot seem really boring to me. Though for american animation sometimes I think that aa good 50% + of it is gross out humor oh bodily fluids and gases made into slapstick humor.

[Deleted]

I've never been a fan of cartoons in the first place so I am probably the wrong person to speak out here since I was from the beginning hooked onto anime, I was 7 when pokemon first started out in Europe, perfect age to stay on that side forever, but yes, for the last 10 or so years there haven't been any cartoony or anime series on TV that I found worth watching, so I think your point is still valid

[mvaliz]

Yeah, Looney Tunes don't get old, it's true. Animaniacs, I dunno, though I bet Pinky and the Brain are still awesome. Batman the Animated Series I could imagine still being good, but I haven't retried it. I don't think Darkwing Duck or Talespin or Gargoyles would stand up to adult scrutiny.

Actually I'll say Gargoyles stands up well, as I just saw it for the FIRST time a year ago when a friend lent me her DVDs - and I ended up loving it!

Oh, I'd also like to throw in there the Avatar series is rocking it right now. Even as an adult I think they're pretty damn good.

[JohnBrown1917]

I think it has more do with how you got older, those cartoons are still aimed at kids, while you got older.

[chaotus]

I sort of agree with the concept that cartoons are "dumbed down" more so now then they were before. You take a look at old stuff like GI Joe, Captain N, Thundercats, Captain Planet, Darkwing Duck, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ninja Turtles and more then a few others. They had comedy throughout the cartoons with action but the main difference to me is continuity. Things in one episode affected the next or later episodes, story lines were formed and went on with time. Plots were started and closed, characters entered and left. More often then not the bulk of animated entertainment now is strictly focused on the episode at hand, not continuity, no plots no overarching storyline. just a quick 13 min dose of comedy and slapstick.

The few cartoons that get plots are written by 8 year olds on crack. Yugioh, Beyblade I'm looking at you. The cartoon in these cases is just a vehicle for the toy marketing. The toy came first and the cartoon followed. It's part of the reason anime attracts my attention so much, for it's flaws it gives me a fkin plot. I don't feel like I have AADD watching it. Sure i love me some spongebob every now and then but jesus christ everything on tv is either spongebob or beyblade quality trash. the worse thing is that I know for a fact this dribble is made by the guys and girls who were kids when I was kid, you traitorous scum you.

[Belloc]

Well we still have Adventure Time.

Adventure Time and Regular Show for the kids, Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen, Squidbillies, Family Guy and American Dad for the adults.

That said, I'm an adult and Adventure Time is perfect for me... and I hate Squidbillies :P

Cartoons don't suck nowadays, just the ones that the OP is watching. Add some Adventure Time, Rick and Morty and Kill La Kill to your rotation and you'll be too entertained to post about cartoons sucking, OP.

[Jerethepaladin]

yeah, definitely marketing is is a problem. The only exception I can really make to that rule is Pokemon. I haven't seen anything past the first season, which I watched though over the winter break, but I have looked at some episodes of X and Y, since I got Y for Christmas. While I will probably not be the last person to say that whoever replaced Ash's voice should be fired, it still does follow the plotline, so far, of pokemon Y. Although, it's a little bit hard to tell with that one. Pokemon XY was released months before that show premiered, I think, so wouldn't the games be promoting the show?

[Gamdwelf]

Adventure Time and Regular Show for the kids, Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen, Squidbillies, Family Guy and American Dad for the adults.

That said, I'm an adult and Adventure Time is perfect for me... and I hate Squidbillies :P

Cartoons don't suck nowadays, just the ones that the OP is watching. Add some Adventure Time, Rick and Morty and Kill La Kill to your rotation and you'll be too entertained to post about cartoons sucking, OP.

Regular show and adventure time are not really for kids, but they are great cartoons.

OT there are lots of great cartoons on now what are you even watching OP?

[Endus]

That being said, it seems like every other week I come across an article online on "how violence is making out kids into little shits", in my own words, and then goes on to say how violent videogames and violence cartoons are making our kids into anger driven rage machines.

The thing is, anyone who looks at actual data knows this argument is complete tripe;



Youth violence is at the bottom of a long-term decline, and it's a decline that coincides pretty closely with the increase in violent video games sales. Almost as if having another outlet for poorly-controlled aggression was beneficial.

