Why do cartoon parents have to be so stupid?

[Fan of Sponge]

Ok this is really bugging me. I have been watching some of the cartoons that have parents in them. The majority of the time I have found that cartoon parents are stupid. However, Disney's cartoon parents give the kids advice and helpful tips. Anyways to the point, why do cartoon parents have to be so stupid that makes the children smarter than them?

[Jave]

Stupid Parents + Smart Kids = Funny

It also explains why Disney's TV cartoons aren't funny.

[Merilee]

Ok this is really bugging me. I have been watching some of the cartoons that have parents in them. The majority of the time I have found that cartoon parents are stupid. However, Disney's cartoon parents give the kids advice and helpful tips. Anyways to the point, why do cartoon parents have to be so stupid that makes the children smarter than them?
Don't ask me, I've been trying to figure that out forever.

Although in Disney's 'The Proud Family' Penny's father never struck me as having it all upstairs.
Merilee
:cool:

[Sharklady]

It seems to be a general assumption in the comedy buisness, that stupidity gets more laughs than intelligence, particularly coming from someone who should know better (ie; an adult.) Every successful sitcom I know of includes at least one character who regularly behaves like a fool, and sometimes the whole cast does ('Seinfeld' is a classic example.)

On kid-centered shows, parents seem to be the favorites for the Buffoon role, but they don't have to be for the show to work. 'Kim Possible' (IMO, one of the funniest cartoons on the air just now) has very smart parents- on that show it's the villains & sidekicks who supply the Dumb Behavior. TMNT is another example; father-figure Splinter is invariably sensible. It's Mikey, and sometimes Casey Jones, who get to act silly.

[Bunai]

maybe it would be easier to ask a cartoonist
i think its because the show is about the child so they just make the parent secondary. in sitcoms its the child thats usually moronic and treated like furniture.

[Chris Wood]

Because it is amusing for the young audience to see the authority figures in their lives portrayed as buffoons. I think that probably goes for all of us.

[Anthonynotes]

Maybe the same reason that adult-oriented sitcoms, etc. usually show the father as a complete idiot while the kids act more like 30-year-olds trapped in 10-year-olds' bodies (though "The Simpsons" follows this setup as well---as amusing as they are, Bart and Lisa don't IMO act more like immature adults than "real" children...) and the "ever-suffering" (as TV Guide would put it) mother for some reason puts up with it all and doesn't do the reasonable thing of divorcing the idiot deadbeat dad (since of course it'd "ruin the show")...

-B.

[Hordesman]

It's the fantasy element. Of course kids are going to dig the escapist elements, whether it's Harry Potter leaving behind awful caretakers or Yugi's world of heroism and corporate intrigue where adults are rarely anything but villains.

[Chris Wood]

It's not just fantasy. There is a large element of reality. As far as kids are concerned, parents actually are clueless buffoons in many ways. They don't understand many of the things kids like to do for fun (YuGiOh), don't like the sugary snacks or trendy fashions kids like, and don't understand the social pressures at school or even homework assignments sometimes.

[Lehteb]

It seems to be a general assumption in the comedy buisness, that stupidity gets more laughs than intelligence, particularly coming from someone who should know better (ie; an adult.) Every successful sitcom I know of includes at least one character who regularly behaves like a fool, and sometimes the whole cast does ('Seinfeld' is a classic example.)

On kid-centered shows, parents seem to be the favorites for the Buffoon role, but they don't have to be for the show to work. 'Kim Possible' (IMO, one of the funniest cartoons on the air just now) has very smart parents- on that show it's the villains & sidekicks who supply the Dumb Behavior. TMNT is another example; father-figure Splinter is invariably sensible. It's Mikey, and sometimes Casey Jones, who get to act silly.

In many cases, they get carried away with that concept. On King of the Hill, Peggy started out as the typical intelligent, supporting wife. But by Season 3, she devoled into a unsympathetic, self-absorbed loser. Now she's one of the most annoying characters on the show.

To me, a character doesn't HAVE to be a brainless oaf in order to be funny. I like stories where you can root for the fall guy, like Meg from Family Guy, or Timmy from the OddParents.

[SimpsonGuy100]

Well, I think the answer your looking for is becuase it's for the comedy value of the show. Also, it helps make all the cartoon family interesting, not just one part of the family.

For example, "The Simpsons". If Homer was smart (I don't mean like he was in the episode, "HOMR" but I mean more orginised), he might be such a pointless characther, we might start to proberbly ignore him. At times, they put a fact into cartoon series in which families are the main characthers entitled:

"Kids are sooooooooooo unpredictable!!!"

in which the kids do some very extra-ordinary things (for example, Dexter in "Dexter's Laboratory"), making the parents so unaware, the writers and creators tend to make them "stupid" which also triggers the viewers interest into the series.

Answer your question?

