Is it just me, or are today's cartoons just stupid and derivitive?

Question

I'm an 11 year old boy of Generation X (born in 1995). I've seen most of the good cartoons of my generation: Bugs Bunny, classic Mickey Mouse cartoons, all the old Cartoon Cartoon shows (Cartoon Network before it went bad), Ren and Stimpy, Invader ZiM, Hey Arnold, those old Snick Shows that never come on anymore, etc. Those are MY cartoons.
But today, I don't see any of that. The age of Corneil and Bernie, the age of the Amanda Show, the age of Rugrats (NOT ALL GROWN UP! THAT WAS JUST STUPID!), the age of Hey Arnold, Ren and Stimpy and Zim have all passed. And what do I get in return? Some kid with a silly pink hat with two floating midgets! A sponge who's completely ambiguous! A big-headed smart kid who can't admit his feelings! A human in an animal school? Two kids who can replace any body they want? Some dumb black chick who can see into the future? Where are all the good cartoons? I AM NOT EVEN 18, AND I MISS THE OLD 40'S CARTOONS THAT I WASN'T AROUND TO SEE!

The channels of my childhood have become bleak with nothing but family friendly shows. Nickelodeon used to have Ren and Stimpy, a show that used bad words and they were pulled off the air. Now, I can't even see them on YouTube beause of Viacom International Inc.!
When Nickelodeon was darker than it is today, it had Invader Zim, with the second Prince of Darkness himself, Jhonen Vasquez! IT GOT CANCELLED AFTER 2 SEASONS! It still had so much ife in it. Then, there were just those classic Snick Shows you can never forget, like Hey Arnold, the Rugrats, Kaput and Zosky for God sakes! Now what do we have? Fairly Oddparents, Spongebob Squarepants and El Tigre.

And where's the most influential man in history (not Randy Rhoads. Not Dimebag Darrell)? Where's Walt Disney? The Walt Disney who voiced out my second animated hero? Who innovated the moden day theme park! Who made Anti-Nazi propoganda in the Golden Age of Animation? Where is he? He's dead and his head's frozen in the Disney Vault. He's rolling over in his grave with Disney Channel and Toon Disney coming into existence. It had to be Toon Disney who made the most derivitive Disney shows: Tail Spin? The Goof Troop? The Little Mermaid (animated series)? The Aladdin animated series? Buzz Lightyear of Star Command? You have to admit, his head was smiling when movies like Mulan and Tarzan and Toy Story came out, but then he started crying from his mouth when their sequels came! CINDERELLA HAS HAD 3 MOVIES! THE LAST 2 STUNK WORSE THAN I DO IN CLASS AFTER EATING A BURITO! AND THAT'S USUALLY A GAS CHAMBER! Not only that, but, the possibility of even MORE stupid shows.

Let me explain my THAT'S SO RAVEN statement: I was not being racist about there being a dumb black chick. I was not insulting Raven. I was insulting Disney Channel. I was insulting them because they seem to think they can hire anybody they want. And that it doesn't matter whether or not their plot point stinks.

Then there are the cartoons not owned by big time companies like Disney. I'm talkin' bout Thundercats. I'm talkin' bout G.I. Joe. I'm talking about 80's/90's cartooning. They had extreme quality (okay, maybe not as good as anything from the 40's), but quality that fit my age. Where are they now? They're in box collections no one buys (okay, most people buy, but nobody really watches those anymore since they were pulled off their original airing station.)
But, let's see the effect of our cartoons? Well, we had that documentary Stupid in America (I never saw, but it compares our kids today to our kids of yester-generations and other countries.) Back in the age of World War II, we wouldn't stop punching the Krauts and Japs in our cartoons. Donald Duck portraying a Nazi, Education for Death, Bugs Bunny messing with Fatso Goering. That was what we call WARTIME CARTOONING. But, today's cartoons don't even reference the war in Iraq. Why? Because Nickelodeon and Disney lost their courage.

They lost their will to tell the American people that we are gonna win this War if it's the last thing we do. Our cartoons completely ignore that. They don't even reference the violence and what our troops are doing in the Middle East. This generation is being stupified by (not parents directly, but the media) the old generation, apparenlty in order to "keep them from making the mistakes we did." What mistakes? The only mistake that they made is not showing kids the harsher side of reality. I see that side. Nobody else does. You can't constantly be happy about how the world is going. In a post 9/11 world, the media wants to shroud our kids away from the sheer harshness of this war. I can understand. I don't want 1 month old babies crying because they just saw an episode from APC. But, what about the older kids (10-12)? We're exposed to the the same crud that babies are being exposed to. In an attempt to keep our innocence, the media is constantly television safer.

Now the definition of innocence is that you can't see anything bad even when it's going on around your world. Today's kids are apparenlty getting so much attention, pretty soon, we won't have a generation. The only safe way to show kids cartoons today is to make them so innocent, they have no meaning anymore. The characters are just gonna be randomly happy all the time. That's all I have to say at this point.