[mvaliz]

I think it has more do with how you got older, those cartoons are still aimed at kids, while you got older.

There's no set "getting older". When you get older, you always can choose what you like and why and what path of watching you enjoy.

The "Older" crowd you refer to I feel it's more out of pure cynisim than "changing tastes" as to why they don't like cartoons today.

I've just hit 40 and I'm loving many shows. I quite enjoy Adventure Time, anything Disney-produced movie-wise is gold (particularly if produced by John Lasseter), and - yes - even I was stunned that I'm a fan of MLP.

To quote Piccaso: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

Or, as my one friend put it best: "I'm still a kid today as much as I was then. The only difference now is that I also play with big-boy toys".

[Jerethepaladin]

Add some Adventure Time, Rick and Morty and Kill La Kill to your rotation and you'll be too entertained to post about cartoons sucking, OP.

Already stated that I dont watch comedy or anime. Well...actually that's a small lie. I watched the funamation dub for One Piece for a decent amount of time since I had memories of watching the 4-kids dub earlier in my life, -shutters-. That and Dragon Ball Z, but come on, who hasn't seen Dragon Ball Z!?

[chaotus]

Family Guy and American Dad are clearly my go to "spongebob-esque" cartoons, quick 13 min explosions of comedy. Kill la Kill is good but that plus Regular Show, R&M and Adventuretime does not offset the mass group of horrible crap on tv calling itself cartoons. Aqua Teen has fallen from grace for me. Hate Squidbillies. Saturday mornings are horrible I tried waking up and doing an old school Saturday morning, that was all levels of vomit inducing garbage on tv. They have one yugioh cartoon that mixed motorcycles and cards and hover bikes and everything else that was cool over the last 10 years.

There is a cartoon called Tenkai Knights which had some pretty decent writing for a cartoon and continuity. Still nowhere near the level of old school storytelling though like Batman cartoons.

[wariofan1]

We Europeans pretty much get the same stuff as you guys, save for the supposed reality shows on Cartoon Network. Sometimes we're even a bit stricter in terms of censoring, which sucks, but it usually only hurts a scene or two.

If we're talking Cartoon Network specifically then yeah, they aren't airing anything that's very worthwhile aside from Adventure Time and Regular Show. Those two shows, and the cancelled Flapjack, are the only more modern shows who go as bizarre a route as many of the cartoons that were in Cartoon Network's prime and also dare challenge the censors, and that's always been part of the charm of their cartoons imo. However, it took quite a while for them to get there again after they lost their original core shows, and they haven't really produced any new worthwhile shows since 2010 either.

Some people in this thread do make a good point that we forget all the bad stuff, and learn to only remember the good ones. However, it was rare that there wasn't at least one good show that'd come out over the course of a year on Cartoon Network, now I only count 3 great shows having spawned from the channel in the past 10 years. That channel specifically has lost quite some entertainment value imo.

Then there are of course other channels like Nickelodeon who barely make cartoons anymore (do they make anything outside of Korra?), who otherwise produced some really influential and great cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and Spongebob (the latter having decreased horribly in terms of quality.)
Disney makes a few good movies here and there, but don't really make many great series, though I'd argue that their shows were never very good to begin with.
The Hub has one or two good shows, however it's victim of Hasbro, thus its future is and has always been as a toy commercial, so I don't see anything new and great spawning from it, it's mostly rehashing old brands like Transformers and My Little Pony.

My point is that while I don't remember much of the crap that was sent back in the day, though I do remember a lot of it, it's easy to see that the amount of quality cartoons being aired has decreased a lot. Not even old stars like Looney Tunes can keep it up anymore, it went from being a bunch of frantic and hilarious slapstick shorts to being a fucking sitcom. Not sure about Superhero cartoons, I don't follow that too much, though I've heard Young Justice was pretty great until it was cancelled. The two Avatar series should also be great as far as epic cartoons go. I'm not sure if it has to do with the new restrictions put in place to "ease up the children" or that ideas are simply running out, but I think it's quite clear that yes, the amount of quality cartoons has fallen quite a bit.

As for censoring, I think a good example in terms of how cartoons have been affected by it and the sudden taboo for violence is Dragon Ball Z. Mind you I don't think it's very good as a show, but when I was a kid I was absolutely nuts for it. Back then I got to see Krillin get pierced by Frieza's horn, right through the stomach, and I loved it. 10 or so years later and I happen to zap by the same scene on TV, and what do ya know, the whole thing is censored so to make it look like he was simply headbutted to death.

