Cartoons and Culture Shifts

I wanted to address something that I'd been thinking on some recently. Those who know me (or even those who've read this blog before) will know that I watch cartoons. And not just cartoons geared towards 20-somethings (Seth MacFarlane's shows immediately come to mind), but those cartoons that still make up the bulk of Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon's programming--though I'm well aware that many of their offerings are shifting away from that model and more towards the Disney Model of live-action, "culturally" "diverse" teen dramedies. Granted, much of what I still watch comes down to shows that would have been on when I was the target age, but still (see Spongebob, the show that never dies).

Anyway, I think I initially fell victim to the thought that a lot of us have as we age, that the things we grew up with were "best" and somehow inherently different than those of the younger generation. It's the same logic that leads newspapers to write every couple of years about how the newest generation is the worst one yet. By their count, the Greatest Generation was just that, and by now we're down to young adults who can't tie their shoes. But cheer up Millenials and Gen Yers, in a few decades you can all point at the newest generation coming-of-age and lament how terrible they are. But I digress. This sort of resistance to acceptance of new things beyond our own formative years extends into all aspects of pop culture that we consume, most notably with music but also, as I'm focusing on today, with TV programming.

I like to think I'm somewhat impartial, at least more so than average. So I wanted to give some new cartoons a chance, even though my inclination would be to pshaw on anything that I haven't watched before (one of human nature's biggest ironies is its ability to judge the quality of something without ever having encountered it, apparently). I have to admit that this post is really only about one cartoon in particular, but I like it enough to defend all that is new through this blog. Anyway, that cartoon is The Amazing World of Gumball, found on Cartoon Network. After watching one episode, I actually found I enjoyed it (Step 1: give something new a chance!), and after a few episodes, I found myself wanting to watch as many as I could. It's really very clever and--surprise--not much different from the shows I would have watched growing up (this is a fairly representative clip of the show, for those interested).

The Gumball title sequence

The point of this is twofold. First, shows may change over large periods of time as the culture itself changes (for example, Looney Tunes obviously had a different culture to them than today's shows), but I would argue that the age of the Nicktoon (i.e. 1991 and on) began a new generation of cartoons we still see today, and within that generation cartoons tend to have a certain stylistic similarity. I don't think, on balance, today's cartoons meant for 7-10 year olds are any different than those made in 1993, at least in level of sophistication or general humor. Gumball contains the same number of jokes that are meant for the grown-up audience that Rocko's Modern Life would have had 18 years ago.

Second, I think the bias we all have for things that we grew up with, even when they're substantially similar to things that come about once we're adults is easier to overcome than one may think. Obviously, the longer a person goes without encountering an "update" on a cultural area they knew growing up, the more likely they will be to have severed all connection between the two and simply reject the new version outright (I'd call this the "get off my lawn conflict"). But so long as we occasionally refresh our views of a cultural area during our lives, I think we can maintain the connection with the updated version and appreciate the evolution of the thing, rather than see it as an abrupt change. This is why those of us who grew up with some form of computer technology are not subsequently baffled by new technological developments, even as we reach adulthood and on, rather than suddenly being lost in new technologies as we age. Having maintained that connection as technology progressed allowed us to see the evolution and build on it, rather than suddenly waking up to a whole new world.

Obviously there's a bit of a gap between keeping up with cartoons and keeping up with world technology, but I think the idea is the same. No, you don't all need to quickly watch episodes of Gumball to avoid falling behind in the development of culture (though I do recommend the show), but we should all consider that, while the world does change and generations do have their differences based on the climate of their formative years, most things change in an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, fashion. If we keep an eye on something as it changes, we won't feel so hopelessly lost in our old age (and will potentially avoid the "get off my lawn conflict").