Popular cartoons, now and then…

Scooby-Dooby-Doo, Where Are You? We got some work to do now.

Come on Scooby-Doo, I see you... pretending you got a sliver
But you're not fooling me, cause I can see, the way you shake and shiver…

Do you remember these lines from the ‘Scooby Doo Mysteries’ which were telecasted way back in 70s? Well, yes television cartoon began somewhere between 1920 – 30s period. It was started by Walt Disney with ‘Teamboat Willie’ in 1928, the first significant cartoon with synchronized sound and effects followed by ‘Flowers and Trees’ in 1932.

Cartoons is most often used in reference to programs for children, featuring anthromorphized animals, he adventures of child protagonists, and other related genres. They were made for making children happy and be in a buoyant mood.

They were started with an adage to entertain the children between age group 3 to 10. As days pass by, popular cartoons like Bugs Bunny, Mighty Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Yogi Bear, The Flinstones, Scooby Doo and few others which were telecasted in 1970s became a huge hit and was watched by both children and teens.

Ghostbusters, Gummy Bears, Heath cliff, Tarzan, the Mask, the Jetsons and others became popular later in 1980s. Apart from these cartoons, He- man, Batman, Superman, Dragon ball, X-men, Robotix and few others also become one among those influential cartoons for the animated effects created by them.

These cartoons not only entertain them but also make them learn. For e.g, if you take Scooby doo, the story revolves around a dog who is scared of ghosts and with a detective plot. It makes the children get away fear from the ghosts and also plan such detective plots.

It’s the same for Elzie Crisler Segar’s ‘Popeye Show’ with characteristics like eating spinach would give superhuman strength. ‘The Popeye show’ became very popular in the United States by making children eat spinach through this cartoon. More and more cartoons then started with a strong theme or a plot that not only entertain but also educate the children.

In the early nineties, cartoons like The Simpson’s, Ren and Stumpy, Batman, The Power puff Girls, Rugrats, Tiny Toon Adventures, South Park, Dexter's Laboratory, Animaniacs Dragon ball Z, Veggie Tales, Pinky and the Brain, Pokemon became very popular and noted for their ways of educating the children through the cartoons. The Simpson’s was renowned for cultivating sex – education among children, The Powepuff girls for teaching courage and strength for girls and so on.

John Kricfalusi, popular cartoonist rightly says that “kids cannot follow stories in a book, they neither can understand the cartoon completely, but with the element of hilarious visuals and sound effects it’s more a powerful tool than any”.

Notable Names:

William Hanna and Joseph Barbara is a prominent name in the ‘cartoon – world’. After MGM studios shut the door in 1957, it was Hanna – Barbara who took the lead and is still going strong for forty five years. They started with ‘Tom and Jerry show’ in the year 1940 which became a huge hit only for its wonderful sense of humor in it.

It became famous for shorts like Jerry slicing Tom in half, shutting his head in a window or a door and using equipments like pistols, axis and on. Despite all the violence, there is no blood or gore in any scenes. The cartoon is also noteworthy for resemblance to everyday objects and occurrences which is the main appeal of visual humor in the series and the music which played an important role.

Hanna – Barbara productions also produced few other well-known cartoon shows like Yogi Bear, Flinstones, The Jetsons, Scooby – Doo, Where are you?, Ritchie Rich, The Addams family, Johnny bravo, Dexter Laboratory, Swat cats, Powder-puff girls and so on.

Popular cartoons now:

Few other cartoons of the yester years are still popular now. Apart from them new cartoons like 101 Dalmations, The Alladin Series, Archie's Weird Mysteries, Batman, Dragon ball Z, Digimon, Double Dragon, Highlander, Ninja Turtles, Pokemon, The Legend of Tarzan, The Smirfs, Sabrina, Mr.Bean Animated series of Sherlock Homes are the popular ones now.

Though children have started to watch filmy stuff now, cartoons are still popular for few of the reasons. Popular cartoons of those years are still popular now. Of late creating a character like ‘Scooby’, ‘Tom and Jerry’ has been a difficult task. Comic characters taken from books or super-heroes from movies are made into cartoons now.

As put by Joseph Barbara, “Making cartoons means very hard work at every step of the way, but creating a successful cartoon character is the hardest work of all”.

By,

Sharanya C.R

POST SCRIPT : I wrote this one for Suchitra's magazine on Cartoons! I loved writing this...cos me the lowe cartoons, especially Scooby Doo!! :)