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toons: Animated idols still entice
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BALL
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25, 1997
By Aaron Meier
The Battalion
T exas A&M students who
were raised in the ’80s grew
up with such cartoon icons
as Optimus Prime, Orko and
Rainbow Brite. Today, many stu
dents still watch cartoons — but
now they follow the adventures
of Babs Bunny, Wacko and
Homer Simpson.
Cartoons have come a long
way since the days of Bedrock
and Spacely’s Space Sprockets.
Recently, the animated prime
time series The Simpsons sur
passed The Flintstones as the
longest running cartoon series
ever. Cartoons are not only an
outlet for children on Saturday
mornings, but also a popular
form of adult satire.
David Siller; a senior English
major, said there is more to to
day’s cartoons than just slapstick
humor and boulders crush
ing umbrella-hold
ing coyotes.
“The humor is
so adult in the
newer cartoons,”
Siller said. “They
contain a lot of ref
erences to pop cul
ture. They talk
about anything
from Anastasia to
Milton Berle.”
Siller said his
favorite cartoon is
Animaniacs, a dai
ly show that fol
lows the exploits
of the Warner “brothers” and
the Warner sister, Dot. His fa
vorite character is Yacko, the
older Warner brother and the
leader of the group.
Diana Houghton, a senior
environmental design major,
said her favorite character on
Animaniacs is Wacko, the
younger brother.
“I love his accent on the show,”
Houghton said. “My favorite
episode is when he is running
around talking about having to go
potty in that cute accent.”
Houghton said the humor in
Animaniacs and other cartoon
shows like Pinky and the Brain
and Tiny ‘Toons attracts a very
adult audience.
“When you are a kid watch
ing cartoons you laugh when
you are supposed to, even if you
don’t get it,” Houghton said.
“The humor of these shows can
be very adult. At times it is al
most sexual.”
The adult-themed plots have
even expanded into such action
cartoons as Gargoyles and X-Men.
Houghton said that com
pared to action shows of her
childhood such as He-Man and
Super friends, the cartoons of to
day have interesting plots and
well-developed characters.
“I really don’t miss the cartoons I
used to watch as a kid,” Houghton
said. “The best cartoons are the ones
out now. The shows these days are
not as cheesy.”
Houghton said Gargoyles, a
show about creatures who turn
into stone during the day and
come to life at night, appeals to
her because it draws its roots
from fantasy literature and be
cause its subject matter is
more sinister than that of oth
er shows.
Other students prefer the ab
surdity of cartoons with little re
alistic basis.
Robby Knight, a sophomore
construction science major, en
joys watching a satirical super
hero cartoon The Tick. With
such characters as American
Maid, a woman dressed in a red,
white and blue maid uniform,
and “El Seed,” a giant flower
who hates people, The Tick’s ab
surd characters make the show
memorable, Knight said.
“The show has characters
whose battle cry is, T play with
dolls,”’ Knight said. “The absur
dity of the entire situation is
what makes it good.”
Siller said cartoons not only
link him to his childhood, but also
with a younger generation of car
toon watchers. Siller’s younger
cousins share in the ritual of sit
ting in front of the television and
enjoying the animation.
“Sometimes I’ll get a joke in the
cartoon they don’t understand
and I’ll start laughing,” Siller said.
“They will just look at me like I am
a dork and tell me to shut up.”
Siller said he likes to watch
both contemporary ’toons and
the ones from his childhood.
“Cartoons give you a good
grasp on your childhood and re
mind you to keep the kid inside
alive,” Siller said.
poops.- Students look to serials for escape — and a few laughs
By Melissa Price
The Battalion
3374
A sl(
A ch
1 JLmc
long as she can remember,
Christine McCabe, a sopho-
ore speech communica
tions major, has watched the soap
opera A// My Children.
I McCabe said she is addicted to
bap operas primarily because they
have always been a major part of
herlife. She said she feels a day is in
complete if she doesn’t get her dose
(if soap opera drama.
