Cartoons have changed.
I’ve come to realize that the days of the old Batman cartoons, of Duck Tales or Tail Spin, or Gummi Bears were forever lost and in their stead a new era of cartoons which features loud mouthed characters, stupid adults and badly drawn worlds. Cartoons weren’t… Real anymore. Somewhere between the creation of Cow and Chicken and Spongebob Squarepants something died. Something precious.
I found an old movie from a cartoon series that I vaguely remembered watching (Gargoyles). I can’t really tell you what happened in the series, it was only the name that leapt out at me as I browsed through the cheap DVD section, but when I looked at the disk I found myself smiling as I remembered vaguely, being very content and impressed with the content. I hesitantly bought it for my nieces (aged 7 and 4) but decided to watch it myself first to see whether I agreed with the content matter. Call me old fashioned, but I feel very strongly there are certain things my sister’s kids must not see.
I thought that watching the movie would be a chore but as it turned out, I was wrong.
I loved it.
The characters were noble and good. The bad guys vile and scheming. They were beautifully drawn, the voice acting not over done, and the jokes calm but good. There were no shouting, no silliness, no snotty teenagers besting their parents. There was good, fighting evil and winning. There was friendship, heartache and a promise that no matter how bad things were, they will always get better. There was deception but ultimately, the righteous won.
It made me sad though, because I realized that this is like a relic from a lost time that the cartoons that they made today just didn’t have any of this in anymore. As technology advanced, quality died. And it will most probably not be resurrected.
But, at least it will be preserved. In cheap DVDs and in the hearts of those who remember them. I have decided to try and find more of these relics, so that I can show them to my nieces and try and teach them what these cartoons taught me. Because their lessons were many and they made me smile, without making me cringe and shudder, wondering what was happening to our world and kids today.
Alyssa's Blog 