Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture

269 Pages·2003·1.95 MB·English

by  Carol Stabile

Prime Time Animation
Television animation and American culture
Edited by
Carol A. Stabile and Mark Harrison
PRIME TIME ANIMATION
In September 1960 a television show emerged from the mists of prehistoric time to
take its place as the mother of all animated sitcoms.The Flintstonesspawned dozens
of imitations,just as,two decades later,The Simpsonssparked a renaissance of prime
time animation.The essays in this volume critically survey the landscape of television
animation,from Bedrock to Springfield and beyond.
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 of The Flintstonesfor animation to find its feet again as
prime time fare? In addressing these questions,as well as many others,the essays in
the first section examine the relation between earlier, made-for-cinema animated
production (such as the Warner Looney 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 like The Powerpuff Girls,Daria,The Simpsons,The Ren and Stimpy Show
and South Parkfrom the perspective of fans,exploring fan cybercommunities,investi-
gating how ideas of ‘class’and ‘taste’apply to recent TV animation,and addressing
themes such as irony,alienation,and representations of the family.
Carol A.Stabileis associate professor of communication and director of the Women’s
Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh.She is the author of Feminism and
the Technological Fix(1994), editor of Turning the Century: Essays in Media and
Cultural Studies(2000), and is currently working on a book on media coverage of
crime from the 1830s to the present.
Mark Harrison is a Ph.D. candidate in communication and cultural studies at the
University of Pittsburgh.His work has appeared in Bad Subjectsand Cultural Studies
as well as the anthology Turning the Century. He is currently working on a project
tracking the figure of the extraterrestrial from the mid-nineteenth century to the
present.
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PRIME TIME
ANIMATION
Television animation and
American culture
Edited by Carol A. Stabile
and Mark Harrison
First published 2003
by Routledge
x
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon O 144RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue,New York,NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2003 Carol A.Stabile & Mark Harrison,selection and
editorial matter;
individual chapters © contributors
Typeset in Perpetua by Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical,or other means,now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording,or in any information
storage or retrieval system,without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Prime-time animation / edited by Carol Stabile and Mark
Harrison.p.cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Animated television programs – United States.
I.Stabile,Carol,1960– .II.Harrison,Mark,1967– .
PN1992.8.A59 P75 2003
791.45'3--dc21 2002012968
ISBN 0–415–28325–6 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–28326–4 (pbk)
CONTENTS
List of illustrations viii
Notes on contributors ix
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction:prime time animation – an overview 1
CAROL A. STABILE AND MARK HARRISON
PART I
Institutions 13
1. “Smarter than the average art form”:
Animation in the television era 15
PAUL WELLS
2. The great saturday morning exile:
Scheduling cartoons on television’s periphery in the 1960s 33
JASON MITTELL
CONTENTS
3. Re-drawing the bottom line 55
ALLEN LARSON
4. The Flintstonesto Futurama:
Networks and prime time animation 74
WENDY HILTON-MORROW AND DAVID T. MCMAHAN
5. Synergy nirvana:
Brand equity,television animation,and Cartoon Network 89
KEVIN S. SANDLER
6. The digital turn:
Animation in the age of information technologies 110
ALICE CRAWFORD
PART II
Readings 131
7. Back to the drawing board:
The family in animated television comedy 133
MICHAEL V. TUETH
8. From Fred and Wilma to Ren and Stimpy:
What makes a cartoon “prime time”? 147
REBECCA FARLEY
9. “We hardly watch that rude,crude show”:
Class and taste in The Simpsons 165
DIANE F. ALTERS
10. “Misery chick”:
Irony,alienation and animation in MTV’s Daria 185
KATHY M. NEWMAN
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CONTENTS
11. “What are those little girls made of?”:
The Powerpuff Girlsand consumer culture 205
JOY VAN FUQUA
12. “Oh my god,they digitized Kenny!”:
Travels in the South ParkCybercommunity V4.0 220
BRIAN L. OTT
Index 243
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ILLUSTRATIONS
5.1 Duckman:a casualty of branding (Courtesy of Klasky Csupo) 93
5.2 Scooby-Doo:Cartoon Network’s most ubiquitous brand
extension (Courtesy of Cartoon Network) 99
5.3 Synergy at work:Samurai Jack (Courtesy of Cartoon Network) 103
6.1 Character creation with wireframe and texture mapping
(Courtesy of Minna Långström,Virta Animated Ltd) 114
6.2 The TeleANT animated interface (Courtesy of Peter Coppin,
Department of Robotics,Carnegie Mellon University) 122
6.3 Eventscope:interactive Martian data (Courtesy of Remote
Experience and Learning Lab,Pittsburgh,PA) 123
6.4 Machinima screenshot from Barracuda Beach Bar
(Courtesy of Hugh Hancock,Strange Company) 126
6.5 Machinima screenshot from Hardly Working
(Courtesy of Hugh Hancock,Strange Company) 126
10.1 Another excruciating day at Lawndale High for Daria
and Jane (Courtesy of MTV) 189
11.1 Blossom as Lara Croft 208
11.2 Powerpuff-inspired Rave Wear (Courtesy of The Cartoon Network) 211
11.3 Consuming the Powerpuff Girls (Courtesy of The Cartoon Network) 212
12.1 Sweeet.com 228
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CONTRIBUTORS
Diane F. Alters completed her Ph.D. in media studies at the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado,
Boulder in 2002.She has taught at the Graduate School of Public Affairs
at the University of Colorado and previously worked as a staff writer at
The Boston Globe,the Sacramento Bee,and other publications.
Alice Crawford is a Ph.D. candidate in communication at the University of
Pittsburgh and teaches classes in visual rhetoric, web design, and media
criticism.Her dissertation investigates relations between spatial metaphors
embedded in information technologies and the rhetoric around them, and
the manner in which urban spaces are experienced and used. She has
published in Social Epistemology,and has forthcoming essays in Eloquent
Images: Visual Literacy and New Mediaand Critical Perspectives on the
Internet. Ms. Crawford worked in information design before her current
incarnation as an academic.
Rebecca Farleyworked on animation at Queensland University between 1992
and 1999.She has published in Media International Australiaand is book
reviews editor for Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media and Social
Semiotics. She is presently writing her dissertation on adventure at the
School of Journalism,Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University.
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