The Underdogs

Sometimes the small, shy, and dorky are actually the hero in disguise. The Underdog, is a common concept, portrayed by the main character in many cartoons. Let's begin with a character who actually goes by the name, Underdog. Created in 1964, Underdog is the story of a shoe shine puppy that transforms himself into a superhero when Sweet Polly Purebread gets into trouble. Since then, many "underdog" characters have appeared onto the scene. The main trait that an underdog exhibits is being an outsider, as the rest of the world feel as though they are incompetent or insignificant. Daria is a high school teen who portrays herself as smart, cynical, and sarcastic. Daria's personality makes her a less favorable character in her suburban town of Lawndale. Courage, from the show Courage the cowardly dog, is an inner secret hero that hides behind his insecurity, shyness, and most of all his scaredy-cat ways. Like most underdogs, Courage is bullied, by one of his owners, a old grumpy man named Eustace. Last but not least, is Doug Funnie. Doug is a nerdy outsider who experiences common predicaments at school and in his new town, Bluffington, Virginia. Doug's character exhibits the underdog theme as he is unpopular at school and is often overlooked and bullied by antagonist character, Roger Klotz. Even though the term underdog references an individual who is popularly expected to lose, these cartoon underdogs are inner heroes, who ultimately steal the limelight. 

Forbidden Love: Cartoon Crushes

"Charlie Brown + Little Red head girl" video
"Helga + Arnold" video
"Batman and Catwoman" video

Like the complex relationship of Romeo and Juliet, many cartoon characters also suffer from complicated love sickness.   This is the common theme known as cartoon crushes, or forbidden love, as these relationships never develop as they  are simply not meant to be. Charlie Brown displays a fascination towards his ongoing crush in the Peanuts series. "The little red haired girl", is a little girl character in which acts as a symbol of unrequited love for Charlie Brown. Throughout the series, Charlie Brown longs for a chance to display his affection for his crush, however, his shyness and insecurity ultimately holds him back. Another form of the cartoon crush theme is portrayed through a love/hate relationship. This is exemplified through characters Arnold and Helga, from the show Hey Arnold! The girl character, Helga, displays a continuous ongoing affection for her secret object of desire, Arnold. However, because Helga is considered a bully at school, she surrenders her admiration for Arnold because of her pride for being a tough girl. Instead of admitting her love for Arnold, she bullies and mocks him, making his life impossible. Lastly the notorious and complex relationship exhibited by Batman and Catwoman also falls under the love/hate relationship theme. Although Catwoman is a villain, she is also one of Batman's loves. She regularly eludes Batman's capture and maintains a complex adversary relationship with him. Many interactions between Batman and Catwoman consist of indirect flirting as well as legitimate romantic gestures. However, in the end, Batman and Catwoman cannot be together because they will never re-nonce what they represent, and what they stand for are at opposite ends of the spectrum, good and evil. Ultimately love is a complicated emotion, and this remains true in the cartoon world. To quote Shakespeare: “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake- its everything except what it is! (Act 1, scene 1)” 
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Cartoon Kids

So we've covered families, best friends, and nosy neighbors, but how about those famous cartoon children. If your a cartoon kid then the world around you may seem big, scary, or just plain incomprehensible. Well thats mostly the case for the children found in these popular cartoons. The Peanuts gang is one of the most iconic cartoon children in history which began in the 1950s. Like many cartoon shows observed today with the focus on children, the story within  Peanuts is from the child's perspective. In their world, we never actually get to witness any adult personalities. Also, when an adult communicates to any Peanut character, they never actually speak in words, instead they communicate by incomprehensible noises that only the child character can understand. We as the viewer are left puzzled. This is a common theme displayed by many of todays cartoon shows where the point of view comes from the child. In their world, adults are portrayed as stupid, confusing, and incomprehensible. This trait is exceptionally displayed by shows such as Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and South Park. For the most part, the adults in these shows are portrayed as slow and oblivious. Lastly, Rugrats is a show that takes the viewer on adventures through the eyes of babies and toddlers. The point of view is literally illustrated well in this show because every object and adult character is enlarged since the story is mainly from the eye of a small child. In the end many of these notorious cartoon children prove that big adventures can also come in small packages.

