The History of Cartoons

The emergence and early development of cartoon

If you want to understand what is a cartoon, then it is worthwhile to start from the origin of the word "cartoon″.

Cartoon is the Chinese phonetic translation of the English word "cartoon″. For the etymology of this word, there are two different ways of saying: one is to say that it comes from the French "carton″ (picture); the other is to say that it comes from the Italian "cartone″ (cardboard).

From the etymology of cartoon, we can know that cartoon as an art form originated in Europe. In modern Europe, there are two important historical conditions that prompted the emergence of cartoons: first, the development of the sprout of capitalism, which strengthened the power of the civil class and led to significant changes in the social structure. Secondly, since the Renaissance movement, the concept of free and open art began to be accepted by the society. The interaction of these two conditions made traditional painting come down from the altar of the Middle Ages, increasingly close to the aesthetic tendency of the common people, and provided a social basis for the creation of cartoon paintings that were simple and complicated. At the same time, as a means of expressing their own demands, cartoons were also given a broader political connotation.

In the seventeenth century in the Netherlands, the artist's pen appeared for the first time with cartoon exaggerated sketch scroll. The Frenchman Honoré Dumière (1808-1879) as a representative of the satirical cartoonists, but also the political cartoon to the height of art. To this day, political cartoons remain an important part of Western popular culture.

In the history of the development of cartoon art, Britain played a fairly important role. As we all know, Britain is the first country to establish modern parliamentary democracy, and also one of the first countries to enter the industrial revolution. The establishment of democratic politics ensured the freedom of speech and publication for the people, which provided a social foundation for the development of cartoon art; the rise of the industrial revolution triggered the prosperity of the newspaper and publishing industry, which provided a material guarantee for the development of cartoon art.

As early as the end of the 17th century, the British press has appeared on many similar cartoon humor illustrations, but due to the lack of full-time painters and fixed art style, so it is not really a cartoon. With the prosperity of the newspaper publishing industry, to the beginning of the 18th century, the emergence of full-time cartoonists, British cartoon style is also gradually finalized. Compared with the same period of the European continent's humor and satire, the British cartoon drawings more from the social customs, with humor and subtlety.

In this period, the more influential cartoonists include William Hoggs (1697-1764), James Gilray (1757-1816) and Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). Of these, Hoggs' masterpieces include The Return of the Prodigal Son and Harlot's Wanderings, while Rowlandson was primarily responsible for the creation of The Lifetime Travels of Dr. Hintax. It is worth mentioning that the works of Hoggs and others are no longer traditional single-panel paintings, but have developed into a series of interrelated paintings, with the prototype of a comic strip.

In 1841, the famous Punch was launched in London. This famously harmonic periodical occupies a prominent place in the history of cartoon development. In fact, it was the publication's contributors, the famous painter John Rich and editor Mark Lumont, who first officially named humorous satire "cartoons". At the same time, the publication was an important bridge in the transition from traditional cartoons to comic strips. In the early days of Clumsy, many works similar to the concept of comic strips were serialized. And The Adventures of Mr. Brake, drawn by John Rich, had many of the constituent elements of a comic strip.

The advent of color printing in the late nineteenth century sparked a revolution in publishing. Accordingly, color comics began to appear on the scene.

In 1901, the famous publisher Harms Worth, on the basis of merging and acquiring several magazines, set up the Associated Publishing Company (referred to as "AP″), which successively published cartoon publications such as Gremlins, Blisters, Smile, Rainbow, the weekly magazine Tiger Tim and Jungle Bash. Another publisher, Henderson, also put out magazines such as Fun and Games (1906), Cartoon World (1909), Essence (1910), and Sparks (1918). Other magazines, such as "Fireworks" published by "Trapps and Holmes″ and "The Grand Concourse" published by Pearson, all intervened in the publication and distribution of color comics to varying degrees. During this period, an important change in British comics periodicals was the gradual shift in reader orientation of publications from adults to children and teenagers. AP is the biggest beneficiary of this trend, they successfully launched the cartoon image of "Tim the Tiger″, which became the favorite cartoon star of children. Its sister product, "Bear Dolls", has also achieved remarkable sales. In addition, Fox Weir, one of the authors of ″Tiger Tim″, also created ″Tiger Gilly″ and ″Miss Hippopotamus″ and other girls' cartoons.

