movies/tv Should Cartoons Return To Their Roots?

[Odyssey 5,717]

With each new decade, cartoons are becoming more and more story-driven. And with cartoons becoming more story-driven, we also get to tackle more serious issues in the real world. It's nice to see more cartoons going more in-depth about these topics as it shows that sometimes even children need to prepare for this sort of stuff.

 

But is it always a good idea to make every one of them story-driven? I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but there also needs to be a balance between these sort of cartoons and more lighthearted ones. The original intent for cartoons was to make you laugh, and ever since the past few decades, there has also been a bit of a decline of memorable and funny TV shows. Again, it's not a bad idea to tackle serious topics, but sometimes people just want to watch something that will make them laugh instead of pondering things that they'd rather avoid. I'm not saying that everybody is like that, but you get what I mean.

 

So with that being said, should cartoons go back to their roots and just be funny, or do you want more serious shows? Or alternatively, would you prefer to see a balance of the two? I'd love to see what you guys think.

 

EDIT: Seems as if I wasn't clear with what I was saying. I suppose what I was going for is that people these days seem to be expecting way too much on cartoons and how they want for them to be serious all the time. I wasn't even aware that there were old cartoons that were story-driven. I hope this makes things more direct.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Galaxy

[Unikitty 1,212]

This is just mis-observation. There have always been story-driven cartoons. Just as there has always been cartoons specifically just for enjoying some cheap humour. I just reckon you're not looking properly.

[Moony the Cat 3,703]

From my perspective as a Dc Comics Fan:

 

I had enough Filmation-like Cartoons....their were sooooo cheesy and just...ugh, no thanks, please Dc Comics, never return to the roots please, suffering myself trough shows like Aquaman and Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Hour, or the horrible abomination called " Scooby Doo meets Batman " ( Im getting sick even thinking about it ) were terrible enough, so please god no!

 

But i mean, even if they would, i would watch it anyway so... 

 

As in Dc Comics : Please no.

 

As with other Cartoons : I wouldnt watch them, if they were just Comedy...but i would like a mix of funny episodes and more story driven ones. Like Fim...i think. But a better example would be One Piece i guess. 

But if its a franchise i like, i would watch everything. Like i always do. 

[Sapphire Lightning 784]

Felix the cat cartoons were often story driven, and that was back during the silent film era... I think the glut of Loony tunes style stuff in the 1950's might have skewed it towards cheap laughs for awhile, but yeah, it isn't an overall trend in any direction.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

The week r roots, apparently meaning episodes full of slapstick, like Looney Tunes?

[Pinkiebow 49]

This seems to be a pretty good decade for animation so far, so I won't complain. Plus, I like character and story driven shows in general.

[cmarston1 5,959]

I don't really know.

I am a huge fan of these story driven cartoons like Korra, Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls.

Plus this has been a great decade for animation in general so far.

There still are comedy/non-story arch driven cartoons out there like The Amazing World of Gumball, We Bare Bears, Wonder Over Yonder and Harvey Beaks to say the least.

[Jon the VGNerd 887]

They should. Look at the current state of Cartoon Network. Sure they have a few number of classics renewed, but it was no consolation after the majority of good shows from the 90's and early 2000's were pulled from the air for good. It was left in shambles. Just because they still have Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Gumball and Regular Show (besides Wabbit and Scooby-Doo which are still great), doesn't mean they're fully back on track. Until they start bringing back the majority of its shows and DC Nation back on the air (and maybe give them a remastered makeover while keeping the nostalgic feel to it), Cartoon Network is purely a hollow shell from its long, intentionally-forgotten past.

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

Sure, they should start making a few shows with no story. I do like shows with a story though. I seem to like shows with a dark story, like MLP. Seriously, the plots of the episodes are getting really dark and I think it should get even darker because dark stories are really good.

[Pulse Wave 44]

I guess everything has its place and its justification. We do have some great story-driven cartoons again, I dare say we've reached a new golden era in animation outside of movies.<br /><br />However, I also enjoy those classics from the 40s and 50s, from when cartoons were shown at cinemas, before they had to be made on a shoe-string budget (Hanna-Barbera, anypony?). These cartoons often were completely out of whack, and they weren't even necessarily made for kids (imagine the ratings for a 2015 remake of Tex Avery's <em>Red Hot Riding Hood</em>). Unfortunately, it'd be way too expensive nowadays to make them like in the olden days with that break-neck cel animation. I don't even think that something like <em>Animaniacs</em> could be pulled off today.

[Megas 27,786]

Nowadays I feel a lot of people have this strange mentality that cartoons need to be some sort of deep, groundbreaking, intellectual masterpiece to be considered good. Back then all a cartoon needed was to be fun and entertaining.

 

There's nothing bad about a cartoon wanting to be more, especially when back then shows like Hey Arnold and As Told By Ginger existed. But it's obvious that, even though there's nothing wrong with simply being a fun and entertaining, people are expecting a lot more out of cartoons now. And honestly it actually makes me a little sad