Don't Discount Cartoons!

Hey, sorry I haven't posted anything super recently! I was hoping I could post something substantial at least once a week, but life got in the way and now I'm in bed nursing 12 yellow jacket stings. (That was like a week ago). Also, as I was finishing this post I was also just finishing up my first week of college. It's been great but also difficult for a multitude of reasons.
Anyway, enough of my sob story. Time for one of my favorite subjects...Cartoons!
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Now, I know many people immediately write off cartoons as either completely childish or embarrassingly vulgar. There are plenty of cartoons that fit these two stereotypes, but with the power of the internet I have been re-watching old cartoons and discovering new ones, and have been left with quite the pleasant surprise.

Don't get me wrong, I do have quite a broad range of interests and am more apt to watch a variety of cartoons that won't appeal to everyone. I am quite fond of The Adventures of Tintin, The Simpsons, Steven Universe, and Rick & Morty. It's completely understandable to not like any of the previously mentioned cartoons. The humor, plot points, or characters don't appeal to everyone. However, I don't think it's fair to simply write-off a particular show simply because it is animated.

Animation has come so far, that even three-dimensional animation can look nice for lower budget tv shows. Hand drawn cartoons don't always have to look like The Problem Solverz (Gross. What even is that! And could they have had a worse marketing strategy? My ears are bleeding! This is the last time I do any research). And when you've found a great show, the voice acting can be impeccable.

All media ages over time, but you can't discount old cartoons either. Batman: The Animated Series still has a great soundtrack and even though the animation may be a bit drab when compared with some of today's shows, it still boasts some great talent that doesn't fade with time: Mark Hamill voices the Joker.

Even newer cartoons aren't always bad. The problem doesn't lie in the fact that there are bad cartoons (even though there are plenty of those). The problem is over-saturation of a market. And though you can't always make everyone happy, it can still be argued that one has to try a bit harder to find "good shows" nowadays. Back when my mom was a kid, they had five channels. The TV guide was simplistic and easy to follow. Now, there are thousands of shows and you can watch old or new programs. So networks have to try that much harder to get people to watch their new TV shows. The good thing about this is that there are a variety of shows out there to capture viewer's attentions.

These tactics cartoons use are not always bad. While shows like the long running Futurama and currently-in-it's-second-season Rick & Morty do often go for the lowest denominator to get a few cheap laughs, they also don't hesitate to provide satiric criticism into the issues that society deals with today. For example, in one episode of Futurama the issue of Robosexual marriage is brought up (the marriage between a robot and a human). I guess you could say the biggest problem with cartoons of this nature are the lack of politically-correctness that they have. However, what changes were ever made without someone causing a few problems.

Shows that are geared towards a younger audience still can have a running social commentary. This is most obvious in the mainstream shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time. Steven Universe features a cast of mainly females, which is pretty cool by itself, but a few of the ladies are attracted to other ladies. In fact, in a recent episode there was even a time when one of the girl characters kissed another girl character on the neck.

I could go into even more detail about various cartoons, but the point is that there are plenty of shows out there with substance and some of them just happen to be cartoons. So go check out a few cartoons and expand your horizons!

Want to watch a cartoon but don't know where to start? Message me or leave a comment.