Why are people turned off by older animation?

[Sandro]

This is something that has been plaguing me for quite some time. I just want to know why animation from a decades ago can be so troublesome.

 

[Magentabeams]

I don't know. I always thought older animation was neater to watch because, it isn't all computer, people actually drew and painted by hand. And sometimes you can see what kind of stuff they had back then or what something looked like before it was the way it is today.

Sarahanne

 

[Sharklady]

If you're asking why some people don't care for cartoons which obviously belong to another era, it can be for the same reason they don't like music from earlier times; they associate it with Older People. Cultivating different pop-culture tastes has always been a way of establishing generational boundaries.

If you mean, why do some people have trouble with the 'politically incorrect' humor showcased by some older cartoons; I like to think it's because nowadays we're a little more aware how the targets of that humor feel about it.

 

[Greek_Honeybee]

I always thought it was because older cartoons were usually dumbed down. The producers and writers didn't realize kids might be intelligent. That's something I really appreciate about todays toons over the toons I used to watch when I was little! But cleverly written stuff like Looney Tunes tend to remain popular with everyone through the years.

 

[Zechs]

It's not plesing the eye before I really got into animation if I didn't like the way it was drawnI just didn't watch. I know better now.

 

[zimbach]

It depends on what you mean by "older". Over the years, sacrifices have been made to keep the animation industry going that took a long time for social and technological advances to repair. These days, conflicting social tends threaten to tear animation apart.

I, for one love the seriously old cartoons, like "Gertie the Dinosaur" and "Little Nemo". I absolutely adore the Fleicher's Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman.
Things started to fall apart in the late '50s and early '60s, when MGM cartoons shut down and Daffy Duck went into his "cynical bastard" phase. Will Hanna and Joe Barbera started their own studio making cheap limited animation shorts for TV. This was a major backtrack in terms of quality compared to their MGM days, but they kept American animators employed. Thus began the dark age of animation.

 

[Gyro]

I tend to dislike any sow that is older than I am.

BTW, (for the curious) I'm 14.

 

[zimbach]

Originally posted by Gyro
I tend to dislike any sow that is older than I am.

BTW, (for the curious) I'm 14.

I'm no farmer. Do pigs live that long?

 

[DR. BELCH]

Some might be confounded by outdated/obscure references--I was always asking my mom what some of the jokes in wartime era cartoons (though she wasn't even born then, but when you're a kid, every adult seems about ten million years old and all-knowing) what things like "closed for the duration" meant or what a ration book was.
Then there are some who probably equate all older stuff with Harman-Ising's putout, which honestly was pretty mediocre.

 

[Sandro]

All this has sort of answered my question but what I want to know is why do kids just turn the channel when they first look at it.

 

[Magentabeams]

Originally posted by Sandro885
All this has sort of answered my question but what I want to know is why do kids just turn the channel when they first look at it.

Maybe it embarrasses them because there Mom and dad watch it. And I guess it would make it uncool. Or old cartoons aren't violent enough.

Sarahanne

 

[Pilmedium]

For me, it is the other way around. I am turned off by newer animation. There seem to be very few good cartoons from the 1980s, 1990s, and more recent.

 

[zimbach]

Originally posted by Pilmedium
For me, it is the other way around. I am turned off by newer animation. There seem to be very few good cartoons from the 1980s, 1990s, and more recent.

Of course, the good ones from that era rarely get replayed. Where are Mighty Orbots? Where is Mighty Mouse (the Bakshi/John K. version)? Where is the second half of Voltron? Or Project GEEKER? Or even Galaxy High?

Why must we be plagued with endless reruns of Thundercats, Captain Planet, and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo?

 

[Randy H]

One thing about older animation is that it is hard to watch for long periods of time, because it was almost always shot on "two's" instead of "one's" like modern animation. In other words, each drawing was shot twice, lasting 1/12 of a second, instead of modern feature animation, where each drawing is shot once, lasting 1/24 of a second. While the motion is smooth, it's slightly less-smooth, and can be hard on the eyes after a while. The technique works for short cartoons, but is very difficult to watch for a feature duration.

That may also be another reason for a dislike of short cartoons, in that modern cartoons tend to be longer, with more plotline, instead of being a short premise for 7 minutes of gags.

Me, I'd say I'm pretty much in the middle. I probably prefer the new stuff like Superman, Batman, etc, but I also enjoy Fleischer's Superman shorts, and stuff like the Flintstones and the Jetsons.

 

[Zechs]

Originally posted by zimbach
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo?

*shudders* I hate that show.

 

[Xevo]

I think it's just a matter of fans being extremely fickle and wanting to be cool by liking the biggest, newest thing at the expense of an older, and possibly better, show.

I mean, anime fans are DEFINITELY that way... you hardly hear anyone talk about the AWESOME stuff from the 70's and 80's, but as soon as the topic turns to Evangelion or DragonBall Z, everyone suddenly has an opinion about why those shows were so cool (or sucked).

To me, I respect good storytelling over amazing animation.

 

[Anthonynotes]

Depends on what we're defining as "older", I suppose---anything before the current animation boom of the 90's/00's? I can think of people who don't even like the earliest Simpsons episodes (from the first season) just because of the admittedly crude animation (ignoring that a lot of it was still pretty hilarious). If you mean H-B output of the 50's-80's, I think the earlier stuff of their was clearly better than the later (70's-onward) stuff.

One reason for dislike of older cartoons might be that unless one's watching Cartoon Network, kids are guaranteed never to see them. When I was a kid (back in the 80's), they played various old cartoons (both theatrical and TV stuff) in perpetual reruns on various TV stations in Chicago...recall watching "Underdog" in high school before going off to school in the morning, as well as everything from "The Brady Kids" (ick^3) to "Josie and the Pussycats" (both Earthbound and Outer Space) to "Rocky and His Friends" to "Bugs Bunny" to the "Flintstones". Nowadays,between the boom in syndicated programming and the "vertical integration" caused by the media companies all merging together (and locking down on anything they own to use for their own properties), one can't see the "Flintstones" anywhere but AOL-TW-owned channels (the same fate for other shows), and/or stations would rather air infomercials/junk like "Jerry Springer" and "Blind Date" or reruns of shows still on the air/recently cancelled instead of whatever few cartoons are left that are still even offered to syndication at all. Basically, Cartoon Network and Boomerang (and Disney Channel/Toon Disney) look to be the only places where one gets to see old cartoons anymore, save for the rare broadcast station still rerunning some old show or other....

-B.

 

[Yuss]

Because many older shows, as I've seen, are lamer than some of today's. That doesn't mean EVERY older show, I know there are plenty of good ones, but from what little experience I have, a cartoon from the 70s is more likely to have that "corniness" factor than one from today. Coupled with the crude animation and the way it just looks OLD (the way the film reels are all scratched up and whatnot), I'm put off pretty easily with older cartoons. I know there are lots of good ones, but I'm more comfortable watching something that looks new. It's not about being fickle, I'm just a little too quick to change the channel sometimes.

~B+:

 

[Zechs]

Originally posted by Xevo

To me, I respect good storytelling over amazing animation.

Rigth on if the story sucks I hate the show good animation or not.

 

[Sharklady]

> If you mean H-B output of the 50's-80's, I think the earlier stuff of their was clearly better than the later (70's-onward) stuff. <

Amen to that.