Fleur De Los

I watch cartoons still. A lot. I saw Up, Wall-E (twice) and loved Kung-Fu Panda so much I bought it on DVD. I still watch it ever now and again. As a kid, I watched nothing but cartoons (thank you early Cartoon Network). I loved every one of them. Every Hanna-Barbara, every Merry Melodies and Looney Tunes and every single caper show where a group of teenagers solve mysteries with their talking [insert animal or vehicle here]. Don’t get me started on Disney/Pixar movies. Thought most of them came out when I was in middle school or older, I had already discovered The Simpsons and felt like God had given me the OK to watch cartoons well into and past adolescence. Like I said I still watch cartoons today. And it’s awesome.

Now say what you will, but cartoons are amazing. They can be smart, funny, moving, dramatic, beautiful, thrilling and artistic all at once. Remember that scene in Wall-E when he gets suck in the escape pod but makes it out and then he and Eve do an interstellar dance? If you can’t appreciate art like that, you need to look desperately for your inner child and save him from whatever well he’s stuck in.

I know a girl who makes fun of me for watching cartoons. This is funny because I thought most girls get cartoons, if only because they can be exceedingly cute. But this girl stands firm when she says “I don’t watch cartoons.” I stand firm that she’s an idiot. So is anyone else who dismisses cartoons because they’re animated or targeted to children.

Cartoons — the good ones, anyway — are accecisble to everyone. You know why Pixar always bring in the bank? Not because kids like them, but because their parents do. When parents like a movie as much as kids, they’ll be more willing to take kids for repeat views and more willing to buy a DVD. Everybody wins.

Of course, adults don’t have to have kids to enjoy cartoons and I wish that most adults would watch great cartoons on their own (or in groups, just without kids). And I’m not talking about college students getting baked and watching Ren and Stimpy (though there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that), I mean real adults with real jobs and real responsibilities should take time out of your day to watch a great cartoon.

Shoot, even read a great children’s book. I recommend The Phantom Tollbooth or Alice in Wonderland. Both are intelligent children’s books, ones that don’t talk down to their audience or think children are a bunch of dribbling idiots with no coherent thoughts. Kids can understand far more than we give them credit for and, to that extent, great children’s books can teach adults more than they thought they could know.

Hell, definitely read a great children’s book; it’s more mentally stimulating.

“But it’s not just learning things that’s important. It’s learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things at all that matters.” - The Princess of Rhyme, The Phantom Tollbooth