• TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5 months

    The Flintstones, for what it’s worth, came out in a time before cartoons were seen as “for kids” by default. The Flintstones is basically The Honeymooners but animated and prehistoric, so while Winston would’ve unambiguously known it was marketing to some children, The Flintstones was an adult animated sitcom.

    The Flintstones is retrospectively seen through the lens of “kids’ show” in large part because of things like kids’ merch (e.g. Flintstones vitamins and cereal), rerunning on stations like Cartoon Network, generally a more heavy “animation is for kids” defaultism, and the fact that later adult animated sitcoms like The Simpsons pushed the envelope much farther.

    • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
      5 months

      The Flintstones, for what it’s worth, came out in a time before cartoons were seen as “for kids” by default.

      Mmyeah, I really can’t agree with that. I’d say instead that there was a distinctly ‘all ages’ intention and reception to the first popular animated cartoons, which were shown in movie theatres dating back to the silent movie era. Adults appreciated the novel technology, and kids could enjoy the simple plots and depictions. But I believe that over the years, adult audiences lost much interest in the format outside of various masterpieces such as Disney movies, leaving cartoons as a distinctly child-oriented treat, on the whole.

      Indeed, part of the revolutionary aspect of The Flintstones is that it turned that formula completely upside down, airing the series on prime time and being sophisticated in plot enough that adult audiences could enjoy the stories equally as much as other sitcoms of the time. Really, that’s one of the biggest deals about the show, later paving the way for The Simpsons, South Park and a slew of others to specialise in cartoons that were probably more adult-oriented than kid-intentioned.

    • toddestan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5 months

      The Flintstones also did a bit of a pivot too - they realized they were picking up more kids in their audience so they shifted from an adult sitcom to more of a family friendly show. The later episodes do have a bit of a different feel from the earlier ones.

      Also, many of the later reruns on The Cartoon Network, etc. ditched the original laugh track (and good riddance), and that also gave the show less of a sitcom feel.

    • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      5 months

      Wow, I really never noticed that. Them and The Jetsons did focus on weird things. Bowling seen as a joke. The husband yelling bc his wife did something trope.

      These episodes were the 70s and 80s. How much more from the black and whites?