# Are the Better Cartoons Designed with Adults in Mind? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898 "2005-01-03T21:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/21 "2005-01-04T17:32:01Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > At our local First Night last weekend, one of the movie theaters was running a 12-hour Looney Toons marathon. I saw a couple of hours worth (I had to sit through a 45-minute reel of '60s crap in the middle – the Blue Racer, the Tijuana Toads) and they were pretty good to watch – they hadn’t cut all the “violence” out of them. Quite a different experience watching them in the theater rather than on a TV. I saw a Tex Avery festival in a theater in London once—what an experience. There’s nothing like seeing one of those silhouette “man standing up in a theater” gags while you’re actually in a theater. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/22 "2005-01-04T18:24:11Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > I saw a Tex Avery festival in a theater in London once—what an experience. There’s nothing like seeing one of those silhouette “man standing up in a theater” gags while you’re actually in a theater. Tex Avery talked about this in an interview in one of the commentaries in the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. He also said that he NEVER made any of his cartoons with children in mind. He aimed for the adults in the audience. What a genius he was. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/23 "2005-01-04T19:13:29Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > Since we are judging them _as adults_, wouldn’t we lend more credit to those designed with us in mind? That’s what I thought when I saw this thread. None of us are really in a position to determine if cartoons with jokes aimed at adults or completely targeted at adults are “better” than cartoons aimed at kids. My wife has extremely fond memories of the Smurfs and Fraggle Rock. They were the cartoons of her childhood and made deep impressions on her as a child. They don’t carry over into adulthood very well, but they appeal to their audience and that’s what they were supposed to do. The cartoons with longevity have it because their audience has grown up and still enjoys them. Show me a cartoon which was aimed at kids thirty years ago which has been enjoyed in re-runs by every generation of kids since then and I’ll show you a fantastic cartoon. I don’t care if adults appreciate it or not. It would be really hard to say these other cartoons are “better” than the one which has been enjoyed by three generations of children(assuming cartoon-enjoying childhood starts around 4-5 and ends in mid-late teens 14-16 this means a “child generation” in the context of juvenile cartoon enjoyment is half an adult generation which is correlated to reproductive cycles). Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![the4thmooncat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce7236/32.png) [@the4thmooncat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the4thmooncat)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/24 "2005-01-04T23:19:02Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > (assuming cartoon-enjoying childhood starts around 4-5 and ends in mid-late teens 14-16 \ So, if someone continues to like "kids’ " cartoons past the age of 16, is this odd? \ ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/25 "2005-01-05T01:24:46Z")
> [@the4thmooncat](#): > > \ > So, if someone continues to like "kids’ " cartoons past the age of 16, is this odd? > \ No, I just put the cutoff point there because that’s about the time most start to care far more about the opposite sex than about making sure they’re able to get up early Saturday morning. In fact, the dates on Friday nights tend to ruin those early Saturday morning view-a-thons and the cartoon watching drops off. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/26 "2005-01-05T01:40:18Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > PowerPuff Girls are like that too. They had a fantastic Beatles parody episode, which rivals the Simpsons’ “B-Sharps” episode in cleverness. Oh, the Beatles. I just got the joke, “Let’s think of a name that’s funny the first time you hear it, and gets less funny every other time after that”. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/27 "2005-01-05T01:43:02Z")
> [@the4thmooncat](#): > > \ > So, if someone continues to like "kids’ " cartoons past the age of 16, is this odd? > \ In this over-16-year-old’s opinion, hell no! ---
**Author:** ![Brufordesque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecc23a/32.png) [@Brufordesque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brufordesque)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/28 "2005-01-06T16:31:31Z")
The “Meet the Beat-Alls” episode of Powerpuff Girls is pure genius. It actually won an Emmy. That’s probably one of my all time favorites - right up there with Looney Toons “The Rabbit of Seville”. Anyway - to add to the list, I would have to say The Tick was definitely aimed at adults. And also - anyone remember the New Mighty Mouse Show? It didn’t last long. After an episode where a tired Mighty Mouse sniffed a flower and got back his energy a “concerned parent” complained that it was a cocaine reference and the show quickly disappeared. But it was also clearly aimed at adults. Especially when they spoofed Scooby-Do. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/29 "2005-01-06T16:40:37Z")
Ever watch any of the **Kipper the Dog** cartoons? They are aimed at little kids. My daughter and my nephew, both aged 3, love them; so does every little kid that I’ve ever seen view them. Adults tend to find them rather tedious, IME, especially if said adults think something like **The Family Guy** or **Drawn Together** is the high water mark of animated entertainment. Little kids, IME, tend to lose interest in the more “sophisticated” shows quickly. Which cartoons are best? How old are you? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898/30 "2005-01-06T18:15:46Z")
Dexter’s Lab had a great parody of Speed Racer. They completely nailed the essence of it. Are they still making episodes of The Oblongs? I loved that show, especially the creepy goth girl. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-better-cartoons-designed-with-adults-in-mind/282898.md?page=1)