Cartoons have been an integral part of our lives since childhood. I remember watching cartoons every Saturday on Doordarshan during my kindergarten days. During those days, Mickey and Minnie’s pair was the most fascinating.
But the present day cartoons aired on TV channels are not the same as before. They have evolved through time undergoing many changes, from a piece of paper to the TV screens.
Cartoons originally were, and still are, a full-size sketch and drawing used as a graphic art form depicting a pictorial parody utilizing caricature satire, usually humour. This original or literally traditional form of cartoon is even used today primarily for conveying political commentary and editorial opinion in newspapers. They are also used to depict social comedy and visual wit in magazines and how can we forget our comic books, Peanuts being the most famous amongst them.
The form of Cartoons which we watch on TV falls in another category of cartoons termed as animation. But this too has got a long known background. The first recorded animator was Pygmalion of Greece and Roman mythology, a sculptor who created a figure of a woman so perfect that he fell in love with her. Although this is to be considered a myth but the theory of the animated cartoons preceded the invention of the cinema by half a century.
In the past 80 years, children were usually entertained by animated films and television shows. Started in early 1920s, Felix the cat was the first cartoon icon, followed by characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto that were introduced by the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios in the late 1930s. In line with this it has been proved that cartoon shows have been part of almost every child. On the other hand, getting to the serious aspects, many theories have been noted about the history of the most watched cartoon shows by children. The cartoon shows Aladdin and Adventure time were set in a post apocalyptic world in the future time. With this, the researchers hypothesized that modern cartoons might contain inappropriate scenes that might affect the behaviour of the children who watch it.
In today’s television shows, it can be concluded that it contains violence and aggression which is not suitable for young audiences. With this, the children tend to imitate the actions they have watched on the television.
There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, “A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which everyone who passes by leaves an impression”. This is what is happening in today’s world. The present day cartoons that children like to watch contain a some amount of violence. Most of the cartoons these days use inappropriate language in their shows which leaves a bad impact on children.
However, after the introduction of mobile phones and smartphones to children, the number of cartoon fans has declined drastically. One can hardly find fans of cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Mr Bean etc. The craze to watch cartoons is lost somewhere in these smartphones and social media or in those cool looking but violent cartoons. The insanity watching Tom and Jerry run and irritate each other and laughing to the fullest has faded away. Today, one can find Facebook and Whatsapp account of a 10year-old.
It appears that the fun part in these shows no longer entertain the younger crowd. There was time when these cartoon shows not only entertained us but they taught values as well. Richie Rich was the one who taught us never to be proud, Tom and Jerry were the ones who made us know about an unending bond of enemity but deep inside hidden was the bond of friendship. Mr Bean taught us no matter what the world thinks about you, live your life in your own way.
From Amar Chitra Katha to Chota Bheem, cartoons have travelled a long way and have also evolved in their language, may it be comic or animated. I don’t suggest that cartoons should be an inseparable part of human life, but I do suggest children should be able to understand the values hidden in these cartoons.
