Old Cartoons Suck

This is not a value judgement I make lightly. I realize that there are artistic merits to cartoons of a certain age, say anything before the 1940s. It was a different time back then, and having older cartoons is an important historical record of the past.

But really, they suck. Our ancestors were fascinated by the moving drawing to the point that most older cartoons are nothing but a showcase of animation. And the animation wasn't all that good. Everyone is thinking it, I just have the guts to say it. I'm a huge fan of cartoons, but unlike the "purists" I can see that animation in the "good old days" was terrible, for the most part.

And talk about boring. Once you get past the era where the prime charm is the fact that drawings are moving, then you run smack into the era where the prime charm is the fact that drawings are accompanied by sound of some sort. Steamboat Willie, I am looking squarely in your direction. Then you have the era where animation seemed to serve a purpose, and that purpose was to parody celebrities of the time. We in the modern world might be able to identify a few of the parodies, but for the most part they are terrible jokes anyway.

Bottom line: Disney cartoons are all pretty bad. It doesn't matter what era. Warner Brothers cartoons had a brief period where they produced some truly great cartoons. The rest of them are pretty bad on average, which includes some good and most mediocre. Hanna-Barbera, the door is over there. Please leave.

I love cartoons. Specifically, I love a very limited subset of them. Why show ancient, terrible cartoons? I don't think too many people like them, or even understand them. But then, I'm not sure many people really understand lots of things which are popular.

I take it all back. Old cartoons are the greatest.