Do Newer Animated Shows Lack the Intelligence of Older Animations?
Poll: Do Newer Animated Shows Lack the Intelligence of Older Animations? Sunday March 1, 2009#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3)Yesterday a reader e-mailed me to bring up an interesting point; she thinks that newer animated shows have been terribly dumbed down and lack the intelligence of older shows, such as the original Looney Toons sketches. My first reaction was to protest; a lifetime of defending my career as “not just for kids” tends to make for some knee-jerk reactions. After some thought, though, I had to wonder. Old-school Bugs Bunny and the like did have a certain subtle humor that you don’t find now; underneath the slapstick and the more obvious punchline was always another, more clever joke (often a jab at modern culture or politics) that you really had to think to get. Modern animated shows lack that…but they often make up for it with complex mystery-based or action-oriented plots that older cartoons didn’t have. Then, too, there’s the internet, wh
