A Deep Analysis of Cartoons, Past and Present

I came across a couple episodes of The Pink Panther and The Ant and the Aardvark today.

I remember both of them being among my Cartoons of Choice (although we didn't have much choice on Saturday mornings in 1975), but I remembered almost nothing about them. (I did remember "Instant Hole," but that wasn't the episode I had.)

I watched them with the girls (ages 4 and 6) today. They did not like either one.

The Pink Panther had a laugh track -- did it always? And The Ant and the Aardvark just seemed weird. It felt more like Jackie Mason making various quips than like a kids' show.

All of us had watched some Looney Toons together a couple months ago. Those I remembered more vividly and enjoyed more. (Although even as a kid, I had split feelings toward Looney Toons: I really liked Bugs Bunny, the roadrunner, and Daffy Duck. I did not care for Pepe LePew or Tweety Bird, and I despised the whole Sylvester and the Giant Mouse thing.)

The girls liked Bugs Bunny, particularly the one with the Bullfight and the one with Barber of Seville.

I couldn't help but notice some obvious differences in the basic genre, then and now:

1) Robert pointed this one out: The older cartoons weren't "about" anything. They didn't try to teach something. They didn't have a lesson or a moral or a goal -- or, really, even a plot. For example, in the Pink Panther episode today, he tries making breakfast and A Bunch of Stuff Happens - the toast burns, he drops the eggs, the pancake sticks to the ceiling. And that's it.

I never would have thought to compare The Pink Panther with Seinfeld before.

2) The cartoons I grew up with seem startling violent to me now. I don't mind the kids watching them or anything, but it makes me wince a little myself.

3) The humor is more slapstick and visual, and less wordy. The Pink Panther doesn't speak at all. Neither did the Road Runner. Quite different from, say, Caillou (who many adults wish would not speak at all).

4) I'm not sure how best to word this, but the older cartoons used "real" music more.
The Henry Mancini music stands on its own; people would like it even if they had no idea what The pink Panther was. And it's not cute or silly or "kid music."
Everybody knows Bugs Bunny used opera music and Liszt and probably some other things I didn't realize. Nobody is singing about self-esteem or families or anything like that. For that matter, for the most part, nobody is singing, period.

For the record, I don't particularly think one is better than the other. I just think they're different.