Cartoons Like They Should Be

when i was a kid we didn't have cable. we didn't have satellite tv. all we had were a couple local stations, one of them being a PBS channel and another one had a couple kids shows in the morning and afternoon that showed cartoons. typically the only time i got to watch cartoons was when i would be at a babysitter's house. seldom, other than saturday mornings, did i get to see cartoons at home.

things have changed in the cartoon world drastically. the animation's changed. the action and violence has changed. the verbiage has changed. i know i'm biased when i say that the cartoons that were around when i grew up were the best. i'll be even more biased now because all three of our kids like watching the same cartoons that i used to love. they have a couple of the newer ones they like to watch but it's great to hear our 4 year old say, "daddy, i want to watch tom & jerry." or she sees tweety bird and says, "look daddy. tweety bird!" she knows the characters.

tex avery, robert mckimmson, mel blanc, chuck jones, fred quimby, william hanna and joseph barbera, among others were the great animators and voices of the characters i grew up with. what's even neater is that a lot of the merrie melodies and looney tunes cartoons were made in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. one of the tom & jerry cartoons depicting a "war" in a house basement won an academy award (yankee doodle mouse). in a ten year span tom & jerry cartoons won an astounding 7 oscar awards. and these cartoons are still classic and timeless. a lot of the subtleties aren't picked up by a lot of kids but the older "kids" like me understand them. i still find myself laughing over some of them.

take one tom & jerry where a little girl gives tom castor oil because he's been a bad baby. i can remember taking that as a kid. tasted horrible and i don't remember it being a punishment but it could have easily been used for that! kids today don't know what castor oil is.

there was a lot of violence in those older cartoons. bugs bunny shooting elmer fudd, jerry giving tnt to tom, sylvester eating tweety bird, things like that. there's not as much violence in today's cartoons but it's hard to compare the two generations of cartoons. they've evolved dramatically from then to now.

look at a tom and jerry cartoon that has the old black maid as a character. i can distinctly remember the wording they used for her and the voice. yet in reruns today it's been changed using a voiceover to make it politically correct. a couple of the words have been changed as well to achieve the same thing.

merrie melodies had the goofy gophers, shown below, from 1947. the voice and mannerisms are suspect in the way they're depicted. odd for that time period but easily understood in today's time.

the cartoons i grew up are still timeless. even the fred flintstone, popeye, jetsons, and others are still fun to watch. the subtle jokes, references to times gone by, and other jokes are sometimes lost on kids today that don't quite get them. the story has remained the same throughout and the messages are consistent. but cartoons today just aren't what they used to be. i still find myself, almost on a daily basis, sitting down and watching bugs bunny or tom & jerry with my kids because i want to, not because i'm asked, "daddy, will you watch cartoons with us?" i'm thrilled that they love the same things that i did when i was a kid.

and if it helps, youtube is a terrific source for most of these timeless classics. i have a couple "favorite" lists built with nothing but cartoons. our oldest daughter and i like sitting in front of my laptop and watching looney tunes, merrie melodies, and mgm cartoons for hours on end.