Modern Animation Presentation

Nicholas Berry gave a presentation on Thursday about modern mainstream animation. He started his presentation talking about cartoons and asked the class what cartoons we liked to watch growing up. Nicholas said that the cartoons we used to watch are episodic. This means that each episode had its own story that did not affect any other episodes. The storyline for each episode only lasts for that single episode. Nicholas shared some episodic elements: cheesy, humorous, over the top, unrealistic, and bright in color. A few examples of episodic shows are Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Johnny Bravo, and Animaniacs. I have only ever seen Ed, Edd, n Eddy. Nicholas then started to talk about the transition from episodic to modern day. Some examples of transition shows are Samurai Jack, Ben 10, Regular show, and Toonami. This transition meant that stories started to have longer story lines. Nicholas shared that his favorite show is Adventure Time. Some modern day elements that Nicholas shared with the class include surreal imagery, humor, longer story lines, and heavier political issues. I really enjoyed Nicholas’ presentation because I did not know much about cartoons before this. I rarely watched cartoons growing up, so this presentation was very informational.