I was at another board I frequent and someone started a thread about movies that make you cry. Someone mentioned Grave of the Fireflies and commented how it caught them unaware because (in their words) "Come on, I said, how sad can a CARTOON be?"

 

Ugh.

 

This whole idea that cartoons are only supposed to be Disneylike children's fare never ceases to annoy me. Some of the most powerful writing I've seen has come from animated fare. I will still stand by my previous statement that Batman: TAS and Cowboy Bebop are the best writing you'll find in TV anywhere. I can (and have) watched the last 3 episodes of Bebop a zillion times now and get floored every time.

 

It's one thing to simply not be aware of things, it's another to tell someone about a really great movie or show that happens to be animated and they react as if you just told them to rent a fucking Barney DVD. As little as 5 years ago they could forge the argument that animation for grown up audiences was hard to come by, but today every place that sells/rents DVDs has a section devoted to animation. Yeah you might have to weed past the Pokemon and hentai, but the availability is there now.

Some of the endings from Futurama are pretty brutal. The one with his dog is still heartbreaking after a lot of viewings.

The one with the four leaf clover got me, I wasn't expecting a serious twist. I figured there was gonna be a funny punchline to cap things off and when there wasn't I was like" .... well, shit."

This whole idea that cartoons are only supposed to be Disneylike children's fare never ceases to annoy me.

Considering that it wasn't until the 90's that cartoons were nothing more than just 30 minute commercials for toys this does not surprise me.

There's always been animation for grown up audiences, it's just been harder to find until now.

Anime had always appealed to all age groups but on american tv it was'nt until the Simpsons that animation appealed to older demographics. And in the theaters it was all kiddie Disney musicals until Pixar came along.

There was a small push in the late 70s to make American animation more adult. Even Disney pushed out some darker stuff with the Black Cauldron. Fritz the Cat and Heavy Metal are probably the two best known more adult animated features from around then.

Ralph Bakshi's work of the 70's and 80's was great but not everybody goes out of their way to see his films. People might confuse Fritz for Feliz the Cat and not know that it is X-rated animation.

That's the other thing, people who think animation is only kiddie shit and X rated shit with nothing in between.

 

The only thing more awkward than trying to explain to someone that being into animated movies doesn't mean you're a Disney freak is trying to explain to someone that being into animated movies doesn't mean you're a hentai/slash/yaoi freak either.

Disney may have offered up a lot of similar films during their golden age, but movies like Dumbo are legitimately emotional. Those sequences with his mother are some of the saddest Disney moments I can recall without getting melodramatic.

Bambi, motherfuckers.

 

It's kinda cliche now, but once you get to THAT SCENE in Bambi, it's hard not to lose it.

I find the best introduction to more serious animation are the Miyazaki movies. Not kiddie at all but they don't go too far over that comfort level and emotionally scar someone.

The only thing more awkward than trying to explain to someone that being into animated movies doesn't mean you're a Disney freak is trying to explain to someone that being into animated movies doesn't mean you're a hentai/slash/yaoi freak either.

Yeah and that middle ground is CGI fairy tale parodies or government conspiracy movies?