The English language is confusing enough, without having terms that can mean more than one thing or are the same. The word “cartoon” is simply one of those terms that have people, especially researchers, scratching their heads wondering why they can’t find what they are looking for. Depending on when you grew up, the term “cartoon” may mean something completely different to you than it does to a kid who grew up watching Bugs Bunny on Saturday mornings. For older folks, the term “cartoon” brings up images of Peanuts comic strips, usually found in the newspaper. For some people, it is both.
Actually, if you look up the definition of a cartoon, it really applies to both mediums. If you go by the original historic meaning of the word cartoon it refers to a full size drawing made on paper as a study for a further artwork. In other words, cartoons really weren’t finished pieces of work. It was rather something much like an architects drawings for a building, the drawings are just the preliminary. The buildings are the finished work. Early cartoons were usually just outlines of a subject. The details were then filled in at a later stage.
In more modern times the definition of a cartoon became an illustration for a humorous intent. However, because of the advances in print and motion technology these illustrations no longer remained motionless pieces of paper. With the breakthroughs of movies like “Steamboat Willie” (the first sound animation done by Disney Studios), suddenly a cartoon took on a whole new meaning. And with that whole new meaning began the confusion. You had your cartoons that continued to remain in stationary print as in the newspaper comic strips, and then you had your cartoons that took on the properties of motion, as in the cartoon movies. Suddenly, the term cartoon was just too confusing to use for both mediums. Something had to be done.
In order to clear up the confusion, a new term was developed. Cartoons that were seen printed as in the newspaper were no longer referred to as cartoons. They became known as comic strips. These are usually a short series of illustrations to tell a story or part of one, like the daily serial strips such as Peanuts. The animation with motion cartoon retained its original terminology, as called cartoon. Even so, it may be interesting to know that those who work on newspaper media are not referred to as comic strip artists. They are still called cartoonists. Those who make cartoons are now referred to as animators. Some would say that in trying to clear up the confusion, in some ways we’ve only made things worse.
Regardless of what has or will be done to draw a distinction between comic strips and animation there will always be those who think of a cartoon as Bugs Bunny shown on television and those who think of it as Peanuts in the newspaper. However, find your favorite cartoon at search-best-cartoon.com and make up your own mind about the cartoons!
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