(Washington Insider Magazine) —I remember waking up and watching Saturday morning cartoons on ABC or WBKids. Netflix was not popular back then. I used to watch all of my favorites: Lilo & Stitch, The Weekenders, House of Mouse, Teen Titans and Xiaolin Showdown. These shows shaped my childhood. They gave me some of the greatest nostalgia even after 20 years of them airing on their respective networks.
What was so great about these shows? Was it because they came out in the 2000s when I was still a child? Was it because they had a certain sense of awe about them?
Maybe it’s because, by comparison, the cartoons of today pale in comparison to the cartoons of yesteryear. The cartoons of the 80s, 90s and 2000s had messages and themes that kids and adults could enjoy.
I remember watching Teen Titans from 2003 to 2006 and I remembered how every season focused on a specific character from the team. Admittedly, it had scenes and moments that might have been a little too silly, but, overall, it had such strong themes of believing in yourself, racism and forgiveness.
There was one episode, specifically, the last episode entitled “Things Change” where Beast Boy finds out that his love interest Terra has miraculously come back to life after she was encased in stone occurring after a battle with the Teen Titans’ worst enemy Slade.
After waking up from her stony slumber, she seems to have no memory of her time spent with the Titans or with Beast Boy. By the end of the episode, Beast Boy attempts to give her a communication device to contact him if she ever needs anything. Terra refuses the offer and wishes to be left alone and Beast Boy obliges.
The episode teaches audiences to let go and stop holding on to the shackles of the past. As I said before, it’s something that children and adults are able to enjoy. It’s a kids show but the themes still prove something to not be taken lightly.
Meanwhile, in the 2013 reboot, Teen Titans Go, this iteration of the characters decides to do away with anything serious or thematic in its writing and instead, opts to appeal to the lowest common denominator of children who are only watching to keep their minds off of anything else except the television set and offers nothing noteworthy or thought-provoking in its execution. It’s not even worthy of being aired as a PBS program.
Shows from when I grew up in the 2000s were not perfect, but they were more than just a mindless pastime for kids to indulge in when there was nothing to do. Shows like Hey Arnold, Jimmy Neutron, and the 90s Disney shows kids grew up with after coming home from school offered valuable lessons rather than just mindless entertainment. Shows of today (2020s and on) have turned into time wasters for children and seem more like longer tik-tok videos rather than an actual series for people to enjoy. It’s almost as if the writers know that children have a short attention span and don’t care about the content being written.
Let’s all hope that cartoons get back to being great again.
