The art of Cartoons

What is something that needs to be said?

Answered On Quora.Com October 22, 2017

Indian kids should stop watching crap like Chhota Bheem, Motu Patlu etc.

As a person who grew up in the nineties, watching Justice league, Johny Quest, Swat Kats, Dexter’s laboratory on Cartoon Network, it is painful to watch the children of this generation wasting their brains on these cheesy cartoons such as Chhota Bheem.

Firstly, these Indian cartoons have really bad artistic quality. Crappy characters, sloppy animation, reuse of frames. Secondly, there is complete lack of imagination on the storyline front.

I was watching these cartoons along with my niece and nephew once and was completely taken aback by the lack of passion for the art. These cartoons scream mediocrity. It totally seem like someone with Kirana shop started with the idea of making shitty cartoons for children to en-cash the market with total disregard for the art.

They say that next generation is smarter than the previous one. Seeing these children actually enjoying these shows makes me doubt that.

Edit : 22nd Oct 2017.

I did not expect that so many people would have similar feelings about this matter.

Some people noted few points against my point of view.

1. Some people made few fair arguments like -

>> Cartoons like Chhota Bheem are targeted for children below 10.

Okay I agree that some series like Justice League are too complex to understand for toddlers. But still, just try to recall what we had in nineties for the kids below 10?

I didn't mention full list of nineties shows because I thought I was making an obvious point.

In the nineties, we had cartoons like Alladin, Mowgli, Duck Tales, Talespin and shows like Panchtantra, Potli Baba Ki and Shaktiman. The quality of the drawings and animation frame rate were far superior for those cartoon series that we used to watch 20-25 years ago.

These shows were totally entertaining as well as gave the kids curiosity. We wanted to go on a treasure hunt, wanted to know how a real life Bageera looked like, how Launchpad would fly (and crash) every kind of Helicopter, where were the pyramids, where were the jungles of Amazon, what was Kundalini and was it really possible to awaken it, was it really possible for the thieves to hide in an oil barrel.

I am not denying that cartoons like Chhota Bheem might also be showing such entertaining stories to some extent. But look at the quality of drawings and animation. It's hideous compared to the craft that our generation used to watch. It's evident that they are making these shows just to make quick buck and has nothing to do with educating kids or making them more curious about anything.

With advancement of technology over these years, is it unreasonable expectation that we see more advanced animation and imagination in today's cartoons?

2. Some people went down the path of nationalism, desi hero, Indian values, inferiority complex for firangi things?

What can I say.. I would just ask them that given a choice, would they watch the current crappy cartoons or the ones I mentioned above? I would also ask them that do they really think that by letting their kids watch the current cartoons they are insinuating Indian values and knowledge of mythology in their Kids?

Just to make it clear that I am not someone who blindly follow west, I would like to mention that I have read both Ramayana and Mahabharata and I know Geet Ramayana by heart. I admire the epics and our mythology not because I am a devotee. It is because I love the art and philosophy in them.

Just because some series have name of a great mythological warrior does not guarantee that it will be doing justice to that character. By that logic, Kekta Kapoor is not a opportunistic scum but someone whom we should revere for making shows like Siya ke Ram, Kahani Mahabharata Ki and Chandra Nandini.

3. Excellent observations in some of the comments like this one.

I think the fact that quality of TV has degraded over the time is something no sane person can deny. Celebrating, supporting low quality cartoons like Chhota Bheem under whatever pretext has only encouraged more mediocrity in the craft of animation and dissuaded those who made those brilliant cartoon series for our generation.