Cartoons, Still Love Them

Cartoons

I woke up early one Saturday morning and wanted to watch some old school cartoons like the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Smurfs or even some Looney Tunes. Heck, I would have taken some Disney cartoons with Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck, which I hated as a kid.

Accept, I loved Duck Tales with Uncle Scrooge and the nephews Huey, Duey and Louie. Scrooge was my man because he was always grumpy. On the same note, Darkwing Duck and Tale Spin, I was all over that. Also, Doug, that was my show.

From non-cartoons, Clarissa Explains It All and All That, I know you old-school Nick fans can respect that. Also, Are You Afraid of the Dark? I’m getting flashbacks right now over these shows. That will deserve its own post. I have to stay focused on this one.

I liked cartoons that had a little cynicism and darkness to them. I hated being talked down to as a little kid and told that everything was great and nothing bad happened. The Disney cartoons treated me that way and I didn’t like it. Now, Looney Tunes were my favorite because of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Daffy was my man. He was angry, didn’t take stuff from anybody and would fight you till the end. I liked how he would always battle Bugs and even though he would always lose, he brought an energy that I liked.

Kenisha wanted me to bring up the fact that the cartoons would depict violence in an unrealistic way, which is true. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam would shoot Bugs and Daffy and nothing would happen. In real life, they would be dead. This is a fair point, but the idea of these animals waking on their hind legs and grabbing items is unrealistic also.

I was thinking of this also when I was watching Family Guy and my favorite character on TV, Brian, the talking dog on the show. Not only does Brian walk with two legs, he drinks liquor, drives a car, holds a job and even has a human girlfriend at some point in the show. The writers of the show do a good job of making Brian a real dog by making him do things like chase balls, have fleas and wanting to stick his head out of a moving car, however, he’s treated like a human.

This should scare me but it doesn’t.

Another thing about the old school cartoons is that they were pretty simple to understand and were very predictable. Take the Flintstones for example. You knew that Fred would do something sexist or something stereotypically male, Barney would unfortunately be dragged into the plot and eventually Bettie and Wilma would get the best of the boys and we would learn a valuable lesson.

BTW, Bettie Rubble, CGI. That’s all I’ll say.

Anyway, the Jetsons were the same. The Smurfs confused me then and now. How can you have all of those male smurfs and one woman smurf. Back home in Brooklyn, we call that nasty. Also, why were you forced to do only one job. If I’m a locksmith, why can’t I change my job and become a cook? In Smurf world, I couldn’t do that. I believe that’s called Communism and I’m not down with that.

What I’m trying to say is, these kids today can have their Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon and these other crazy shows, accept for the Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy. That show is the truth if you give it a chance. Also, to make Kenisha and others happy, I do like The Boondocks, but for some reason, I never really watch the show. Its funny when I see it.

So, it’s a sad day when you have to go to a cable network called BAM to catch these old-school cartoons. Networks, bring back old-school cartoons on Saturday mornings and the new-age kids will enjoy them just as much as I did. I’ll even wake up early to catch them.