TCM = Modern Cartoons?

[WetDog]

With the wife gone for the night, I figured I'd open a new bottle o' bourbon and flip on TCM. What are they gonna play tonight? I'll tell ya. Cartoons ... modern cartoons. It'd be alright with me if they decided to play old Betty Boops or Felix The Cats ... but not this junk.

First AMC went all modern on us, and now TCM?

Richard

 

[Mycroft]

With the wife gone for the night, I figured I'd open a new bottle o' bourbon and flip on TCM. What are they gonna play tonight? I'll tell ya. Cartoons ... modern cartoons. It'd be alright with me if they decided to play old Betty Boops or Felix The Cats ... but not this junk.

First AMC went all modern on us, and now TCM?

Richard

Was it Saterday night around 11ish becuase they have a cartoon showcase on then last I checked.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

They are doing a film festival this month for a famous Japanese animator Thursday nights. I think he is the definition of the emporer's new clothes. His "skill" is lost on me. How it fits with TCM is lost on me as well. They played "The Big Sleep" before it.

 

[Mycroft]

They are doing a film festival this month for a famous Japanese animator Thursday nights. I think he is the definition of the emporer's new clothes. His "skill" is lost on me. How it fits with TCM is lost on me as well. They played "The Big Sleep" before it.

You first watch the crime and then waste your time. In my opinon it is good that TCM is expermenting, but if I were them I would stay to their roots, I mean AMC and IFC are for experementing not TCM. (wow, I can't spell)

 

[Doctor Strange]

While I agree that it's an unusual programming choice for TCM, I have to say that my teenage kids and I have been charmed with Miyazaki's films. The newer ones they showed earlier in the month are even better than tonight's.

I am a lifelong animation freak - a 30-year 16mm collector with quite an array of Warners, Disney, Fleischer, etc. - and I had heard about Miyazaki, but had never managed to see his films. TCM has done me a great service here, by introducing me to these world-class classic films. They are unique and delightful.

So, if they take a few hours off from showing the usual 30s/40s fare, what's the harm? I think it's an interesting diversion...

 

[Zach R.]

I agree.

I mean, and not to be rude, but they COULD be showing crappy modern America "cartoons" instead of Critically-Acclaimed Japanese Anime.

When they start showing Pokemon is when you need to complain(though some would argue that it was targeted at American audiences in the first place).

Also, I don't think its the fact that AMC went all modern on us thats the big problem, its that they usually only have 5 movies (usually not that great in the first place) and keep replaying them one after another all week.

I don't watch them anymore, but I really miss their Monsterfest in October. What did they do last year? Play three Jason movies on Halloween and that was it?

 

[LaMedicine]

I have to say that my teenage kids and I have been charmed with Miyazaki's films. The newer ones they showed earlier in the month are even better than tonight's.

FYI, in his newest one "Howl's Moving Castle", released last year, the actresses who do the voices of the two female leads in the English version, are Jean Simmons and Lauren Bacall.

 

[The Wolf]

I agree

I think Miyazaki's cartoons are great. I'm a huge fan, however I don't think TCM is the right channel for it. That's like talking modern politics on a Golden Age website.
My wife, I'm sure, is sick of me complaing about AMC. I used to watch it all the time. Then they started showing '60s beach movies and I accepted it, then Revenge of the Nerds 2, "Whaaat?" I screamed in disbelief. Soon the had editted movies from modern days with commercials. I could watch that on almost any channel. I haven't had TCM in years and have missed it sorely.
If it wasn't for huge amount of classics on VHS and DVD I would have gone mad by now.


Just venting,
The Wolf

 

[Michael Mallory]

Even though animation is my beat, I'm not a huge Miyazaki fan. I'm particularly not a fan of the American language versions that Disney puts out. Even though someone of the calibre of John Lasseter is behind them, I think a lot gets lost when you dub them. But I can't help but wonder about the timing of the TCM Miyazaki festival right as Oscar ballots are going out...and "Howl's Moving Castle" is one of this year's leading contenders.