"Sex Sells" even in animation land

Big boobs, check
Long legs, check
Sexy outfit, check

Cartoon Eye Candy, in other words scanty dressed female characters prancing around...one of the biggest stereotypes exhibited in animation, video games, and comics. We begin with original "sex symbol" Betty Boop, who came onto the scene in the 1930's. It is interesting to note that Betty Boop was originally a dog character which later evolved into a sexy flapper. She is adorned with a sexy mini dress, pumps, and garter. Jessica Rabbit, epitomizes this stereotype very well as she displays a glamorous/sultry female character through her attributes. Her enormous chest, long legs, and red pumps are all characteristics which contribute to the stereotypical "sex symbol" theme seen across the board. But it doesn't stop there, comics are a BIG culprit of this common theme. Even characters such as Wonder Woman and Laura Croft, who were suppose to symbolize feminism and differentiate themselves from the common female stereotype are ultimately illustrated with the average stereotypical characteristics. Both Laura Croft and Wonder Woman have huge racks as well as scanty outfits. Let's move on to analyze popular female video game characters. In terms of notorious video game, Mortal Kombat, these females exemplify this category. Characters Mileena, Kitana, and Jade look like variations of each other because of their extremely revealing outfits.  And don't forget the gigantic perfect chest, which is defiantly illustrated here through all three ninja female characters. Lastly, this stereotypical theme is not limited to American cartoons as even characters observed in  Japanese Anime are far worse and defiantly take the cake! Lum, from Urusei Yatsura, illustrates the stereotypical concept with her small tiger bikini outfit complete with knee high boots. Although she is probably a more toned down stereotype as compared to many other female characters seen in anime, she could qualify as PG-13 status. So in the end, if your a female in the world of animation you probably exhibit one or all of these traits,  and in defense in the words of Jessica Rabbit, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way". 

Sidekicks and best friends

Every cartoon protagonist will always be accompanied by his trusty sidekick or otherwise best friend. This theme is exemplified through countless cartoon examples that also display similar personality traits within the characters across several popular cartoons. Usually the main character portrays the brains and the sidekick portrays the comic relief. Sidekicks are always portrayed as "second best" as they are usually dumber, shorter, and overall less powerful than the lead character.

Notorious Batman and Robin epitomize the hero and sidekick concept. As Batman's sidekick, Robin displays less weapons and is overall less powerful than his magnificent partner Batman. Often times since sidekicks illustrate comic relief, they are positioned as less intelligent, goofy, or nerdy. These personality traits distinguish them from the main character, which gives the lead character added dominance. The sidekicks from cartoon shows such as The Flintstones, The Simpsons, Spongebob Squarepants, and Pinkey and the Brain (Animaniacs) display this theme exceptionally. Barney Rubble, is the neighbor and best friend of Fred Flintstone. He is illustrated as the diminutive "yes man" to Fred and his get rich quick schemes. Milhouse, best friend of Bart Simpson, is nerdy, insecure, and gullible, often following in the foot steps of Bart's mischief. Spongebob's best friend, Patrick Star depicts a foolish, dim-witted character always hungry for food. Lastly Pinkey is the goofy, airheaded partner in crime to lead character the Brain. These supporting characters exhibit some of the best examples of the sidekick/best friend theme that is regularly implemented in cartoons.

Cartoons of the 90's

Since most of my childhood took place in the 90's, some of the cartoons I enjoy the most are from this era. And thanks to media sources like as Youtube and Netflix, I am able to get my cartoon nostalgia on today. Recently the channel TeenNick has installed a late night segment entitled,"The 90's are All That." This segment includes reruns of many popular shows from the 1990's which includes cartoon shows as well. Some of the most memorable cartoons that I used to frequently watch as a kid are part of this segment. So naturally when I saw the commercial advertisement I leaped for joy! Happy Happy Joy Joy, for that matter..(reference to all you Ren and Stimpy fans out there). Some of the cartoon shows that the 90's segment features are Rugrats, Doug, Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, and Ren + Stimpy to name a few. My favorite 90's cartoon show of all time.....Rocko's Modern Life. I believe that this special segment devoted to re-airing shows from the 90's was an excellent idea. Even before the segment aired I would always get into discussions with friends about how much I missed the crazy and funny cartoon shows from back in the day. Cheers to "The 90's are All That",  for those lost cartoon episodes will always hold a place in my childhood memories.

