Cartoons are timeless but the quality has gone down

Photo by oddharmonic via Flickr

Enrique Gonzalez | Contributing Writer

Watching cartoons after school is a time-honored tradition, especially among younger generations. I recall the days when I would rush to get home just to catch the latest episode of “Teen Titans” or a rerun of “Ed, Edd n’ Eddy.”

The old school ’toons like “Dexter’s Lab,” “Johnny Bravo,” and “Powderpuff Girls” are what I consider the epitome of cartoons. Whether it was Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon or even Disney Channel (though I’m iffy on this), one needs to appreciate the quality of entertainment provided then, in the ’90s and early 2000s, versus what kids are watching today.

Consider “Regular Show.” Now, I’ve seen a couple episodes and, at first, I was pleased with the humor, as well as the intricate nature of the characters. But as the show progressed, and as I watched more episodes, I slowly began to hate it. I became annoyed with how repetitive the jokes got, how absurd some of the dialogue was formulated, and peeved at how one could show this to a child. It’s random, it’s weird and yet it gathers a following.

After all, two million people watching can not be a simple fluke. But when trying to compare this new generation of cartoons to that of the old ones, there is just no comparison.

They taught, yet they made us laugh. Some episodes were powerful, and made us feel. Others made us cry. Nevertheless, cartoons played a huge part in most of our lives growing up.

I remember watching “Hey Arnold!” and recalling how my elementary school years were vaguely similar. I learned life lessons from “Hey Arnold!” That’s something today’s cartoons don’t do: teach.

It’s pure entertainment these days. Perhaps the most notable part of the old-school ’toons is the subtle innuendos in almost every show. From Grandpa in “Arnold!” reminiscing about Woodstock, to slight pot references in “Scooby Doo;” these are references that, as kids, we couldn’t latch on to, but as adults, we enjoy all the same.

Cartoons from the early ’90s definitely have the potential to appeal to a wider audience, as opposed to today’s “pop” cartoons, which focus on aesthetic and childish humor.

Even nowadays, I’ll turn on the television and watch some rerun of a 10-year-old cartoon, and it would be as if I was a kid again. My favorite show has always been “Courage the Cowardly Dog,” and anyone who has seen one episode knows just how creepy it could get. But it was a beautiful tale of a loving dog scared out of his wits half the time, a neglectful farmer and an oblivious wife. We can see it as a dog’s perspective on life, but when we were little, that was the last thought on our mind.

This kind of imagination is what’s lacking in cartoons today. Networks have opted for crude humor as a way of reaching out to the children, as opposed to thought.