The evolution of animated cartoons seems to be more storied than that of political cartoons and comics. As mentioned earlier, the art of animation is an important part of modern film and television art. However, in the "prehistory" of animation and film, the two were one and the same. It was only after the invention of photography that film and animation began to go their separate ways.

In 1895, the French Lumière Brothers were the first to show their "movie machine" to the public, and screened films such as "Train in the Station" and "Seawater Garden". The modern movie was born. The first animated movie came out ten years later. Part of the reason for this was the high production cost of animated films. To this day, animated films remain a cultural product that requires high investment.

In 1906, J. Stuart Blackton, who worked in Edison's laboratory, produced The Humorous phases of Funny Faces, the world's first animated film. After that, Emile Cohl from France further developed the techniques of animation and produced more than 250 short animated films. He was also the first to combine animation and live action by using blackout photography. It is because of Cole's outstanding contribution to the development of animated films that he is also regarded as the father of contemporary animated films.

Another major influence on the development of early animation was the American Winsor McCay. Born in Michigan, he drew posters for circuses and popular theater groups for a living, and later became a newspaper reporter and cartoon columnist. 1914, McKay released Gertie the Dinosaur, an animated drama. The launch of this cartoon changed the purely artistic tendencies previously seen in animated works by organizing the story, characters and live action into an interactive plot, to considerable effect. Gertie the Dinosaur became a cartoon star for a while. After Gertie the Dinosaur, McKay produced The Sinking of the Lusternia. This was the first documentary to be animated.

Windsor McKay's success was symbolic. With his training and accumulation as a cartoonist, he pioneered a new mode of animation creation that emphasized characterization, story structure, and popular interest. After McKay, American animators began to embark on a very different path from their European counterparts. A cartoon era was coming to the New World.

Golden Age cartoon empire

In the first half of the twentieth century, the level of development of American cartoon art in the world's leading position. And there is no doubt that this leadership was all-encompassing.

As early as 1840, Boston's DC Johnston Co. issued a single-page pictorial called "Crespa," which may have been the first cartoon to appear in the United States. Since then, with the constant influx of European immigrants, cartoon art, originally popular in Europe, has begun to land in the United States.

In 1880, the American newspaper mogul Pulitzer added a Sunday special to his New York World newspaper, and added a cartoon column to it. Shortly thereafter, another newspaper magnate, Hearst, also began publishing regular cartoons in his own publications, such as New York Magazine and American Humorist. This means that the role of cartoons in increasing newspaper circulation has been widely recognized. And the strong involvement of the above two newspapers, is undoubtedly still in the infancy of the United States cartoon injection of a booster, since then the development of the United States cartoon into the fast lane.

In 1895, the famous cartoonist R.F. Outcault (Outcault) created a series of cartoons "Yellow Kid" (Yellow Kid) began to be published in the Pulitzer-founded "New York World" (New York World). Shortly afterward, Outcault took the Yellow Kid with him to Hearst's New York Journal. Originally titled "Hogan's Alley," the Yellow Kid series featured a six- or seven-year-old kid named Mickey Dugan who wore dirty pajamas with a big head. In fact, the pajamas started out blue. In 1896, a new technology made it easy to dye paper yellow, and Dugan changed into yellow. Later, Outhcott added dialogue from the story's main characters to the comic to make it easier for people to understand the theme of the story. This made "The Yellow Kid" a true comic strip. As the image of "Yellow Kid" had been y rooted in people's hearts, shrewd businessmen developed a large number of peripheral products related to "Yellow Kid" based on this image, including toys, statues, advertising posters, etc. Although "Yellow Kid" was a popular comic strip, it was not the only comic strip in the world. Although "Yellow Kid" went through many ups and downs, the series was finally published in 1902, the seventh year after its first appearance. It should be noted that the success of "The Yellow Kid" not only promoted the development of cartoon comics in the United States, but also provided a classic paradigm for the commercial operation of comic works.

Throughout the early twentieth century, cartoon comics were always looking for a meeting point with American culture. In the process, many great works and memorable cartoons were produced. However, it wasn't until the early thirties that the golden age of American cartooning really arrived.

