Monday, April 1, 2013

The Cartoon Bracket Final Four Breakdown

Final Four!  This wasn’t too surprising in terms of who advanced, but most of the matchups came down to the end and were a lot closer than expected.  I think that trend will continue as everyone’s favorites from each round go head-to-head.  Let’s take a look at the matchups.

Looney Tunes (1) vs. The Flintstones (1)

Matt:  Both Looney Tunes and The Flintstones were slightly challenged during the last round.  They wound up prevailing, but that puts this round in a little more jeopardy.  I originally thought that Looney Tunes would roll here, and I still think they win, but I’m not nearly as confident now.  I will make the case for Looney Tunes by saying that after watching some of the old cartoons recently, these were edgy before anyone knew what edgy was.  Half of the cartoons, or at least the jokes in the cartoons would not be acceptable today.  They are hilarious, but a little too controversial for this day and age.  This goes for not only the racial jokes that we as a society have grown out of, but also gun-related jokes that would be incredibly out of place in this society.  It’s a time capsule of where we were and where we are now.  To me, The Flintstones (aside from that cigarette commercial) was a lot more vanilla.  This isn’t to say that it was a bad cartoon, as we can attest by their placement in the final four, but it was definitely not as memorable in my eyes as Bugs and friends.  This may have to do with the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show that was popular on Saturday mornings in the early and mid nineties that kept it relevant for our generation.  Watching the episodes with my kids now, it just brings back all of the good memories of that time, while still holding up as solid cartoons today.  That’s a true test of a good cartoon in my opinion.
Nik:  I’m inclined to agree. I think that Looney Tunes has much more to offer, much more appeal to current generations, and our generation even, than Flintstones does. If you have a hankering for Flintstones, you can just watch King of Queens or Honeymooners, or even the Simpsons. Fat dumb guy, wife who puts up with crap, throw some kids in there, a wacky neighbor, some tertiary characters and they all fit the same cookie cutter. Looney Tunes is not so easily pegged down. And because it’s having more of a nostalgic, original feel, I think that it’s got this one.
Matt:  It’s amazing how many shows are just an iteration of the fat guy-hot wife Honeymooners theme.


The Simpsons (2) vs. Animaniacs (5)

Matt:  The Simpsons is the only contender last round that won by a large margin, blowing Transformers away.  I think that they continue that dominance here.  I like the fight that Animaniacs has put up, continuing its run as the “giant killer” but I think that it ends here.  There is no doubt in my mind that The Simpsons has fallen off a bit in the last few years, but it’s hard to keep up the quality over a multi-decade span.  The fact that they are still going, and that at times there are still some very funny moments, at least one per episode, proves to me that it is one of the best cartoons of all time.  Like Looney Tunes, the older episodes, before they were really heavy into the pop-culture, still hold up pretty good.  Sure, the animation is not as crisp back in the late eighties, early nineties, but the way they were written and the significance of the cartoon makes it better than many that just fizzled out after a year or two.  Animaniacs was great, but The Simpsons was transcendent in terms of its cultural importance.  By The Simpsons winning, it would set up a final between the two most multi-generational cartoons of all time. 
Nik:  It is very difficult to add much more to what Matt said. Frankly these two don’t even belong in the same category of cartoon. Simpsons is a multi-generational titan of the animated world. Animaniacs was cool, and is fondly remembered back with Bobby’s World and Tiny Toons, but cannot begin to compare in terms of cultural relevance and over-all staying power. The Simpsons has had a movie, several music albums (Do the Bart Man), thousands of t-shirts, video games and who knows what other crap that has seeped into an everyday way of life. You could ask an 18 year old kid about the Simpsons. You can’t ask them about Animaniacs. While I really dig a ton of the voice work from Animaniacs (Maurice Lamarche, Rob Paulsen, Tress Macneil, to name a few), The Simpsons has also had tons of powerhouse voices as well. So it really seems that there is nothing that Animaniacs has over the Simpsons in terms of strong points. Simpsons it is.
Matt:  Ha!  Do the Bart-Man!


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