Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture

by Stabile; Carol

• ISBN13: 9780415283267
• ISBN10: 0415283264
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-04-18
• 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

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Images

Introduction

Prime Time Animation

An Overview

Institutions

'Smarter than the Average Art Form': Animation in the Television Era Paul Wells

The Great Saturday Morning Exile: Scheduling Cartoons on Television's Periphery in the 1960s Jason Mittell

Re-Drawing the Bottom Line Allen Larson

Flintstones to Futurama: Networks and Prime Time Animation

Synergy Nirvana: Brand Equity, Television Animation, and Cartoon Network Kevin Sandler

The Digital Turn: Animation in the Age of Information Technologies

Readings

Back to the Drawing Board: The Family in Animated Television Comedy

From Fred and Wilma to Ren and Stimpy: What Makes a Cartoon Prime Time ?

'We Hardly Watch that Rude, Crude Show:' Class and Taste in The Simpsons

Misery Chick: Irony, Alienation, and Animation in MTV's

'What Are Those Little Girls Made Of?' The Power Puff Girls and Consumer Culture

'Oh My God, They Digitized Kenny!' Travels in the South Park Cybercommunity

List of Contributors

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