The "Golden Age" is described in this way: The Golden Age of American cartooning was a time when superheroes roamed the pages of cheap magazines. As we all know, such as Superman (SUPER MAN), Batman (BATMAN), Flash (FLASH), Aquaman (AQUA MAN) and many other superhero images are produced in this period. These superheroes are characterized by the same **** bodybuilder-like figure, ordinary people can not have superpowers, and continue to beat the evil and tough enemies to save the world. Among them, the most representative and continuous influence, I am afraid to be considered Superman and Batman.

The main character of Superman is Clark, a super-powered alien from the planet Krypton. He came to Earth from Krypton in a space ship when he was just a baby and was adopted by the kindly Mr. and Mrs. Kent. As he grows up, he begins to realize that he has superpowers that Earthlings don't have. In order to conceal his identity, Clark traveled from a remote town to Metropolis and took a job as an editor at the Daily Planet, where he befriended Lois, a young and beautiful female reporter. Since then, whenever the safety and order of the city is threatened by evil forces, there is always a flying hero in cape and tights who shows up in time to save those in crisis. For the most part, however, Superman's main mission is to heroically save the day.

The Superman series was first published in the first issue of ACTION COMICS and quickly became popular throughout the U.S. On January 16, 1939, Superman began being serialized in newspapers. By 1941, more than three hundred newspapers were publishing Superman comics on a daily basis. Cartoons, movies, and TV shows featuring Superman were produced throughout the next half-century. It's no exaggeration to say that "Superman" has become an icon of the times.

Almost simultaneously with Superman's success, Batman, another superhero of the "Golden Age," also came into the spotlight.

Batman, whose original name was Quibbles, came from a prominent and wealthy family. When he was very young, his parents were killed by thugs and he was orphaned and raised by a butler. When he grew up, he swore to fight for the eradication of evil. Thus, he became a masked hero in a bat costume. His most important mission is to rid the world of evil and punish those who fall through the cracks of the law.

The story of Batman first appeared in the twenty-seventh issue of DETECTIVE COMICS. Compared to Superman, Batman is an ordinary man with no superpowers, which is what makes him so appealing. The main tools Batman uses to fight evil are a variety of technological inventions, the most famous of which is the all-powerful Batmobile.

Among the many superheroes of the Golden Age, Wonder Woman (WONDER WOMAN) can be said to be a "different". This is not only because it breaks the monopoly of the previous male superhero image, more importantly, her appearance completely reconstructed the cartoon world in the order of the sexes, so that the female characters are no longer just the male heroes subordinate to the main character of the story really become dominant. As a result, when the Wonder Woman series was launched in ALL STAR COMICS at the end of 1941, it was warmly received by many female readers.

The emergence of the comic book hero was no accident. In fact, it is the inevitable result of the collision of comic art and American culture. The core of American culture is the so-called "individualism". This is a kind of culture that advocates individual struggle and emphasizes the priority of protecting personal interests. Because of this cultural background, especially in the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War, which brought a severe impact on the American society, people appreciate and yearn for the "savior"-style superheroes, and regard them as the symbols of hope and power. Because they could not find such characters in the real world, people turned to the invented world to seek spiritual support.

During the Second World War, America's society and economy were not dragged down by the war, but instead gained unprecedented development and strength. The patriotism inspired by the war became the mainstream of American culture at that time. As a result, the superheroes in the comics were also involved in the defense of the country and the fight against the Nazis. The "Golden Age″ also moved to its peak.

With the increasing influence of cartoon comics in American society, the development of American comics has gradually diversified, with the emergence of educational comics, science comics, western comics and other new subjects. At the same time, the pursuit of profit maximization of commercial speculation, making the United States cartoons in the violence, pornography and other undesirable factors surge, some comic publications even marked "children should not ″. As a result, the comic book industry became the focus of public criticism and public opinion, which eventually led to the decline of the "Golden Age".

In the spring of 1945, Dr. Frederick Weisman's book Seducing the Innocent was published. Dr. Weisman was an influential intellectual in society at the time, as well as a prominent member of the political establishment. Dr. Weisman was an influential intellectual and political figure at the time, and was convinced that "cartoons filled with violence and dark content are the root cause of juvenile delinquency and social disruption". Although investigations later showed that most of Dr. Weisman's assertions were unsubstantiated, the publication of the book coincided with the widespread criticism of the comic book industry by mainstream public opinion at the time, and therefore immediately gained the support and recognition of all walks of life. For a time, comics became super-prohibited, and people often talked about them in the same breath as they talked about drugs.

