Ever since we were children, we’ve been in contact with cartoons as a form of distraction and entertainment. But their impact goes far beyond having fun in front of the television. They can shape children’s creativity, imagination, language development and behavior.
Over the decades, these cartoons have changed to keep up with the tastes of each generation of children and the way certain themes are addressed to support their development.
In this article, we’ll use Cartoon Network’s shows as a basis to better track the changes that have taken place over time. But first, let’s learn a little about them.
What is Cartoon Network?
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American pay-TV channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which broadcasts cartoons 24 hours a day.
The channel was launched on October 1, 1992, after Warner acquired the Hanna-Barbera Studios — responsible for classics such as Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Wacky Races.
In 1993, CN arrived in Brazil. Since then, the channel has become a reference all over the world with outstanding cartoons for each new generation.
1st Generation (1996 – 2003)
This is probably CN’s most iconic era, because of the classics cartoons that were airing at the time: The Powerpuff Girls; Johnny Bravo; Courage: The Cowardly Dog; Cow and Chicken; Dexter’s Laboratory; Ed, Edd n Eddy; The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy; and KND – Kids Next Door.
At that time, the unique difference of each drawing was evident in its style, which can still be easily recognized nowadays.
As for the themes, they generally didn’t deal with deep subjects, instead focusing on fantasy adventures with comedy, lots of bright colors and onomatopoeias. It was also the heyday of superhero cartoons, with Justice League, X-Men Evolution, Static Shock, and Totally Spies!, as well as anime like Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokémon.
The timelessness of these cartoons is notable for the fact that they are not considered childish and are still favorites of many adults to this day.
The emergence of Adult Swim
But it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. It was during Cartoon Network’s first generation that Adult Swim debuted: a TV block on the channel that broadcasted adult cartoons – such as Futurama, Family Guy and Aqua Teen Hunger Force — between 11 p.m and 5 a.m — when children would (or should) be asleep – to attract an older audience to the channel.
Even with the warning that read,“Strong warning to parents […] These programs may contain some material that many parents would not consider suitable for children and may include intense violence, sexual situations, coarse language and suggestive dialogue”, many parents still complained about these shows, claiming their children stayed up late to watch them.
It was only in 2008, after controversies involving the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brazil, that Adult Swim was removed from Cartoon Network.
2nd Generation (2004 – 2009)
During this era, other cartoons such as The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, The Marvelous and Misadventures of Flapjack, and Chowder made their debut. But the highlight goes to Ben 10, which became one of the broadcaster’s most famous cartoons.
With the success of Ben 10, Cartoon Network began to think about an older audience, between the ages of 12 and 15, and created Ben 10: Alien Force.
During this period, the thematics of adventure and fantasy were still trending. However, a process of infantilization was starting, which would become more evident later.
3rd Generation (2010 – 2015)
While the first generation is very famous among the adults of the 90s, Cartoon Network’s third generation was the one that stamped today’s youngsters with iconic cartoons such as The Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball, Regular Show, The Bare Bears, and Steven Universe.
Despite featuring a more childlike and “standardized” style, these shows bring more complex subjects — considered adult — to children in a subtle way, with Steven Universe being an example.
From gender identity — through the character Garnet, who is a combination of two other gems, Ruby and Sapphire — to how to cope with grief, Steven Universe is a reflection of a society that aims for inclusion since childhood, highlighting the importance of dealing with complicated issues from a young age.
Another cartoon that does this nowadays and doesn’t belong to CN —— is Bluey, which portrays the day life of a family of dogs with many important life lessons such as parenting and family relationships.
Despite being a cute and educational cartoon, many parents disliked the fact that the main character is a female puppy. The confusion was caused by Bluey’s color — blue, as her name suggests — a color traditionally attributed to boys. As a result, many parents prevented their children from playing with the cartoon’s toys because of the protagonist’s gender.
4th and 5th Generation (2016 – 2019 and 2020 – currently)
It’s from these last two generations that things started to go downhill. In them, Cartoon tried to revive shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, and The Bare Bears with completely different and more childish styles compared to the original works.
This excessive infantilization reflects a new generation of children influenced by cell phone and tablet screens, who are no longer interested in cartoons. So, in an attempt to reach this audience in some way, the company decided to drastically change the style of its animations.
The change in style was also due to the drop in ratings suffered by Cartoon Network, which was soon consolidated as a part of HBO Max, now home to cartoons from all generations in its catalog. This shift resulted from a merger between CN and Warner Bros. Animations to consolidate a new studio headed by Sam Register, the brand’s CEO.
The article above was edited by Isabella Simões.
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