Best cartoon era for kids

[Ed Liu]

So the entire concept of Nostalgia or Nostalgia itself is bad (as that link says) just because the shows it can sometimes blind people too happen to be crappy? What about the good ones? Heck, what about Nostalgia outside of TV shows? Not to mention that blogger seems crazy. Wiser mind, indeed.

In short, yes. If there's merit to be found in something old, then it should be able to stand up on its own without the benefit of nostalgia to prop it up. There's lots and lots of old stuff out there which can do just that. There's other stuff out there which can only stand because of nostalgic feelings that people have for it, and in those cases, I don't think that nostalgia is helping either the works themselves or the people who love it.

Nostalgia is nice and it makes us feel good, but you need more than just nostalgia to really enjoy something. Nostalgia is a spice that some people want to make the entree. Nostalgia (especially as a marketing concept) wants us to forget the ugly and the bad. Sometimes that's an acceptable price to pay for a good memory, but it's still fundamentally self-delusion and that's always something to be wary of.

-- Ed

 

[Mad Mod 49]

In short, yes.

"Sigh" I see there's not much point in arguing if you're going to define this issue to such utterly simplistic terms, but oh well.

Nostalgia is nice and it makes us feel good, but you need more than just nostalgia to really enjoy something. Nostalgia is a spice that some people want to make the entree. Nostalgia (especially as a marketing concept) wants us to forget the ugly and the bad. Sometimes that's an acceptable price to pay for a good memory, but it's still fundamentally self-delusion and that's always something to be wary of.

Of course you need more than nostalgia to enjoy something. I enjoy things on their own merits too and guess what? I still accept and feel nostalgia. If someone does only rely on nostalgia to enjoy something, it's the fault of the person and their own stupidy, not the concept of nostalgia. Nostalgia "wants" us to forget the ugly and bad? You talk as if Nostalgia is some sort of entity and that it's accountable for people's stupidity in such matters. And then you go on to say self-delusion. You're screwing up your own argument here. Though, after reading your post, I do admit that self-delusion is indeed something to be wary of.

 

[Jeff Harris]

The best cartoon era for kids?

Hmm . . . add that, carry the two, divide by . . . got it.

1988 - 1998.

That was probably the greatest decade for children's animation ever. Disney was getting their mojo started on television and returned to theaters with a splash. Hanna-Barbera was churning out some of their best products ever with multiple showcases from The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera to Cartoon Network.

The Nicktoons and What A Cartoons were born. We got innovative, original shows throughout that period.

The DCAU was born with Batman: The Animated Series. The so-called Silver Age of Warner Bros. brought comedy back to cartoons. Fox Kids and Kids' WB launched, as did Cartoon Network.

There was actually a variety of shows from a variety of studios back then all over the place. Even USA Network created their own original fare.

Then, Pokemon came along, and the revamped Children's Act of 1992 was reformatted to force an educational mandate on the young buggers. That sapped the air right out of the room. Sure, some good shows came around afterwards, but the energy and variety that era personified was forever extinguished.

 

[GWOtaku]

Not to mention Gargoyles and The Legend of Prince Valiant. I agree, 88 through 98 was pretty fantastic.