In April 1954, the U.S. Senate Committee on Juvenile Delinquency held a public hearing on the effects of comics on young people, at which Dr. Weisman appeared as a witness. He claimed that comics were responsible for tainting children's innocence and triggering juvenile delinquency, and that Hitler was child's play compared to comics. "Children often suffer from the poison of comics from the age of four. ″He even called for an immediate ban on the sale of comics.

Although, the hearing was not able to form a definite conclusion, the Senate eventually demanded the issuance of a censorship standard to eliminate all content in comics that could poison youth and corrupt morals. This was a death sentence for the "Golden Age" in terms of public opinion. Shortly after the Senate hearings, comic book publishers formed the National Federation of Comic Book Magazines on October 26, 1954, and established the Federation's internal censorship standards, which required that the restriction level be clearly indicated on the cover of all comics published thereafter.

This was an event that had a profound impact on the American comic book industry. As a result of this overkill, the previously best-selling horror and police comics almost disappeared; the cowboys in western comics also had to tighten their grip, and the scenes of physical combat and gunfighting were significantly reduced; and even the "violent" behavior in the funny animal comics also became fearful. Many publishers and publications went out of business due to the dramatic drop in circulation, and most professional cartoonists were forced to change careers. Of course, teenage comic book writers like Joe Simon, author of Captain America, also became popular for a time because of the absence of superheroes. Still, as a whole, the U.S. comics industry was devastated by it, and although it recovered somewhat later, it ultimately failed to regain its former prominence.

Compared with the twists and turns of the U.S. comic book industry, the U.S. animation industry has always maintained a strong momentum of development during the same period. And we can't look back at this history without mentioning Walt Disney and his Disney Company.

In fact, before Walt Disney, the U.S. already had a lot of outstanding animators, but as a latecomer, Walt was the one who really pushed the U.S. animation industry to take a leap forward. Therefore, we have enough reasons to think that "Walt Disney is the first master in the history of animation".

In 1923, at the age of 22, Walt Disney said goodbye to his hometown of Kansas and left for Hollywood to seek development. At that time, Hollywood was a hotbed of entrepreneurship, and at this time the film is still in the silent stage, as for the animated cartoon is only placed in the movie before the opening of the show is just a show of excitement. There, he started from nothing, with only 3,200 dollars to register the establishment of the "Disney Brothers Animation Company". In the year that Walt came to Hollywood, he completed his first animated feature, Alice in Cartoonland, a silent animated film starring live action and animated characters.

Disney and his company gradually gained a foothold during his first years in Hollywood, but in 1927 Walt suffered the first crushing blow of his career. This year, he created the first popular cartoon character "Lucky Rabbit Oswald ″ by the distribution company with deceptive means to take away, so the company almost into a dead end. Annoyed and helpless, Disney embarked on a train back to his hometown of Kansas. However, it was during this journey back home that a lively and cute little mouse appeared in Walt's mind. Later, Walt's wife to this new cartoon image took a loud name "Mickey Mouse″! This is the later world-famous, for the children of various countries love the cartoon star - Mickey Mouse.

Mickey Mouse's emergence, of course, for the Disney company to provide a huge intangible assets. However, to make Mickey and his pals a favorite superstar, Disney must also have a novel production concept. And at the heart of that new philosophy is an emphasis on plot design and constant innovation.

Before Disney, animated films served as a matinee program before the screening of a regular movie, often focusing only on visual effects and paying little attention to the arrangement of the storyline. Disney's Mickey Mouse series went in the opposite direction, with a well-thought-out plot for the production early in the process, making the short seven- or eight-minute vignettes very compelling, and coupled with well-produced graphics, Disney's animated films instantly shrugged off almost all of their competitors.

In addition to advanced creative concepts, sensitivity to innovation was another one of Disney's trump cards.