I think it has more do with how you got older, those cartoons are still aimed at kids, while you got older.

That's quite a problem that cartoons are exclusively made for kids then. I still enjoy a lot of the cartoons from older times, like Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes, not to mention shows I loved as a kid like Ed, Edd n' Eddy. Truly great cartoons should be made to appeal to as many as possible, shows like those are timeless. I never liked shows that talked down to me, not even as a kid, and they sure age like garbage too, where as most of my favorite shows from when I was little can still entertain me (there are exceptions of course, like the previously mentioned Dragon Ball.) A great cartoon show can appeal to both kids and adults alike, luckily some modern shows still understand this.

[Gamdwelf]

Already stated that I dont watch comedy or anime. Well...actually that's a small lie. I watched the funamation dub for One Piece for a decent amount of time since I had memories of watching the 4-kids dub earlier in my life, -shutters-. That and Dragon Ball Z, but come on, who hasn't seen Dragon Ball Z!?

How can you say there are no good cartoons if you won't watch comedies or anime?

[Dhrizzle]

I sort of agree with the concept that cartoons are "dumbed down" more so now then they were before. You take a look at old stuff like GI Joe, Captain N, Thundercats, Captain Planet, Darkwing Duck, Sonic the Hedgehog, Ninja Turtles and more then a few others. They had comedy throughout the cartoons with action but the main difference to me is continuity. Things in one episode affected the next or later episodes, story lines were formed and went on with time. Plots were started and closed, characters entered and left. More often then not the bulk of animated entertainment now is strictly focused on the episode at hand, not continuity, no plots no overarching storyline. just a quick 13 min dose of comedy and slapstick.

The few cartoons that get plots are written by 8 year olds on crack. Yugioh, Beyblade I'm looking at you. The cartoon in these cases is just a vehicle for the toy marketing. The toy came first and the cartoon followed. It's part of the reason anime attracts my attention so much, for it's flaws it gives me a fkin plot. I don't feel like I have AADD watching it. Sure i love me some spongebob every now and then but jesus christ everything on tv is either spongebob or beyblade quality trash. the worse thing is that I know for a fact this dribble is made by the guys and girls who were kids when I was kid, you traitorous scum you.

From your examples - GI Joe, Thundercats and Sonic were all made to promote toys and video games (as were He-Man and Transformers). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was massively changed from the comics to make it more kid friendly, because toys. Also those cartoons have not aged well, as an adult I much preferred the reboots for He-Man (2002), TMNT (2003-09 with the awesome, reality-busting Turtles Forever as a finale), Transformer Prime (the latest series, not of Beast Wars, Armada or Chinimated) and the Thundercats reboot in 2011.

Other cartoons I've seen (relatively) recently that seem to have what you're looking for (a story arc and characterisation that progress over the whole series) are Ben 10, Avatar and several Marvel franchises (X-Men seems to have a new series every few years so I'm not sure which of those are the best, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes delivers a really good, condensed and slightly lighter summary of some of the Avengers biggest stars and adventures; and Ultimate Spider-man is sort of okay, if a little goofy).

[Endus]

Also, as counter-point to the supposed "suck" of today's cartoons;

[Jerethepaladin]

How can you say there are no good cartoons if you won't watch comedies or anime?

Good taste is in the eye of the beholder, and in my opinion there is nothing particularly interesting in these.

I have a cat, and a billion videos of cats in order to get my fill of funny.

[Gamdwelf]

Good taste is in the eye of the beholder, and in my opinion there is nothing particularly interesting in these.

So you only want to watch super serious action cartoons? I think you are looking to the wrong medium if that is what you want.

[Catta]

Also, as counter-point to the supposed "suck" of today's cartoons;

Adding to that



Yea, i went there. Let the indignant rage commence.

[Jerethepaladin]

So you only want to watch super serious action cartoons? I think you are looking to the wrong medium if that is what you want.

allow me to elaborate. I am not interested in "non-stop funny with no point to it". I am not opposed to humor in cartoons, using humor to break the tension at times actually, in my own opinion, leads to a more amusing laugh then if it was used on its own.

- - - Updated - - -

Adding to that



Yea, i went there. Let the indignant rage commence.