We’ve all had our fair share of cartoons, those crazy drawings that come to life. They come in all shapes and sizes. One of those was good old Tom and Jerry. It was on this date, February 10, 1940, that the cartoon was created by William Hanna & Joseph Barbera.
That whacky duo, Tom and Jerry. Those two really used to fight like cats and dogs. Well, cats and mice, maybe. But so did the rest of the cartoon world. Bugs and Elmer. Daffy was in on it too. Popeye and Brutus. Maybe the worst of them all was that Coyote and the Road Runner.
Those old cartoons could be pretty violent. But did they influence our real-life behavior? It seems that opinions on the influences of cartoon violence vary. From personal experience, I watched a lot of those vicious episodes, but I don’t remember acting like the cartoons. In fact, I’ve never felt the urge to strike another person and probably never will.
Some researchers believe that a high level of violence in cartoons can make children more aggressive. Some of their studies found that young children tend to mimic the negative behavior they see on television. Flip the coin because other recent research has shown that children do not appear to mimic acts of violence in the media. Be it a television show or cartoon.
I think it is about parents teaching their children the difference between right and wrong: actions and their consequences. My own personal research gives me this conclusion.
But back to those cartoons. Their beginnings hold quite a history. First, we would have to start with optical toys, which can be traced back to the 17th century.
Many of the “animation-type” inventions came about in the 1800s, including the Taumatrope (1826). They need better names for these things, I’ll tell you. The Taumatrope was a spinning disc with different images on each side. It was suspended and pulled between two twisted strings. It made the images go.
Then there was Phenakistoscope (1832). See what I mean about the names? It was a series of still drawings on a disc moving against another disc. It had holes in it so the viewer could see moving figures, a lot like an old “flipbook.”
There were more of these toys, like the Zoetrope (1867) and the Praxinoscope (1878). These were animated-picture machines that cropped up through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among others.
Finally, the one we are more familiar with. In 1891, Thomas Edison came up with the Kinetoscope. It was mostly just a lighted box containing photographs that spun quickly on a reel.
I remember having a “View-Master” when I was a kid. Those sunglass-looking things with the discs of photos. You could flip through and see different 3-D images. Before that, I had a little Fisher-Price camera, and when you clicked the button, a new scene would appear in the viewfinder. Oh. The joy.
Enough about the machines.
There is so much I could say about cartoons, especially the ones on the edge of violence. For instance. There is a group of these that are called “The Censored Eleven.” They come from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. They have been withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) beginning in 1968. This is mostly because they display ethnic stereotypes — mostly African.
But cartoons are here to stay. I should mention that The Simpsons is the longest-running TV show in history.
So, a glimpse at the world of cartoons. Like Tom and Jerry, they seem to have a bit of push and pull. Cat and mouse. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say, “That’s All Folks.”
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“I didn’t think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows.” – Bart Simpson
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“I’m not normally a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman.”
– Homer Simpson, ‘The Simpsons’.
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“God, I’d like to offer you this milk and cookies. If you want me to eat these for you please give me no sign.” – Homer Simpson
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Hitting it with the old cartoons.