"The grass is always greener on the other side"- Beware the annoying/mean neighbor

A prevalent characteristic of many cartoons across the board is the annoying/mean neighbor. And why must they always live right next door? Whether it's Rocko's Modern Life, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and even Spongebob Square Pants, there will always be the party pooper or the obnoxious. This character acts as the antagonist to the main character(s). Characters Squidward Tentacles (Spongebob Squarepants) and Ed Bighead (Rocko's Modern Life) are two very similar nosy and grumpy neighbors that constantly give the protagonist character a hard time. In many episodes both Squidward and Ed Bighead go out of their way to foil and humiliate main characters Spongebob and Rocko. Although these two different devious neighbors have similarities, cartoon neighbors come in all shapes, sizes, and attitudes. Ned Flanders is the nosy and obnoxious neighbor to the Simpson family. According to Homer Simpson, neighbor Ned Flanders, is blessed with the best of everything and that just drives him insanely jealous. Ned Flanders himself displays an irksome personality as he is exasperating conservative and straight laced and is almost too perfect for normal standards. Lastly similar to Ed Bighead and Squidward, there's Kahn Souphanousinphone from the King of the Hill. Kahn, is the bully neighbor of Hank Hill who constantly insults him and his friends by constantly demeaning them as mere rednecks. Khan is also an annoyance to Hank as he persistently finds a way to display how he is better than him. As long as there is sunshine, there will also be that dark grey cloud lingering in the background, waiting to rain all over the parade. 

Cartoon Families

Cartoons have families too. 
It's true, if your a viewer of various cartoon shows you'll notice that most shows feature the scenario of a family. One of the earliest popular cartoon families, The Addams Family, arose in 1935. Since then, countless shows such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, and others have hopped onto the screen portraying the common family element. Also, another similar element within this common theme is the qualities and quantities of the family itself. For example, usually the cartoon family will consist of a father, the mother, 2-3 children, and a pet. In most cases, the father figure is either fat, stupid, lazy, or all three. The mother, is the foundation of the family, and since she is often times unappreciated, she is looked upon as being too good for the man she's with. The children characters also have supportive roles in these cartoon families, in some cases, the episode will directly revolve around their side of the story.  Lastly whether it be a dog, cat, fish, or dinosaur, their will always be a family pet. In some cases, most cartoon families can actually communicate with the family pet.  It's safe to say that the "family theme" is yet again another popular theme apparent in cartoons.

Cartoons create satires of pop culture

Family Guy video clip
South Park video clip


It is evident that many cartoons exhibit the common trait of creating satires of pop culture. Many popular cartoons seen today display this common element such as Family Guy, American Dad, South Park, etc. One that exemplifies this theme very well is Family Guy. Family Guy, like many of the cartoon shows that are geared mainly towards a mature audience, consistently pushes the envelope when it comes to poking fun at pop culture. The Family Guy video clip above shows proof of this attribute through showcasing various scenes in which the characters spoof the recognizable pop culture of today. This video focuses on spoofing reality shows like American Idol and Jackass. South Park is another popular cartoon show that constantly picks on society. South Park is a humorous cartoon show that is known to constantly impersonate celebrities. This South Park video clip demonstrates 10 different celebrity spoofs. These different spoofs take on celebrities by exaggerating their personality qualities and creating humorous variations of them. Even though cartoons are fictional characters that exist for pure entertainment, they are dependent on reality, as they mimic situations and personalities found in the real world.

Cats: Significant animal character

Cat, Gato, Neko, Chat...no matter how it's portrayed, the cat is a common element consistently seen in cartoons. There are many characteristics of a cats appearance and behavior that lend inspiration to the creation of a character. Common cat qualities that are exhibited throughout many cartoon characters include: devious, vicious, curious, agile, and intelligence. One of the earliest cartoon cat characters to gain popularity  and is now recognized as an icon from the 1920s, is a cat named Felix. Since then, the cartoon world has become saturated with many variations of cat characters. Although they all display different appearance characteristics, they all share similar personality qualities. For example, a common personality trait that is demonstrated throughout these characters is that they are sneaky and they always seem to be after something. Tom ( Tom and Jerry) and Sylvester (Looney Tunes) are two cats in which exhibit this theme well. In Sylvester's case, his deviance is always getting him in trouble because of his infatuation with capturing Tweety, a yellow canary. Another deviant, Tom, is much like Sylvester because he also continuously tries to obtain his prey, a mouse character named Jerry. This cat burglar theme is also illustrated by notorious comic book villain, Cat Woman. Cat Women is an intelligent and agile burglar which involves herself in high stakes theft. The list goes on as there are endless cat characters in the world of cartoons. The cat has and always will be a fundamental character in cartoons and animation.