fruit loops and flashbacks
yesterday, i needed to set my alarm for 11am in order to meet friends in time for a coveted brunch reservation. setting an alarm on a sunday should be illegal, as my internal clock is pre-set to sleep until a minimum of noon.
in an attempt to help coax myself awake, i flipped on the tv, and found it on a channel that happened to run a series of sunday-morning cartoons. i was quite perplexed, shocked actually, to be watching an episode of the animated spiderman series that i know originally aired a solid decade ago. shouldn't there be a new version by now? i guess i always knew that watching the same cartoons over and over for kids was like watching reruns of a great sitcom for adults...but then, not all sitcoms have the timeless appeal of "i love lucy" and "seinfeld."
let's be realistic, these cartoons are awful. painfully cheesy dialogue. completely unrealistic. and every episode has the same plot. yet, kids love them, and years later, there will always be a new generation to watch them, and love them, all over again. so good for spiderman the animated series. good for the tick. good for x-men (the best animated series ever!) and good for mickey mouse.
but my bout with nostalgia didn't end at the first commercial break. instead, i was plunged into a bizarro world where the fruit loops pelican has been reanimated in vivid colors and 3D. same message, new era. it hit me that i had forgotten that advertisers targeted kids. it has been so long since i've seen tony the tiger and the keebler elves that i must have convinced myself that they simply stopped making commercials. these ads were such an inherent part of the childhood experience, and then one day, without warning, they vanish.
what's most striking though, is that they work. i've never wanted fruit loops more. (and i hate fruit loops)
in an attempt to help coax myself awake, i flipped on the tv, and found it on a channel that happened to run a series of sunday-morning cartoons. i was quite perplexed, shocked actually, to be watching an episode of the animated spiderman series that i know originally aired a solid decade ago. shouldn't there be a new version by now? i guess i always knew that watching the same cartoons over and over for kids was like watching reruns of a great sitcom for adults...but then, not all sitcoms have the timeless appeal of "i love lucy" and "seinfeld."
let's be realistic, these cartoons are awful. painfully cheesy dialogue. completely unrealistic. and every episode has the same plot. yet, kids love them, and years later, there will always be a new generation to watch them, and love them, all over again. so good for spiderman the animated series. good for the tick. good for x-men (the best animated series ever!) and good for mickey mouse.
but my bout with nostalgia didn't end at the first commercial break. instead, i was plunged into a bizarro world where the fruit loops pelican has been reanimated in vivid colors and 3D. same message, new era. it hit me that i had forgotten that advertisers targeted kids. it has been so long since i've seen tony the tiger and the keebler elves that i must have convinced myself that they simply stopped making commercials. these ads were such an inherent part of the childhood experience, and then one day, without warning, they vanish.
what's most striking though, is that they work. i've never wanted fruit loops more. (and i hate fruit loops)
posted by mark at 1:01 PM
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