Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture

by Stabile; Carol

• ISBN13: 9780415283250
• ISBN10: 0415283256
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-11
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The contributors explore a series of key issues and questions, including: How do we explain the animation explosion of the 1960s? Why did it take nearly twenty years following the cancellation ofThe Flintstonesfor animation to find its feet again as primetime fare? In addressing these questions, as well as many others, essays in the first section examine the relation between earlier, made-for-cinema animated production (such as the WarnerLooney Toonsshorts) and television-based animation; the role of animation in the economies of broadcast and cable television; and the links between animation production and brand image. Contributors also examine specific programs likeThe Powerpuff Girls,Daria,The Simpsons,Ren and StimpyandSouth Parkfrom the perspective of fans, exploring fan cybercommunities, investigating how ideas of "class" and "taste" apply to recent TV animation, and addressing themes such as irony, alienation, and representations of thefamily.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix
Notes on contributors	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction: prime time animation -- an overview	1	(12)
Carol A. Stabile
Mark Harrison
PART I Institutions	13	(118)
``Smarter than the average art form'': Animation in the television era	15	(18)
Paul Wells
The great saturday morning exile: Scheduling cartoons on television's periphery in the 1960s	33	(22)
Jason Mittell
Re-drawing the bottom line	55	(19)
Allen Larson
The Flintstones to Futurama: Networks and prime time animation	74	(15)
Wendy Hilton-Morrow
David T. Mcmahan
Synergy nirvana: Brand equity, television animation, and Cartoon Network	89	(21)
Kevin S. Sandler
The digital turn: Animation in the age of information technologies	110	(21)
Alice Crawford
PART II Readings	131	(112)
Back to the drawing board: The family in animated television comedy	133	(14)
Michael V. Tueth
From Fred and Wilma to Ren and Stimpy: What makes a cartoon ``prime time''?	147	(18)
Rebecca Farley
``We hardly watch that rude, crude show'': Class and taste in The Simpsons	165	(20)
Diane F. Alters
``Misery chick'': Irony, alienation and animation in MTV's Daria	185	(20)
Kathy M. Newman
``What are those little girls made of?'': The Powerpuff Girls and consumer culture	205	(15)
Joy Van Fuqua
``Oh my god, they digitized Kenny!'': Travels in the South Park Cybercommunity V4.0	220	(23)
Brian L. Ott
Index	243