Why do cartoons need jerks?

[Wussycat]

There used to be several different versions of Daffy Duck, but at some point they decided to make Jerk Daffy canon.

His TTA counterpart Plucky was also a jerk, mostly to his "best friend" Hampton.

Homer Simpson became a jerk after about 10 years, and Cosmo became a jerk after about 4 years.

Bloo and Eddy (EEnE) were jerks since day one.

So, what is it about jerks that cartoon makers love?

[tb4000]

Without jerks, they would have no plot. Jerks are the ones that cause the dilemmas that the other characters have to solve. In some of the Tom and Jerry shorts, Jerry would sometimes antagonize Tom for no reason, and that would start the chain of events.

[judyindisguise]

There used to be several different versions of Daffy Duck, but at some point they decided to make Jerk Daffy canon.

His TTA counterpart Plucky was also a jerk, mostly to his "best friend" Hampton.

Homer Simpson became a jerk after about 10 years, and Cosmo became a jerk after about 4 years.

Bloo and Eddy (EEnE) were jerks since day one.

So, what is it about jerks that cartoon makers love?

Hmm. As bad as Daffy could be, when he was under the skilled hand of Chuck Jones, he was still funny and even a little sympathetic IMO. I really look at him as a sympathetic villian rather than as a jerk - he's sort of in the Wile E. Coyote mold, and I don't think Wile E. is a jerk. Both characters have understandable motivations for their actions. Daffy is greedy, frustrated and doesn't want to get shot by a hunter. Wile E. displays basic forgiveable predatory behavior. Of course, while their motivations were understandable they were not presented as being excusable, so neither character was presented as a good guy to audiences, and they always received their comeuppance for their bad actions. In the classic toons jerks were there to motivate the good guys to drop boulders on them. So if Daffy is a jerk, he's the good kind of jerk. But I really think Daffy is a sympathetic villian. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam are jerks. I never kind of liked them as I kind of like Daffy.

Cosmo became a jerk sooner than Homer because Homer had better writers. Or just good writers to begin with. Another difference between them is that Homer often pays for his crimes. Cosmo almost never does. Everyone around him gets hurt by his callous stupidity but not he; which is supposed to be funny. See note above about his writers. :shrug:

Eddy is a jerk because he's there to balance out the innocent doofiness of Ed and the earnestness of Edd. He sort of HAD to be a jerk, I guess.

I get the feeling - and I could be very wrong about this - that the people behind Foster's are still struggling with Bloo. They still don't know what he's about. I know I don't, and I've watched about every ep of Foster's that's aired. I will say that about the only time I thought he was actually funny was in the ep about Imaginary Man. Otherwise he's kind of annoying.

As for the rest...I think the "jerk" character is a default character for many cartoon writers. Jerk behavior supposedly represents those behaviors many of us would love to display but society's norms prevent us. That's the theory anyway - and IMO, that theory is full of crap. Jerk characters IMO are born when writers can't think of any other way for a character to be funny, because said writers simply aren't very talented. Bugs Bunny started out as a jerk character, but he grew out of it and was much funnier as a result - not to mention he's an American icon. Even Daffy, who grew out of being an insane character into a sympathetic villian, got there because his writers decided to give him a personality instead of just a set of annoying mannerisms. There aren't many cartoon creators today who understand good characterization IMO. So they rely on jerks. And so their cartoons suck. JMHO.

[judyindisguise]

Without jerks, they would have no plot. Jerks are the ones that cause the dilemmas that the other characters have to solve. In some of the Tom and Jerry shorts, Jerry would sometimes antagonize Tom for no reason, and that would start the chain of events.

Yes. But in the classic toons part of solving those dilemmas involved punishing the jerks. In some of today's toons that part is left out entirely, because some toon writers want to inject a note of cynicism, thinking it makes their toon "smarter" which makes them look smarter. :sad: Well of course it doesn't. IMO it makes them look like posers, i.e. stupid. Plus it shows they don't understand what kids like. There's an old saying: "kids want justice, while adults desire mercy". Kids WANT to see bad behavior punished, believe it or not. It has to do with setting boundaries which makes kids feel safer and that the world makes sense and all that. I wish more toon writers respected kids' feelings as well as their funnybone.

[Kitschensyngk]

Some shows need jerks and characters so scummy they make the main character look good.

