Cartoons

Most cartoons today are:

Category I: Battling/Comic Book (or, as they are sadly called today: Graphic Novels)
*Reincarnation of superheroes in a "teen" form
*Nintendo-like Martial arts
*Animal/machine/digital/fantasy/gaming battling where kids play cards, use digital devices, or send their monster 'pets' into an arena that looks suspiciously like it could be used to fight dogs or roosters
*Secret agent/spy show – a kid version of MI
*action! action! action! Frenetic activity designed to dazzle and keep the slack jaws from riding bikes, and a serialized storyline designed to keep them coming back

Category II: Insipid
*children/Horses/Cats/Dogs/Aardvarks singing, dancing, and worst of all pontificating and rehashing Brady Bunch themes
*sickeningly sweet message shows designed to make kids feel good about themselves
*at least one main character of the main generic ethnic groups: white, black, brown and yellow
*at the beginning of the episode, the characters are supremely stupid, but seem smart to the viewer by the end
*usually colorful and bright, sunny and cheery designed to dazzle and keep the little droolers from playing outside in the drearier looking real world

Almost all of cartoons today feature:
*plenty of gender role swapping so that girls will feel they are just as smart and athletic as boys, and boys will feel that they can be a cook, or nurse, or wear a pink tutu
*adults that do not understand children or treat them unfairly or do not listen to them
*some sort of life-lesson to be learned
*environmentalist or socialist propaganda

Gone are the days of cartoons just for fun. There are a few left, but not many, and fewer still that just don't plain suck.

Gone are Leon Schlesinger, Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones.

Gone are references to Wendell Willkie, Edward G Robinson and Peter Lorre.

Gone are the literary references to Rip Van Winkle, Charles Dickens and Tolstoy.

Gone are musical adaptations of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Wagner.

Yes, the cartoon medium has suffered the fate of having to play to an ignorant and apathetic audience.

Can Dexter's Lab carry the torch alone?

EDIT: Since I wrote this, my children have shown me that at least one cartoon has picked up the torch and ran with it: "Phineas and Ferb". In fact, the original air date was about 5 months after my original post. I am glad to see that there are still clever people out there willing to put together a clean cartoon that is fun to watch.