I am the type of person who often looks back at things that were happening either before I was born or at least before I was paying attention and think, "Why was everything back then so much more awesome than it is now?" Luckily, I have an older sibling who passed down his love for Transformers, Ren & Stimpy and House of Pain. Obviously, this isn't always the case but sometimes I can't help but think I missed out. Many industries get bogged down with the status quo, even if they follow the same formula as their revolutionary predecessors. The fact that they stick with it because it sold well and it's safe. It's one of the reasons I actually enjoy Spongebob Squarepants so much. It's not created by a committee, nor was it made to sell toys or merch (although it did after it's popularity exploded) or promote a network. It's just a visually appealing, creator-driven show. We more or less have one man to thank for paving the way for cartoons like that. My favourite great Canadian hero.
I'm speaking, of course, of John Kricfalusi, music video director, animator, brilliant character artist, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show and voice of wisdom and creativity in an industry full of rehashed characters and beige, hack job ideas. He took full advantage of cartoons and what they are capable of. Strong, insane poses and huge expressive faces. I mean, just look:
Warning: partial cartoon Bjork nudity
Kricfalusi started watching cartoons during their Golden Age, went to Sheridan College, then worked on some cartoons in LA in the early 1980's. He's mentioned in interviews that it was some of "the worst animation of all time." A bunch of stuff happened between then and 1991, but I'm not really here to talk about how long it took to work his way up the ladder. The important thing is, he eventually started his own studio, Spumco, and started doing Ren & Stimpy. It was aired by Nickelodeon (because Nickelodeon used to be awesome) and the eventual result was a successful show that led to other cartoons in the 90's like Cow and Chicken, Aaahh!! Real Monsters, and The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.
However, these shows began to disappear. We stopped seeing cross-dressing anthropomorphic characters whose teeth and eyes could fly out of their heads on command. They started getting replaced with kids and teens. Real people with real problems. Of course the real problems are always shallow and insipid because kids can't grasp complicated abstract concepts. It's not even the writing that I care about either, really. There were some great gang-of-kids shows like The weekenders, Rugrats, Doug and Hey Arnold! It's more the concentration on realism. No more noodle arms or magic dogs, these have to look like real teenagers! 6Teen looks like an advertisement for Ardene for Chrissake.
Kid's shows aren't the only thing that isn't safe any more. Cartoons for grown-ups have lost their anarchic twist as well. Every [adult swim] show either badly drawn flash animation or cardboard cutout flash animation. Us late night stoners like visually appealing things as well as stupid humor, you know. Cartoons can do things other mediums can't, and they seriously aren't even trying any more. (Apologies to fans of Futurama, Super Jail, and Adventure Time, which are all awesome and amazing shows.) I feel like I'm an old man yelling at people about how we did it back in "my day," except instead of something important like how hard we worked, or what we did or didn't complain about, it's about how modern cartoons aren't up to par like they were in the old days.
I'm a bit of a cartoon artist and often times my stuff starts to feel stale and boring. If that happens, I'll watch some Ren & Stimpy or Ripping Friends and have a total revelation every time. I heard Kricfalusi tries to never draw the same pose or expression twice and forced his animating team to do the same. It's a great exercise and very telling of his dedication to making things visually appealing and his attitude to cartoons as being something you should push and develop. Almost like a real art form or something.
To him, making cartoons was "To make something look real and alive, nothing can be symmetrical because nothing in real life is symmetrical. You have to make it look organic."
However, these shows began to disappear. We stopped seeing cross-dressing anthropomorphic characters whose teeth and eyes could fly out of their heads on command. They started getting replaced with kids and teens. Real people with real problems. Of course the real problems are always shallow and insipid because kids can't grasp complicated abstract concepts. It's not even the writing that I care about either, really. There were some great gang-of-kids shows like The weekenders, Rugrats, Doug and Hey Arnold! It's more the concentration on realism. No more noodle arms or magic dogs, these have to look like real teenagers! 6Teen looks like an advertisement for Ardene for Chrissake.
Kid's shows aren't the only thing that isn't safe any more. Cartoons for grown-ups have lost their anarchic twist as well. Every [adult swim] show either badly drawn flash animation or cardboard cutout flash animation. Us late night stoners like visually appealing things as well as stupid humor, you know. Cartoons can do things other mediums can't, and they seriously aren't even trying any more. (Apologies to fans of Futurama, Super Jail, and Adventure Time, which are all awesome and amazing shows.) I feel like I'm an old man yelling at people about how we did it back in "my day," except instead of something important like how hard we worked, or what we did or didn't complain about, it's about how modern cartoons aren't up to par like they were in the old days.
I'm a bit of a cartoon artist and often times my stuff starts to feel stale and boring. If that happens, I'll watch some Ren & Stimpy or Ripping Friends and have a total revelation every time. I heard Kricfalusi tries to never draw the same pose or expression twice and forced his animating team to do the same. It's a great exercise and very telling of his dedication to making things visually appealing and his attitude to cartoons as being something you should push and develop. Almost like a real art form or something.
To him, making cartoons was "To make something look real and alive, nothing can be symmetrical because nothing in real life is symmetrical. You have to make it look organic."
"Organic," eh? Is that what it's called these days?
I won't lie, every time I pass 6Teen on the television I think it's one of those online car insurance commercials.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm willing to argue that the turn towards 'realism' in cartoons has helped the medium immensely by making it a viable alternative for to-be-taken-seriously story telling. Noodle arms and magic dogs are amazing and creative (and entertaining), but often leave the impression that the work-whether it really is or not-is intended for children.
By treating cartoons as a vehicle for the teen drama / sitcom / science-fiction storytelling traditionally reserved for live action shows, it's pushed the mainstream into accepting them as fully fleshed out, can-be-for-grown-ups-too programs.
Admittedly, Kricfalusi has never really approached the medium from a serious point of view, it's true. Also, as I said, it's not the content I'm really concerned about. The major thing is that this kind of anarchic feeling that can't be reached with live action is being almost ignored completely by pre-made cells and recycled animations. Even Disney and Don Bluth, with their hyper-realism (especially Don Bluth) managed to really make some visually astounding stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy main point is that-realism or no-cartoons look like crap these days. By and large, the grown-up cartoons aren't even the realistic ones anyway. We have Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, South Park, Adventure Time etc.
Admittedly some of those I like, and Adventure Time's style is, although kind of deliberately bad, a step in the right direction. For the most part, though, they look like ass. Cartoons have stopped being a medium for something creative on their own, and have become a cheap way of doing another shitty show about pop-culture non-sequiturs.