Dump

I don’t mean this to be critical of Mr. Jerry Beck and his baby “Cartoon Dump”. I’ve had correspondence with Mr. Beck and he is a pleasant and knowledgeable guy in all matters cartoon. That’s why I’m having difficulty with the whole premise of Cartoon Dump. It’s easy to mock something blatantly awful, (and there are truly awful cartoons), but the truth is the bad cartoons far outweigh the good. It is easy pickings to show a bad cartoon and make fun of it.

Perhaps I am picking up my old curmudgeon ways again or I’m a little sensitive about commercialism ruining a difficult art form. You heard me, art form, that’s what I’ve always considered Animation to be. The only reason these monstrosities were made was some greedy attempt at capitalizing on the success and popularity of well crafted cartoons. I don’t know how many unqualified businessmen have tried to become the ‘next’ Walt Disney.

Now Cartoon Dump is cloaked in the guise of a Childrens’ program much like Pee Wees’ Playhouse. But when Pee Wees’ King of Cartoons showed strange cartoons it was used to further the absurdities of the Playhouse parody universe. Cartoon Dump on the other hand has the characters lives influenced by and existing only as a means to show these terrible ‘toons’. There is social commentary of a dark and negative nature too that seems politically biased and heavy handed which only exacerbates the wait for an unpleasant cartoon experience.

Sorry Jerry, it’s just not my cup of tea. I would rather be entertained and learn from the best animated films. I’m already tainted by the cynicism of this world and the prostitution of my chosen profession. If I’m taking this too seriously, at least I’m doing it on my own blog and not in the comment section of Becks’ Cartoon Brew.