How come so many people are hard on today's cartoons?

While I'm well aware that there's always been lots of dreck/nostalgia's a factor, I still liked 90s (and early 2000s) TV animation better than the current state of things on TV (not being a fan of Pokemon, Fox's Sunday lineup or Adult Swim probably doesn't help). Yes, I like some modern cartoons (Total Drama Island/Musical, 6Teen, etc.), but still prefer the decade that gave us Animaniacs, early Simpsons, etc.

Movies-wise, however, I think the 2000s were a quite strong decade for animation output (much as I wish CGI didn't dominate everything), with a lot of strong features produced.

-B.
 
I'd agree with those who said that nostalgia has something to do with it, that and people who pre judge without giving today's cartoons a chance are usually a big part of the "Today's cartoons suck!" crowd. I loved the late 80's and early 90's when it came to cartoons, but I love a lot of what is on today and even though I feel that older cartoons were more plentyfull when it came to good shows, today's cartoons boast some great animation (Chaotic, Huntik) and the storytelling has definitly come a long way.

I love animation as a whole and I will always love the classics but I will always be open to new favorites, and I probably always will be, otherwise I would get bored with watching nothing but old cartoons.
 
Co-signed. While I haven't loved every new cartoon that's come down the pike recently, I can never be one of those "all of today's cartoons suck!" people. There are some really good and entertaining shows out there right now as well. There are some new shows that I--dare I say it?--like more than the so-called 'classics'.

I may be in the minority, but I actually think that animation has been steadily improving over the past few decades, and I'll always be a fan on animation as a whole, so I try to keep an open mind to what's out there and try to expose myself to new toons whenever I can. I'll always have a special place in my heart for my old favorites, but that doesn't mean that no one else should try to make their own legends nor do I think that we should just regurgitate our favorite toons from the past over and over.
 
For me, I feel like as a whole, cartoons have gotten better each decade. I think that cartoons in the 90's were better as a whole than cartoons from the 80's. And I feel like as a whole, cartoons from the 2000's were better than cartoons from the 90's. Keep in mind, I'm just saying as a whole. I not saying that every cartoon from the 2000's decade was better than every cartoon from the 80's or 90's. I just think that cartoons seem to continue to be of higher quality as time goes on.
 
The one thing that I don't think anybody's brought up yet is that the original post is taking an extremely abnormal sample set and treating it as the norm. The kind of fan that is obsessive enough to put up a page on the Internet to worship their favorite cartoon, whether it's a retro cartoon or a current one, is far, far more involved and passionate about it than the average cartoon fan, let alone the general public. For that matter, the fact that you're obsessive enough to be talking about it on a forum like THIS makes you more passionate and involved about it than the average cartoon fan. I think there's a drastic minority of people who think "old == cool, new == suck" or vice versa, no matter what artistic field you're talking about. They just happen to be the loudest people, at least on the Internet, so their voices seem to hold more sway.

Personally, I can see the suck in Walt Disney and the Fleischer's and I can find the cool in a really stupid, badly animated cartoon like G.I. Joe. I think the only real opinion that should matter to you is your own, so if a show makes you happy, who cares that some guy on the Internet hates it?
 
Thank you for this post.

Yes, I hate the nostalgia argument a lot, because it too often seems to be used as carte blanche to ignore any opinion that doesn't gel with their own. A lot of people think the 90s was a golden age of cartoons. No, it really is a valid opinion to have because some aspects of it (greater breadth and variety of programming) are objectively true.

I personally don't even think the golden age of animation was in the 90s, but I do think it was a good deal better than the current age (as a whole) for the reasons you mentioned. Not to say there aren't any bright spots at all, though. I do enjoy Flapjack, Venture Bros, and Penguins, and am really looking forward to Adventure Time.
 
I have sparks of nostalgia in me that makes me purchase and watch some of my childhood classics, but I am all about today's offerings as well and I am blown away at some of the great animation that has been achieved in both western and eastern cartoons. Oddly enough I tend to lean towards watching classic comedy toons like Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes over today's comedy shows, but when it comes to action cartoons I tend to watch and enjoy today's stuff a lot more.
 
Funny thing is, outside of two or three cartoons, I NEVER liked the eighties. Nearly everything I liked watching during the period was stuff from the previous decades.
 
I love how a whole contingent of users here are single handedly brushed off as having "nostalgia-tinted glasses."

Yes, some might be biased by nostalgia. But that is more like 30% at most, and almost everyone here will admit to nostalgia if they do. If nothing else, the users here have very specific critical reasons for why they think the way they do--not always related to nostalgia--and people have to respect that.