In the mid-to-late 1920s, movies said goodbye to the silent era, and the emergence of talkies triggered a revolution in the entire film industry. Walt, keenly aware of the coming change, began to try to produce sound animated films. on November 18, 1928, as the first sound animated film synchronized with sound and picture in the history of cinema, Steamboat Willie made its grand premiere at the Colonial Theatre in New York City, and was a success. By 1932, Disney followed up with Flowers and Tree, the first color animated feature. In addition to being an expected sensation, it won Disney an Academy Award for Animated Short Film. Five years later, in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney's first fully animated cartoon feature, took years to create. It was a landmark animated film. And because of its huge commercial success, Disney's production schedule began to shift toward feature films. Immediately afterward, in 1940, Disney released two animated feature films, Pinocchio and Fantasia. Fantasia is regarded as a classic of modern animation and was widely acclaimed from the outset. In addition to Mickey Mouse, new characters such as Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck have also appeared in Disney's animated films. With a steady stream of great works and cartoon stars, the Disney Company finally established its dominance in the cartoon empire in the early 1940s.

For the entire U.S. animation industry, Disney's success had a huge demonstration and promotion role. Due to the expansion of the animation market, many new animation companies have been set up, and at this time Hollywood has been the center of the animation industry in the United States, and even the world. Van Beuren Studio was one of these new animation companies, and under its banner it also gathered a group of outstanding young animators. In the late 1930s, the company launched the famous and successful animated series Tom and Jerry. Another influential animation production organization was the animation department created by Warner Productions in 1934, with major works including: Porky and Beans, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny. Like Disney's Mickey Mouse, they are well known cartoon stars.

However, in Disney's brilliant success, the crisis is also quietly breeding. Founded at the beginning of the Disney company, to art and creation as a credo net a large number of first-class animation talent. However, with the company's continuous development and growth, Disney's art style also gradually tends to be fixed, catering to the audience and market demand has become the basis and premise of the program production. More importantly, Disney employees increasingly felt that the company's prosperity did not bring them the expected increase in income, and discontent began to spread within Disney. By the early 1940s, Disney's animators were preparing to unionize in hopes of fighting the company's executives for better pay. However, the attitude of the executives seemed to be tougher than expected, which also triggered a protracted "war of words". In the end, many of the company's business leaders left in anger and formed a partnership called United Productions of America (UPA).

Despite all the ups and downs, Walt Disney and his company remain the undisputed successes of their time. Today, Disney has become a worldwide "entertainment empire," which is another proof that Walt's vision and success transcend the times.

All in all, during this period, both the comic book industry and the animation industry in the United States have made great progress. It is worth noting that, in this development process, around the cartoon products, the U.S. entertainment industry has formed a complete set of commercial operation system, to achieve a virtuous cycle of cartoon's own development. The "American cartoon" is also the basis for the realization of its global expansion, becoming a cultural force that can not be underestimated.

The new wave of the boom in the Second World War, although Europe and the United States cartoon products still occupy the mainstream of the world cartoon market, but due to the economic and social and cultural changes in the public, cartoon art in the global scope of the development of cartoon art, also presents an unprecedented all-round, diversified development situation. Undeniably, a new wave of cartoon industry is emerging, and will sweep the world.

Just as American cartoons embarked on the road to commercialization, European cartoonists and animators still seemed to stick to their inherent artistic concepts. But even so, the European cartoons of this period are not short of classics.

In Germany, this period appeared a cartoon master with world influence E. O. Braun. Braun, whose original name was Erich Ossel, was born in a remote town in Saxony, Germany. Later, due to job changes, Erich's father and his family moved to Braun, the capital of the Vogtland mountains. The reason why Ehrlich used "Braun" as his pen name was also out of nostalgia for this city. From 1921 to 1933, Erich published a large number of cartoons as a painter, and illustrated many of the works of his close friend, the writer Erich K?stner. However, the socio-political climate in Germany took a rapid rightward turn with the rise to power of the Nazi Party. Dissatisfied with the Nazi Party's perversions, Erich created caricatures that satirized the Nazi Party, which resulted in the hatred of Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels and others. For a time, Ehrlich's cartoons were censored.

Later, because the then Berliner Illustrirte needed an artist who could draw serialized cartoons, Dr. Kurt Kusenberg, the famous writer, publisher and editor in charge of the matter, approached Erich Ossel to take on the job. Eventually, thanks to the active maneuvering of the Berliner Illustrirte, the Nazi authorities lifted the ban on Erich, but attached a series of harsh censorship conditions and absolutely forbade any politically related content in his work.