[Rook]

actually it kind of goes like this:

dumb parents - smart kids

mother - not as idiotic as the father and for reasons unknown has the ability to seem more useful.

father - utter idiot leaving destruction everywhere he goes or just pathetic, lacking a dominate voice in matters.


siblings - kind of vary from retard to compassionate

[candy17]

actually it kind of goes like this:

dumb parents - smart kids

mother - not as idiotic as the father and for reasons unknown has the ability to seem more useful.

father - utter idiot leaving destruction everywhere he goes or just pathetic, lacking a dominate voice in matters.


siblings - kind of vary from retard to compassionate
That's pretty much what The Simpsons boils down to, only Bart's not really a retard; he's just a troublemaker who doesn't do well in school. And Marge used to be mean and nag a lot (this was in season 1 where the animation sucked), but she mellowed out over the years. Homer...well, you pretty much already know what happened to him.

I mean, why hasn't anyone mentioned The Simpsons on this thread. This show is the perfect example of showing dumb adults and smart kids (which is one of the things I hate about it).

[Anthonynotes]

That's pretty much what The Simpsons boils down to, only Bart's not really a retard; he's just a troublemaker who doesn't do well in school. And Marge used to be mean and nag a lot (this was in season 1 where the animation sucked), but she mellowed out over the years. Homer...well, you pretty much already know what happened to him.

I mean, why hasn't anyone mentioned The Simpsons on this thread. This show is the perfect example of showing dumb adults and smart kids (which is one of the things I hate about it).

I did mention/infer to the Simpsons as fitting the "dumb dad, 'ever suffering' mom, etc." sitcom formula, though despite this cliche, it does a better job at it than most...

-B.

[Sharklady]

> (The Simpsons) is the perfect example of showing dumb adults and smart kids... <

I don't think Marge is dumb; she just has a persistant blind spot when it comes to Homer's shortcomings (luckily for him!)

[Steve Carras]

Mind a could of classic cartoon (i.e.golden age) examples:

Alrighty then.

THE THREE BEARS-Don't mind the dog. Beware of Papa Bear. THis odd, and oft-comically dysfuynctional ursine family debuted in one of Mel Blanc;'s firsdt onscreen credits (BUGS BUNNY & THE THREE BEARS from 1944). Charles M. "Chuck "Jones direxcted them,and cocreated them with longtime writer Tedd Pierce (Mike Maltese wouldf become the sole writer later). (Mel Blanc then LITTLE RACALS & radio LONE RANGER voice Billy Bletcher) did Pa, Bea Banaderet Ma, and Kent Rogers or Mel Blanc then Stan Freberg as Junyer (those takeovers occuring after the first-BTW Mel fgills in occasioanlly as Pa.) Though Bugs appeared in the first the bears had the others to themselves (1947's WHAT'S BREWIN' BRUIN, 1948's THE BEE DEVILED BRUIN & BEAR FEAT & 1950's BEAR FOR PUNISHMENT).Pa was the short size/temper one,Junyer the big dsmb one and Ma the Edith Bunker type.:)


We could go down a all the 1960s and 1970s exmaples (Fred Flintstone, the various patriarchs based on Archie Bunker,etc.,etc.,etc.)

H-b's Jimmy Durante-esque Doggie Daddy, a section on QUICK DRAW McGRAW would be an example..Daws Butler played, and writer MikeMaltese devised Augie to be like, what Elroy Jetson woulkd be like when cretaed by Joe Barbera a little later. (a geniius without the stereotypical glasses,etc.)


Augie Doggie was a smart pup.


His friendshio with animals,esp.mice, also made him seem more humane than Doggie Daddy who was (like Durante himself) ALWAYS a softie at heart.

(Durante would fit well in MY THREE SONS as a Wm>Demerest/Bill FGrawley type.Actor Douglas YOung did Doggi's voice.)

And of course boneheaded Unca Donald Duck ikn those theatrical shorts of the fifties (when Clarence Nash quacked ALL the characters, with the occasioanl Bill THompson, Paul Frees or Thurl Ravenscroft guest appearance, or that bootle beetle voiced by radio actor Dink Trout, which took Donald away from hsi surrogaste evil dad typwe.) Donald DUck was one of the most dunderhead dads of that time with both that cigar smoking and car salesman shorts as exhibits A & B respectively -I mean, he makes Hewey, Dewey, and Louie SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE them ciggies in one then after the mischievous ducklings use a cut -cut of some car at the staiton whilst buying a REAL roadstar for their "Unca Donald" the latter party mistaking THAT for-you guessed it--another practical joke.

Charlie Solomon,. famed animation critic is right when he writes that it was hard to tell who to root for when it comes ,uh, excuse the pun, down to Donald, and that Donald was a boob dad).

An d the Terrytoons Terry bears dad, a real dimwit. We won't go into the various attempts that they tried to make Goofy a boob dad either in the theatricals or in the 1990s:)