'The Golden Age of Animation' lasted from the late 20's to late 50's. In 1952, Frank Tashlin wrote How to Create Cartoons, a revolutionary book for the art of animation. Tashlin made drawing cartoons incredibly easy, but it may have contributed to the art too much. Tashlin's book used the motto "SCOTA". This stood for "Square, Circle, Oval, Triangle, Art". His book provided a shortcut for later cartoonists. Cartoons were about self-expression. The artist always attempted to induce some sort of "wackiness" into each character, a trait that most animators had. It was never about money. But in the late 50's, cartoons moved to television. The worst years for animation began, called the 'Dark Age', when the primary target became young children.
While MAD Magazine was keeping teenagers entertained with challenging aspects of society, cartoons were used to entertain children. There was little enjoyable content for adults. The artists only cared about saving time and money. The art of movement was strongly utilized in 'The Golden Age of Entertainment.' However, in 'The Dark Age of Animation' producers, "used dialogue over visuals to move stories forward." Take Tom and Jerry for example, it contains little dialogue. This is not the case with the Yogi Bear show. Both shows were created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The introduction of dialogue into animation began the so-called Dark Age. |
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Friz Freleng, a prominent animator at the time described the era as:
"TV is such a monster. It swallows up all this animation so fast that nobody seems to care whether it's good or bad. These kids shows are badly done technically; it seems as though nobody really looks at them but the kids… the networks don't look at the show, they just look at the ratings. If the ratings are good, to heck with the show. They don't care whether it's just a bouncing ball."
Besides the falling ratings on the producers' backs, it was the attitudes of the parents of young children. The parents wanted more positive content. Being politically correct went to the forefront of parents ideals for their children. For instance, parents wanted their kids to never complain, or never use the word "die." Parents had a tough time conveying these messages to their children. Prior to 'The Dark Age', it was possible for a cartoon character to die on screen, but this was the time period where that became unacceptable. No animated characters had ever died on television and that trend continues today. The exception being adult-targeted shows, such as Family Guy and South Park, among others. Disney struggled during this time period. Although Sleeping Beauty (1959) is a beloved Disney classic, it proved to be somewhat of a failure compared to earlier Disney films, namely Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney was forced to downsize and retreated from fairy tales for 30 years. It was in the mid 80's when box office hits like The Little Mermaid and Who Framed Roger Rabbit brought Disney out of it's slump. Another animation studio, Warner Brothers Animation, had to shut down multiple times due to budget problems. They closed in 1963, reopened in 1967, shut down two years later and didn't reopen until 1980. The always positive messages adults wanted kids to see and hear were strangling the studio writers. Their themes had to be over censored for a movie to at least break even.
"TV is such a monster. It swallows up all this animation so fast that nobody seems to care whether it's good or bad. These kids shows are badly done technically; it seems as though nobody really looks at them but the kids… the networks don't look at the show, they just look at the ratings. If the ratings are good, to heck with the show. They don't care whether it's just a bouncing ball."
Besides the falling ratings on the producers' backs, it was the attitudes of the parents of young children. The parents wanted more positive content. Being politically correct went to the forefront of parents ideals for their children. For instance, parents wanted their kids to never complain, or never use the word "die." Parents had a tough time conveying these messages to their children. Prior to 'The Dark Age', it was possible for a cartoon character to die on screen, but this was the time period where that became unacceptable. No animated characters had ever died on television and that trend continues today. The exception being adult-targeted shows, such as Family Guy and South Park, among others. Disney struggled during this time period. Although Sleeping Beauty (1959) is a beloved Disney classic, it proved to be somewhat of a failure compared to earlier Disney films, namely Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney was forced to downsize and retreated from fairy tales for 30 years. It was in the mid 80's when box office hits like The Little Mermaid and Who Framed Roger Rabbit brought Disney out of it's slump. Another animation studio, Warner Brothers Animation, had to shut down multiple times due to budget problems. They closed in 1963, reopened in 1967, shut down two years later and didn't reopen until 1980. The always positive messages adults wanted kids to see and hear were strangling the studio writers. Their themes had to be over censored for a movie to at least break even.
[WARNING: VERY EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND CONTENT]
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The revival of modern animation can be credited to two men, Ralph Bakshi, and Fred "Tex" Avery. Both animators followed the likes of MAD Magazine in targeting adults with cartoons. In 1972, Ralph Bakshi created Fritz the Cat. The show was so controversial, challenging hippies and leftist views, that it is remembered as the, first X- rated animation. Bakshi "challenged the idea that cartoons were solely 'kids stuff', an idea becoming increasingly popular at the time due to diminishing quality." This new approach catered to adults. The animation quality wasn't too good, but the writing was clever enough to keep viewers watching.
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"Nutty for nutty sake"
Although the quality of animation would soon descend into the 'Dark Age of Animation,' there was a tactic Fred "Tex" Avery used that other animators would later recreate. Avery was a pioneer in the advancement of animation. He thrived in the 40's and 50's. He was able to capture every emotion in an animated character. To him, animation evolved to be a pressure-release valve, a way to laugh. Jeff Price, the screenwriter for Shrek the Third and Who Framed Roger Rabbit coined the term "Nutty for nutty sake".
- Tashlin, Frank. How to Draw Cartoons. Los Angeles: SCOTArt, 1952. Print.
- "The Dark Age of Animation." The Dark Age of Animation - TV Tropes. TV Tropes, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
- "Jeff Price." Telephone interview. 11 Mar. 2015.
- Puss Gets the Boot-Tom and Jerry. Dir. William Hanna, Joseph Barbera. MGM Studios. 1940.
- Trying to Escape Yellowstone Park- Yogi Bear. Dir. William Hanna, Joseph Barbera. MGM Studios. 1960.
- Fritz The Cat- 1972- Theatrical Trailer. Dir. Ralph Bakshi. Steve Krantz Productions. 1972.