I watch today's cartoons. I am amused by them. But there's no doubt in my mind we're in a down decade. I ask myself, "is anything I'm watching right now doing something ambitious, thoughtful, or different?"



rabroad was originally created, back in the 90s, largely because of fan appreciation of WB cartoons in the 90s, and more specifically the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini DC shows. Was it because they were just well written and animated? Sure, some of it is that. But more importantly, they were doing things NO OTHER SHOW PREVIOUSLY had done. Try to find any cartoon before BTAS that was trying to do the same thing. There aren't any. BTAS pushed the TV animation medium to a new and different direction.

Sure, many cartoons right now ARE at least somewhat entertaining. There ARE some well written and animated shows out there. And if "entertainment" is all you're looking for, more power to you. Nothing wrong with watching a show just for some decent laughs or a nice explosion or two. But most shows are just that and nothing else. But is there anything truly different being aired right now? Anything that challenges the way we see things, or tries to do something unique or marches to the beat of its own drum?

I certainly haven't seen it. Sad to say, I think the most envelope-pushing cartoons on right now are the Seth Macfarlane shows, and I DON'T EVEN LIKE THEM. But I do acknowledge that they've been a big influence on how today's notion of "humour" is perceived, and I have to grudgingly give them that, even if I don't like the direction they're trying to create.
 
There's something I need to comment in general regarding this thread. I see the term "retro-snob" being thrown all over the place, but do we even see people like that among these places? If anything, I find the opposite to be more common.

Maybe some people are nostalgia-biased. I won't deny that. But I think that comments like "people only like these shows because of nostalgia" are ridiculous, if not downright insulting. I believe it's (extremely) unfair to all of a sudden dismiss everything we liked when we were little, simply because now we've grown and don't see them the way we used to. If it is a show for kids and entertained you as a kid, wouldn't you say it did its job right?

I mean, reflect about this for a while. If you can like a kids show of today now that you're an adult, why, all of a sudden, the kids' shows you liked as a kid are garbage now? What changed, exactly?

It seems to me a lot of people here feel ashamed to talk about their childhood. There's a difference between realizing something is crap and outgrowing a show. I liked Shirt Tales when I was a kid too, but I have no interest of rewatching it now because I have seen it already and find it too kiddy nowadays, but I won't deny all those hours of entertainment the show gave me when I was little. I think tainting your own childhood memories is stupid.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the people with nostalgia-tinted glasses are far outweighted by those with critical-tinted glasses that blame everything on nostalgia. If you liked that show as a kid, does it matter anymore? Why would you ruin your own childhood by making yourself realize you watched crap all those years? Kids aren't stupid, they can tell good from bad. So why not remember those things fondly for what they were instead of scraping them from our lives?
 
I grew up in the 80s/early 90s and loved the diversity of cartoons on view. It seemed like there was a Disney rerelease at the cinema every other month, plus over here in the UK there was a saturation of all of the old Disney, WB, Fleischer and MGM cartoons from the 20s through to the 80s. There was a classic cartoon used to fill up virtually every empty timeslot on TV. We had classic toons before theatrical films too. We also had a thick mash of British, Euro and world animation too.

We also had the likes of Rolf Harris making us aware of all the different types of toon out there. As a child I didn't know any better and just judged it all equally.

I just don't think you get that diversity today at all. It just seems to be smart assed Seth McFarlane cartoons for Star Wars nerd "adults" and not much else. Everyone aping The Simpson's basic animation style as though that goes hand in hand with modern cartoon sophistication (something Mr Kricfalusi also points out). I don't think Ducktales was all that wonderful, but I think it's virtually Snow White compared to these shows like Phineas and Ferb. That and the animation I think leaves so much to be desired in terms of imagination.

I also think that another big divide between then and now is that we use to have more cartoons for children that celebrated being a child. Now there are so many cartoons that seem to be so self conscious and self aware, aimed at children, so they have this jaded, arrogant sense of imported (rather than experienced) cynicism. Wasting childhood and all of that fun away. So much drab seriousness and no escapism.

Just my opinions.
 
For the record, I don't have a problem with nostalgia or with all fans of nostalgia. Just the fans of nostalgia that instantly turn up their noses at everything that isn't nostalgia. Just so we're clear, all "retro snobs" are retro fans, but not all retro fans are "retro snobs".

Like I said before, if you've seen the newer cartoons and feel that they don't compare to the cartoons from your childhood and as such, you prefer the toons from "your era", there's nothing wrong with that. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but it makes no sense to me when people say things like "All of today's cartoons suck!" or "All remakes suck!" without even having seen what these newer shows bring to the table. To me, saying that "All of today's cartoons are crap" is like saying "I like chocolate ice cream, so I instantly hate every and any other ice cream flavor and chocolate is the only flavor that I will ever eat for the rest of my life." It's this attitude I find to be close minded, because these fans are immediately dismissing something as being bad without the benefit of experiencing it for themselves. I think that the 1990s was a good era for animation also, but I'm at least willing to experience something new before passing judgment on it.