[mammy2shoesfan]

Daffy really wasn't a villian to me until he was paired with Speedy. In those hunting shorts Bugs was just as bad a Daffy was. He was trying to get Daffy shot as much as Daffy was trying to get him shot. It just worked out that it was Daffy being shot. Anyway I prefer jerk Daffy thats the one that I'm more into. Just like I like Jerk Homer that guy is funny. He is a good guy deep inside but he still has some left over Stupid Homer in him to know better. Just hope they don't go all they back to Regularguy Homer that was my least favoriate Homer.

[Sharklady]

> There's an old saying: "kids want justice, while adults desire mercy". Kids WANT to see bad behavior punished, believe it or not. It has to do with setting boundaries which makes kids feel safer and that the world makes sense and all that. I wish more toon writers respected kids' feelings as well as their funnybone. <

Good point. Let's hope there's a few animation writers perusing this board.

[Dr.Pepper]

Jerks give it plots

[Crash]

There are jerks because jerks are fun to write. They let you make those mean jokes. You can make them the victim of mean jokes and feel happy about it. ("They deserved it.") In short, they just make the world more fun...

[I.R Joey]

As a Foster's fan I still hold to the idea that the show wouldn't work if Bloo wasn't a total jerk. He has to be childishly selfish or else there would be very little driving the action.

[HeeHaw9]

Jerks always frustrate the main character, and it's always a little funny to see the main arguing over the cool jerk over something silly. :anime:

[judyindisguise]

I think the best example of a jerk character that actually enhances the show he's in is Cartman of South Park. He has got to be the best jerk character of all time. One reason he's so great is that the rest of the show's characters don't act like he's anything BUT a jerk, they blame him appropriately when he does something rotten, and he's almost always punished for his acts. That's why Cartman is so much fun. It's very satisfying to see a jerk get his, especially when he's written so well he richly deserves it. It's kind of cathartic. :D

[Hordesman]

If you don't have jerks, you end up with Dora the Explorer where nobody is in conflict and all you have to do to stop the bad guy is tell him to stop. :raven:

[Anthonynotes]

If you don't have jerks, you end up with Dora the Explorer where nobody is in conflict and all you have to do to stop the bad guy is tell him to stop. :raven:

Well, as mediocre as "Dora" might be, Swiper the fox still steals stuff---that's still fairly jerky (albeit in a preschool manner)... so I guess even preschool stuff isn't completely spared from some sort of jerkiness (for a live-action example, see Oscar the Grouch). ;-)

[RonDrakenfan17]

Some jerks are needed such as Daffy and Velma from Scooby while others as Eddy and Sam from Danny Phantom aren't really :shrug:
Or Katara from Avatar for that matter, course she's apart of the nations so I got nothing.

[Kaoru]

I wouldn't watch a cartoon with all good guys, I don't think so.

[OverMaster]

Some jerks are needed such as Daffy and Velma from Scooby while others as Eddy and Sam from Danny Phantom aren't really :shrug:
Or Katara from Avatar for that matter, course she's apart of the nations so I got nothing.

How comes that? Velma, a jerk? Really?

If anyone was the jerk in that gang, I always thought it was Fred. "Guys, let's split, I'll go with the girls and you can go alone so your proved again and again lack of luck and brains gets you into the monster's path... AGAIN!".

[judyindisguise]

How comes that? Velma, a jerk? Really?

If anyone was the jerk in that gang, I always thought it was Fred. "Guys, let's split, I'll go with the girls and you can go alone so your proved again and again lack of luck and brains gets you into the monster's path... AGAIN!".

I didn't think the gang had ANY jerks.

[Sharklady]

> ... so I guess even preschool stuff isn't completely spared from some sort of jerkiness (for a live-action example, see Oscar the Grouch). <

And that example hasn't been without controversy. At one point, some parent group or other wanted Oscar evicted from Sesame Street, saying he was bad role model. But the show's producers insisted that Oscar plays a vital function. "Disagreeable people are a fact of life; it's importaint for children to learn how to cope with them."

[RonDrakenfan17]

How comes that? Velma, a jerk? Really?

If anyone was the jerk in that gang, I always thought it was Fred. "Guys, let's split, I'll go with the girls and you can go alone so your proved again and again lack of luck and brains gets you into the monster's path... AGAIN!".

