What was the very first cartoon ever made
I used to believe it was Gertie the Dinosaur, but while I still believe that was a very important film The Wikipedia states: “The first animated cartoon (in the traditional sense, i.e. on film) was “Fantasmagorie” by the French director Émile Cohl. Released in 1908.” It also says elsewhere the first feature length animations came out of Argentina and have not survived. I realize the Wikipedia should be treated with caution, however I do believe they make a good point when they point out the earliest films were developments of the sequences appearing on Zoetropes, in flipbooks and on other devices which were manipulated to give the image of movement. Thus you can argue that the first cartoons were not a revolutionary development being in direct line of descent from, for examples, Hogarth’s sequential prints such as a Rake’s Progress. In other words, I take their word for it because I really don’t think it matters. Cartoons were not invented: they evolved.