Furthermore, if if you're an adult, then naturally you're not going to enjoy a contemporary cartoon that's aimed at/intended for children, because it wasn't made for you or for your age group. It's impossible for adults to judge the merits of childrens' shows, because often what kids view as classic entertainment can drive adults insane. Teens and adults complaining about kids' shows is like men complaining about the shows on Lifetime or women complaining about the programming on Spike TV.

The problem as I see it is that too often fans are willing to draw battle lines in the sand (in this case, with time and era). Why must we only like old school or only like new school? Why must it be exclusively one thing or the other? Can't someone enjoy both?
 
Well, to be honest, I'd say that overall the quality of the cartoons has changed. Yes, I realize that it's just my opinion. But I truly feel that "kids shows'" are of a higher quality over the last ten years compared to kids cartoons during the 80's. Again, that's just my opinion though. I am completely open to someone having the opposite opinion.
 
Oh, I agree. I'll never toss the shows I liked as a kid under the bus and dismiss them as "crap"; I just acknowledge that many of them them don't have the same spell on me now that they did then. The pleasure that those cartoons gave me as a child is still with me, and always will be.

And I have nothing against nostalgia either; it's only a problem to me when ones' nostalgic fondness causes people to believe that their old favorites were perfect in every way and above all forms of criticism, and when people use nostalgia as a weapon to slam newer cartoons, even the ones they haven't seen yet, and dismiss them as "trash" just because they're not what they grew up with. There are some old favorite cartoons of mine which have no equal in my mind, but I'm not going to let my fondness for those toons sour me to any new attachments that I may make to a later cartoon that comes down the pike.

I think it's possible to love the old legends and still look forward to new legends to be written.
 
I have fond memories of watching My Little Ponies when I was in preschool, but I rewatched it recently and it was pretty lame IMO. Not all shows that I watched as a kid seem too kiddie to me such as Rugrats and Pokemon.
 
I agree with the fog of Nostalgia clouded of view of the past.

But in addition to all that, I want to add the fact that the world is constantly changing, too. Humans are quite known for their dislike of change, and I beleive that to many people new cartoons, (or anything, really) represent exactly that on a conscious and subconcious level.

For example, the kind of cartoons made today are not the same as the ones they used to make. Have you ever gone back and watched some real old cartoons? Like Looney Tunes, or Popeye? Or even something more recent, like some the of WB Silver Age stuff, and thought: "Wow, I can't beleive they said/did that?" or "They could never get away with that today". The way Silver Age generation possibly sees that when viewing these new shows, is likely the way the older viewers saw the silver generation. As some else said, this is a never ending cycle.

One other thing I want to throw out is peer pressure. Not the kind you read about in 6th grade health class and watched cheesy videos on, but that same kind that might keep you from admitting you still watch cartoons in real world situations. In America especially, cartoons are generally viewed as kiddie stuff, and liking them past a certain age is 'uncool'. Whether a person may realize it or not, this forces them to make a choice: "Either hang on to one's love for cartoons and get left behind socially, or join society at large, move with the flow, and get on with life.

I apoligze for this crappy post. It's 2 AM. The smart is gone.
 
I'll admit, I'm little hard on Cartoons now in days and say the 90's were the best. But, there were some good cartoons from the early '00. Anime was becoming big, Cartoon Network was fun to watch, but that all change once 2005 kicked in. Anime slowly becoming gone, shows in CN wasn't good at all, and that's the point I somewhat watching cartoons.
But, I got a feeling this new decade will be my favorite. I just got that feeling.
 
Shows today tend to be better written. Tend to, being the key word. I'd say after the anime-boom and influence in the 90s/00's writers realized kids weren't as stupid as they believed. Sure, most shows still talk down to children, but at least nowadays you get a decent show every few years.
 
The thing for me is, I don't care about flash. It's all about the writing and unique ideas. There are very few cartoons that appeal to me nowadays (plus, I'm in my 30's, and tastes change), and even back in the glory days of Saturday morning cartoons, I didn't watch something for the sake of watching it. A lot of it was hastily thrown together drek for the purpose of selling toys. (I don't know about now. Do they even advertise cereal and toys Saturday mornings anymore?)

I was so happy to find shows like SpongeBob SquarePants and Invader Zim in my still-loving-cartoons adulthood, which had a strong focus on creative writing.
 
Back
Top