And...at this point, I must say...I am a victim of everything I've said. Because of all the trash that we get in so many other forms of entertainment, I have grown up faster than usual. I sometimes feel smarter than the average 11 year old. I feel more intelligent because I know so much more about his subject than everybody thinks I do. For some reason, that trash has actually helped me know what's right from wrong. You shouldn't call anybody else gay. Through all of our bad cartoons, I learned what I learned while I was writing this documentary of details.
I hope that someday, we can fix this decaying world. I doubt that. I really do.

Answer 1

Cartoons are total trash now
most are bad rip-offs of japanese anime shows, without any substance or plot.

I used to love watching cartoons on saturday and now you cant find a decent one.
ABC is totally taken over by Disney so you get a rip-off of the Disney channel.
I couldn't even find cartoons on CBS and
NBC's cartoons are bland and unwatchable.

Even the stuff on afternoons are horrible.
The only good stuff is on cartoon network really.

I totally agree with you.

Saturday morning cartoons were incredible when I was a kid and it was a huge marketing boon for toy makers and stuff geared for kids, now it seems that the networks don't care what they show to kids as long as someone is watching.

Its just sad.

Answer 2

The problem with todays cartoons is that they lack continuity. I was born in 1977, cartoons back in those days going into the 80's use to have a valuable lesson to teach. Cartoons such as HE-MAN, GI Joe, The Transformers, The Smurfs with the very wise Papa Smurf, Fat Albert, and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are cartoons that taught lessons. Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, and Wylie Coyote......those toons were just funny and entertaining in their own right.

Cartoons are not what they once were. Most of todays stuff is not and they do not even have a lesson that they kids can learn in them. In my opinion, they are just shows with a 30 minute running time filled with emptiness. Another point....kids today are just growing up much faster than they should. With more garbage on cable TV and with the use of such much media material such as the Internet, MP3's, and the I POD, kids are getting exposed to much more material which has left the valuable world of what cartoons use to be, pretty much on the shelf to collect dust and decay.....its very sad.

Around the Horn,
The True Side

Answer 3

I am with you. I am a child of the 80's and I think the older cartoon are better and funnier than the cartoons of today. I feel sorry for the kids of todays generation. I have been getting a lot of the older cartoons that I used to watch on DVD and watching them instead of trying to find good ones on tv.

Answer 4

im impressed an 11 year old knows how to spell and use the word ambiguous

todays cartoons are different than cartoons from the 90s 80s 70s

i actually like the shows you are dissing

and the "dumb black chick" - thats a live action show

Answer 5

Sorry to burst your bubble, but "Generation X" refers to people born roughly between 1961 and 1981. It implies that a person was in their early teens to late 20's during the mid 1990s. You're even too young for "Generation Y" which was 1984ish to 1994ish.

If you want some good cartoons, get the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain box dvd sets. You'll thank me for it.

Answer 6

I think you nailed it on the head. But you seem to have missed Voltron, Thundercats, He-Man, She-Ra, Darkwing Duck, Duck Tales, G.I. Joe, Danger Mouse, Silverhawks and Gem!! I don't know what happened to cartoons, but it seems to me the quality of EVERYTHING has gone to heck since the 40's. However, there is hope. It seems that a lot of the quality artistry is going in to the graphic novels - but they are a too mature for you now. I would suggest getting some of the cartoons I named here on DVD and enjoy!!

Answer 7

It's a blend of unlucky matters, quite. The concept that animation will regularly be anything for children nonetheless persists within the minds of the entire studio CEOs. As good because the belief that children are dumb, so dumb cartoons are ultimate for them. Political correctness has a proportion of the blame, too. There are a ways too many men and women ready at the sidelines to be "angry" via anything they see, in order that they may be able to take any motion crucial to make themselves think like they have completed anything well of their in any other case depressing lives. The danger of that is sufficient to drive barriers at the creativity of animators, making them crank out bland mush for a residing whether or not they find it irresistible or now not. Plus, to do quite well prime-first-class animation at the present time (like what the Japanese crank out in quantity) takes a large funding within the correct gear and skillability. Not simply enormous cash, however dedication to the concept that costly animation can yeild a economic go back that justifies the trouble positioned into it. Whenever a studio attempts to elevate the bar and shoot for anything proud, American film goers are all too speedy to thumb it down over petty main points. "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and "Astro Boy" have been field workplace bombs. Is it any marvel that American studios take discover of this and opt for to play it nontoxic? FOX attempted as soon as to compete with Disney on their degree, liberating "Anastasia," after which dismantling their animation amenities now not lengthy after. Bottom line, quick and low-cost quite will pay on this nation. Everything else does not.

Answer 8

Oh my goodness, I totally agree with you. Today's cartoon's are so dumb. I don't let my son watch them. He loves Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes (bugs bunny), and other old stuff Angry Beavers era, when he gets a little older maybe Ren and Stimpy I love them, but they are a little mature. The New Cartoon's are junk.

Answer 9

I love some of the old cartoons like The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, etc. but I also love some of the newer cartoons like SpongeBob, The Fairly OddParents, Kim Possible, etc. Just because you don't like them doesn't make them stupid or bad, you know.

Answer 10

Fairly Odd Parents is pretty funny and so is Spongebob....once in a while. Bugs Bunny and Daffy will always be my favorites.

I LOVE Hey Arnold....I'ts one of my favorites also...it really sucks that it's not on anymore!!!!!