Something that the iPad-glued, internet-crazy and attention-hungry kids of today do not have is the blessing of cartoon characters that we had the fortune to grow up with. From Scooby Doo’s mystery-solving gang, to the flirtatious Johnny Bravo, from the experiments of Dexter’s Laboratory to the weirdness of the Adams Family, we had a whole bunch of cartoons that were creative, brave, colourful characters that helped us become smart individuals. The unique thing about these cartoons from the 90s era was that they were simple in their approach.
90’s was also the time when each and every kid was watching these cartoon shows, as opposed to the children of today who have PS3 in their living room and think that outdoor sports is a fictional concept. They would never know the pleasures of returning from school, dumping your bag and plopping down in front of the TV to tune into Cartoon Network, or scheduling our homework around the timings of our favourite cartoon or even watching reruns of the same cartoon over and over again. The children of today have no time what with their never-ending tuitions and their heavy backpacks pulling them further down into the deep trenches of society’s pressure to perform well in exams.
- Johnny Bravo
2. Dexter’s Labratory
3. Scooby Dooby Doo
4. Powerpuff Girls
5. Swat Kats
6. Popeye, the Sailor Man
7. The Adventures of Tintin
8. Jetsons
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
10. Yogi Bear
11. Captain Planet and the Planeteers
12. The Addams Family
13. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
14. Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner
15. The Flintstones
Fast forward to the cartoons of this already crammed digital age which have Transformers or a Ninja Hattori giving us life hacks. Doraemon, Shinchan, Oggy and the Cockroaches, Horrid Henry, yada yada, the list of these caricatures winning the day for us is endless. Personally, if anything, the cartoons have only gotten uglier if nothing else.
And Cartoon Network India per se has its own version of propaganda rolling, with the mythological characters that are supposed to impart wisdom to the young ones. Whether it is Chhota Bheem or Tenali Raman or Little Krishna or even Motu Patlu, these cartoons have an inherent sense of religious teachings that they are serving in the disguise of innocent animations. Do you smell Hindutva?
Alas, there will be no Popeye flexing their muscles or no DeeDee to annoy the brains out of us anymore.
And no more Scooby Snacks