“Soap operas are something
people use to escape from reality,”
McCabe said. “We’re a society who
Ikes to gossip and know about
everyone’s personal lives, and soap
operas do that for us.”
McCabe also has been watching
eneral Hospital since she was a
sophomore in high school. She said
daytime soap operas are popular
imong college students because
there is nothing else interesting on
daytime television.
McCabe said her favorite soap
opera, All My Children, is the most
realistic of those she has seen.
“It actually has stories that real
people experience — not stupid sto
ries about devil possession and peo
ple coming back to life,” McCabe said.
Erik Peterson, a sophomore bio
medical science major, said it is the
unrealistic storylines and unbeliev
able plot twists that make soap op
eras exciting.
Peterson, who currently watch
es four soap operas a day, said he al
ways schedules classes around his
favorite soap opera, The Young and
the Restless. Peterson said he feels
like he knows the characters per
sonally because he has been watch
ing the show since 1992.
“I care more about what hap
pens to the characters on The
Young and the Restless because they
are like a family friend,” Peterson
said. “Just like you wouldn’t turn
away a friend if they were in need—
it’s hard for me to turn off the TV
and not watch what is happening in
their lives.”
Although he loves watching soap
operas, Peterson said sometimes
they are frustrating because they
move at a slow pace. He said one of
the primary reasons he began watch
ing Sunset Beach, the newest soap
opera on NBC, is it moves faster than
other soap operas.
Joy Muckleroy, a junior English
major, has been watching soap op
eras for 12 years. She said she
watches General Hospital because
the characters are close in age to
college students.
Although she can sometimes
relate to the characters on Gener
al Hospital, Muckleroy said usu
ally their lives are so far-fetched it
is humorous.
“I watch soap operas to see how
stupid the characters are,” Muck
leroy said. “Their lives are so unre
alistic — you have to watch just to
see what else could possibly hap
pen to them.”
Gabriela Juarez, a sophomore in
dustrial distribution major, has been
watching telenovelas, the Spanish
equivalent to American soap operas,
since she was a small child.
She said the
main difference
between telenov
elas and Ameri
can soap operas is
that telenovelas
last from 3
months to a year
and always con
clude much like
extended
an
miniseries.
Juarez said an
other difference is
that American
soap operas have
complex plots and
try to teach viewers a lesson, while te
lenovelas are less complicated and are
based on fairy tales.
Juarez said she watches telenov
elas because they allow her to es-
“Being a male who
watches soap operas
makes me feel weird,
but it is not going to
make me stop
watching them.”
Erik Peterson
Sophomore biomedical science
major
cape the realities of daily life.
“It’s something different to come
home to that gets you out of the reg
ular routine of studying and going
to class,” Juarez said. “Soap operas
, are not real —
it’s another
world that is go
ing on that does
n’t usually hap
pen in real life.”
Peterson said
he prefers
watching soap
operas to night
time TV shows
because soap
operas are on
five times a
week. He said
this allows char
acters to devel
op fully and gives viewers insight
into what makes characters tick.
Peterson said soap operas offer
viewers a slice of life some people
can only dream of.
“That is a life we all want to live —
you’re happy, successful, good-looking
and rich,” Peterson said. “Their lives
are so much more exciting than ours.”
McCabe said there seems to be a
gender difference when it comes to
watching soap operas. She said
there is an obvious reason more fe
males than males watch daytime
soap operas.
“Guys don’t want to watch shows
about who is sleeping with who, but
girls are more gossipy,” McCabe
said. “Due to the subject matter and
the fact that girls are generally more
gossipy than males, the shows are
more tuned in to females.”
Peterson said there will always be
certain activities society considers typ
ically male or female, but this does not
mean men don’t watch soap operas.
“I think soap operas are more
acceptable nowadays,” Peterson
said. “Being a male who watches
soap operas makes me feel weird;
but it is not going to make me stop
watching them.”
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