Despite this, Erissi completed more than 200 sets of work between 1934 and 1937, which became known as the Father and Son series of comics. During the years of fascism, this series of comics was like an oasis of humanity, and became the best comfort for the German people when they faced the cruel reality of life, and thus won the hearts of many people. Fathers and Sons was hailed as a symbol of German humor, and its reputation soon spread across national borders.

In 1929, Belgian cartoonist Elgee began work on The Adventures of Tintin series. From then until his death in March 1983, he completed more than twenty volumes of The Adventures of Tintin, and in 1986, Tintin and the Art of the Alpha, the last work he was unable to complete, was published, bringing the Tintin series to a close. Critics generally believe that the success of the Tintin series should be attributed to the author's full attention to the integration of the main story line and the real background, and therefore Ergé has also been called a "comic book journalist″. Regardless, the Tintin series has become one of the most outstanding works in the history of comics due to its blend of documentary style and humor, and Eliezer has become one of the masters of comics as a result.

While American animators were enjoying the "Golden Age", European animators were still committed to experimentation and artistry. This can be seen in the use of synchronized sound technology. In the United States, character voices are mainly used to show the character's features and personality; while in Europe, sound effects are used as "material" for experimentation. As a matter of fact, European animators have almost maximized the cooperation between picture and sound effects in animated films. These useful attempts and explorations have greatly enriched the expression of animation, and played a driving role in the development and progress of animation art. However, after all, animation is a kind of cultural product that requires high investment, and without the support of a complete industrial chain, it is difficult to make it big and strong. With the entry of American animated films, European experimental animation has gradually withered away.

Perhaps no one would have thought that the outbreak of the Second World War gave the European animation industry a chance to "revitalize". Due to the impact of the war, the world's cartoon market was divided into a number of pieces, which objectively stimulated the independent development of the cartoon industry in various countries. At the same time, because many governments took cartoons as an important means of war mobilization and propaganda, government investment began to foster the development of the national animation industry.

In wartime Britain, the newly established "Haras and Bachiller" animation company commissioned by the British authorities, before and after the *** production of more than seventy support for the war animated propaganda short films. These short films were shown in cinemas and theaters all over the UK, and played a positive role in inspiring the fighting spirit of the British people. Similar "war animation″ also appeared in the homes of warring countries such as the United States and Japan. After the war, although it was no longer necessary to use animation as a means of mobilizing for war, it was still an important propaganda medium, and was therefore widely valued by the government and civil institutions. Animation was used as a medium for everything from public relations, corporate advertising, cultural education, and even political campaigning. This has allowed the European animation industry to find a new fulcrum.

Compared with Western European countries, the animation industry in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union lagged a little behind, but had its own style and system. Alexander Baskin and the Brampager sisters were outstanding representatives of Soviet animation. Among them, the Brampager Sisters' "Chinese on Fire", completed in 1925, is especially well-known to Chinese audiences. Although some Western critics consider Russian cartoons to be too stereotypical, on the whole, Soviet animators have still explored a great deal of excellent material from their country's rich cultural heritage, and produced a number of outstanding animation works.

Let's go back to the United States. The diverse styles that emerged at the end of the "Golden Age" were inherited by a new generation of American cartoonists, resulting in many excellent cartoons.

On October 2, 1950, Charles Schulz, a famous American cartoonist, began publishing his Peanuts series. In the fifty years since then, the Peanuts series has achieved unprecedented success, has been translated into 21 languages, published in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Snoopy, the main character of the cartoon, has become a superstar with 350 million loyal readers worldwide. The appearance of Peanuts marked the rise of a new force in the American comic book industry. Similar success stories include Jim Davis and his Garfield series.

As time passed and the effects of the Weisman Incident faded, superhero stories began to return to American life, and in 1956, in the fourth issue of Showtime magazine, a new generation of The Flash made his debut, marking the return of the superhero. Since then, most of the heroes of the "Golden Age" have returned, and a new generation of superheroes continues to emerge, including Spider-Man, who debuted in 1962, and Wolverine, who made his debut in 1974.