 

[LaMedicine]

I'm particularly not a fan of the American language versions that Disney puts out. Even though someone of the calibre of John Lasseter is behind them, I think a lot gets lost when you dub them.

Well, if you say that, then you could say the same for any movie that gets dubbed, or even with the original dialogue with the translation superimposed. There's bound to be dailogues/scenes that you can't fully understand unless you're familiar with the cultral background behind the films. With translations, either you end up with a long explanatory dialogue, or interchange with idioms that carry the same concept in the particular language it is being translated into. As far as "Howl" goes, I watched both in the Japanese and the English mode out of curiosity because Jean Simmons and Lauren Bacall were named as the actresses (the DVD was released here last Nov) and I thought the English version did justice to the original. Well, part of the reason may be that the story originally was written in English, however much it may have been adapted, so, the English script probably was easier to write compared to his others with only Japanese story lines. I believe his message on futility of war, conservation of nature, and most important, search of self, never is lost, though, even through the translations.

 

[miss1934]

TCM

As a devoted TCM viewer I start my week by referencing the Now Playing guide and planning my week around that. TCM seems to try to show all classic movies. These anime flicks have been deemed the best in their field, despite the fact that we may not like the genre, and that is why they are being showcased. It is only for a month anyways. What truly horrifies me is the constant showings of Jaws on TCM. Classic or not, it should be showed no more than it must be.
~Anne

Seeing a murder on television can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.
~Alfred Hitchcock

 

[Twitch]

Way back when the cartoons were well animated. Then someone figured out how they could save money with less panels per second of action and we began with the stilted, cardboard stuff from Japan that looks little better that South Park which a parody anyway.

I remember actual expressions on faces of old cartoon characters. Then along came the Nipponese style cheapo junk and you had a face that was one static drawing with no expression change with "moving" lips overlain. What crap!

At least with companies like Disney and Pixar for the movies we haven't completely fallen into complete trash like that which is on Saturday mornings.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Don't blame the Japanese for "limited animation"...

Based on the pioneering *stylistic* efforts of Chuck Jones and the folks at UPA in the 40s, and some experimental Disney shorts of the 50s, it became clear that "limited animation" could work... So directors Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera - after a long run of luxurious full animation on their Tom and Jerry cartoons at M-G-M - set up shop making cartoons for TV. They found that with minimal animation (e.g., give all the characters collars/ties so that you didn't have to show neck movement!) but decent scripting and voice acting, the cartoons could still work. They started off strong with Ruff and Reddy, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, etc. But they soon ran their formula into the ground. Alas, this Hanna-Barbera work of the late 50s/early 60s set the "standards" for what was to come. The Japanese and Korean animation factories may have perpetuated it, but it was actually a couple of genius American animators who came up with the technique!

I once had the pleasure of hearing Chuck Jones speak at the Museum of Modern Art. On this subject, he said, "The essential difference between limited-animation TV cartoons and what we did at Warner Bros. was that with our work, you could turn the sound off and know what was happening. It was still visual... But with their work, you could turn *the picture* off and know what was happening. It wasn't animation, it was illustrated radio."

And just to get back to the original topic, Miyazaki's films are mostly done in very nice full animation, not the usual TV dreck like Pokemon, etc.

 

[miss1934]

Many early modern art/avant-guarde cartoons were made with the same expressionless faces, especily in illustrations throughout the deco era. This is just a different art form. I have been encountering the same thing the comic books recently. the fantastic art of the 30's through early sixties has taken this blockier form. Could it be a reaction to the far more human-like computer animation that is taking over? I personaly think the hand drawn art exhibits more human failings, general movement and emotion in the character because everything is always changing. At least a lot of these films were still partialy illustrated by hand, I know the backgrounds were painted even.

 

[Twitch]

I don't care who developed what technique but every one of the first cartoons to use it were from Japan. My first reaction was "what a colossal gyp!!! Who wants to look at this crap?" All the dumbs kids that followed and didn't know any better I suppose.