Well that's true, Freds more of a jerk than Velma, he always seems to trick poor Shaggy and Scooby into being bait some how and gets them to split up :shrug:

[Mad Mod 49]

Some jerks are needed such as Daffy and Velma from Scooby while others as Eddy and Sam from Danny Phantom aren't really :shrug:
Or Katara from Avatar for that matter, course she's apart of the nations so I got nothing.


KATARA?! :eek: Katara's the least jerkiest in the group, Toph and Sokka tend to be much more jerky.

[RonDrakenfan17]

KATARA?! :eek: Katara's the least jerkiest in the group, Toph and Sokka tend to be much more jerky.

Toph I see some times, but Sokka, he's just normally sorcastic when other people are mean to him back. Come on, Katara said to Toph "Too bad you can't see them!" to Toph about the stars, tell me that wasn't harsh! And she's always putting down Sokka most of the times, the fans admit it even.

[Tintin]

Wow! That was a brillant question because i don't have the feeling and the pain to include a jerk in a cartoon show. Is it very necessary this stuff? I mean, no!

[Jeff Harris]

Why do cartoons need jerks?

Because life is full of them. Jerks are often the catalyst for almost every action that takes place. Jerks are challengers of the peace, almost guaranteeing that some conflict will be present in one form or another. That's why they're present in every form of entertainment, from cartoons to live-action, from television shows to theatrical movies (though in the movie The Jerk, Steve Martin wasn't so much of a jerk, but rather a rube; still, it was a funny movie). Hell, everybody knows a jerk, and if you don't, well, chances are that you might be the jerk.

[Simon Trent]

I don't think that cartoons need jerks. It's just easier to write a character that is blindly antagonistic since you don't have to give them "motivations" or "emotions" [but if you do, you get praised]. There's nothing wrong with this of course but it can get kind of lazy when you see a hundred different cartoons and all of them involved a jerk shoving a kid into a locker, thus forcing him to seek disproportionate revenge using whatever ridiculous idea is rooted in the show's overall concept.

[Kagetsu]

It's just easier to write a character that is blindly antagonistic since you don't have to give them "motivations" or "emotions"
Bingo.

Someone has to be the target of the main characters "jokes". and no one really wants to put much thought into a character that's just there to be laughed at. And they have to be jerks or the "jokes" are mean rather than just if they are to make the main character look cool

Mandy-TS,,, classic

[RAINMAN]

I think it goes by how well a jerk character is handle. If a char hasa reaosn why he/she acts like a jerk then it understandable. But if a char acts like a jerk for no reason then they are the bad type of jerks.


Eric in DD seem to be the jerk of the group, but the poor boy just wants to go home. Hes tired of going here and there helping other people and not getting no award for it. Yet there times he dispalys non-jerk like actions to help his friends.


Then there character who we don`t pay close enough attention to their action that are jerk too like someone bought up fred in scooby. Which bring me to OMIE. He may be more dedacted to his training more the the other,however he act like a arrogent know it all while looking down on kimeco for being a girl.

[Neo Yi]

Toph I see some times, but Sokka, he's just normally sorcastic when other people are mean to him back. Come on, Katara said to Toph "Too bad you can't see them!" to Toph about the stars, tell me that wasn't harsh! And she's always putting down Sokka most of the times, the fans admit it even.

But compare to either Toph and Sokka who either joke/not take things seriously/generally rude, Katara is the most compassionate and maternal of the group. She's the most caring and while she has her rude and harsh amounts as well (who doesn't?), compare to the rest of the group, she's generally is the least jerkiest one. She's volume over Toph and Sokka in the least jerky department.

[Mad Mod 49]

Come on, Katara said to Toph "Too bad you can't see them!" to Toph about the stars, tell me that wasn't harsh!

That was harsh, but remember that Toph had caused that argument between them when Katara had been trying to get along with her. Katara was sorry about that comment later, she had just said it out of anger. She's only human after all.

[I.R Joey]

KATARA?! :eek: Katara's the least jerkiest in the group, Toph and Sokka tend to be much more jerky.

Maybe but it keep the episode "The Desert" in mind. If it wasn't for Katara the whole group would have just fallen apart.

Agreed about the "Stars" comment though. Truth be told it didn't occur to me until after the episode was done.