There's still some of it around, but it's more of an indie thing, like on Adult Swim. In the '90s it was mainstream enough to be on Nickelodeon.

I'd say it was about 1993 to 2001 when this was popular.

Not counting Japanese anime, were there ANY gory cartoons from before like 1988? I can't think of any.

Tom and Jerry cartoons were violent for they time.

Tom and Jerry cartoons were violent for they time.


so were a lot of the Looney Tunes

so were a lot of the Looney Tunes
..with 16 ton weights and anvils

Tom and Jerry cartoons were violent for they time.



yes, I was just going to point this out. My little boy loves Tom and Jerry, but sometimes I worry about him trying to copy some of the things that they do on there. Yes, a lot of the older cartoons were VERY violent.

Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons were kind of violent.

There's still some of it around, but it's more of an indie thing, like on Adult Swim. In the '90s it was mainstream enough to be on Nickelodeon.

I'd say it was about 1993 to 2001 when this was popular.

Not counting Japanese anime, were there ANY gory cartoons from before like 1988? I can't think of any.
mostly it was either cartoonish no-consequences violence like tom and jerry or it was theatrical release flicks. i remember watership down, wizards, allegro non troppo were all notorious back in the day for taking on "adult" themes and having blood and violence and stuff. (and they're all excellent movies, by the way.)

Released in 1937, some of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is on the scary side

Violence in cartoons spans way back to the 40s

Yeah, it's always been prevalent to some extent, but I see what the OP means. I do believe cartoon violence became cool in the '90s - probably with the early Beavis and Butthead, peaking with South Park, and declining a bit after 9/11.

..with 16 ton weights and anvils


Don't forget the shotgun blasts to the face...now that's violent.

Don't forget the shotgun blasts to the face...now that's violent.


Correction:

"Now that's comedy."
- Slappy Squirrel, on behalf of the last gasp of Termite Terrace.

(And would you believe that "What's Opera, Doc" is 50 years old this week?)

Correction:

"Now that's comedy."
- Slappy Squirrel, on behalf of the last gasp of Termite Terrace.

(And would you believe that "What's Opera, Doc" is 50 years old this week?)


lol... I love Slappy

There's still some of it around, but it's more of an indie thing, like on Adult Swim. In the '90s it was mainstream enough to be on Nickelodeon.

I'd say it was about 1993 to 2001 when this was popular.

Not counting Japanese anime, were there ANY gory cartoons from before like 1988? I can't think of any.



Yeah, there weren't really a whole lot of gory cartoons in the '80s or before. At least none that I can think of. Even though, as some others have said, violence has been in cartoons since the 1930's at least, it seemed to become much more gory in the '90s.

Yeah, there weren't really a whole lot of gory cartoons in the '80s or before. At least none that I can think of. Even though, as some others have said, violence has been in cartoons since the 1930's at least, it seemed to become much more gory in the '90s.


Yeah, even the old Donald Duck or Bugs Bunny-type cartoons from c. WWII were more violent than people sometimes remember. Although it was always done in a very silly, unrealistic way (probably why it's dubbed "cartoon violence", lol). For instance, a character would hit somebody then they'd be right up and running again in two seconds, as if it never happened.

I don't think the mirroring of real life violence began showing up until at least the late '80s, and probably not noticeably until 1993. Although I even think Ren and Stimpy or Beavis and Butthead are quite innocent compared to South Park. Being "shocking" sort of went as far as it could in the 1997-2000 time.

Yeah, even the old Donald Duck or Bugs Bunny-type cartoons from c. WWII were more violent than people sometimes remember. Although it was always done in a very silly, unrealistic way (probably why it's dubbed "cartoon violence", lol). For instance, a character would hit somebody then they'd be right up and running again in two seconds, as if it never happened.

I don't think the mirroring of real life violence began showing up until at least the late '80s, and probably not noticeably until 1993. Although I even think Ren and Stimpy or Beavis and Butthead are quite innocent compared to South Park. Being "shocking" sort of went as far as it could in the 1997-2000 time.

Well, actually, your take on when cartoons got "more gory" or became really violent depends on what your really watching and what was popular to remember.
Fritz the Cat (1971), both the comic by R. Crumb and the movie (one of the first or only? animated cartoons that received an X-rating) was pretty violent.
Most of any of the Ralph Bakshi films Street Fight and others were also pretty graphic, both in sexual content as well as bloody violence.
The underground comic scene has always been very graphic as European and Japanese animation.

The difference here is that what we now perceive as an increase popularity in cartoon violence is that these shows featuring this are now written by adults for adults. There is simply a larger audience for adult themed animated "cartoons" with content that is clearly not designed or geared for children. Programming like "Adult Swim" bear this out.

Keep in mind that Ren & Stimpy (as creator J Kricfalusi reminds us) was not written for kids. Neither is South Park.

Looney Tunes weren't originally intended for kids

I think The Simpsons kind of bridges the gap between the more traditional "kid-oriented" cartoons, and the more adult ones. Although it probably helped make those more popular, just by having a mass appeal to almost everyone.

Yeah, even the old Donald Duck or Bugs Bunny-type cartoons from c. WWII were more violent than people sometimes remember. Although it was always done in a very silly, unrealistic way (probably why it's dubbed "cartoon violence", lol). For instance, a character would hit somebody then they'd be right up and running again in two seconds, as if it never happened.

I don't think the mirroring of real life violence began showing up until at least the late '80s, and probably not noticeably until 1993. Although I even think Ren and Stimpy or Beavis and Butthead are quite innocent compared to South Park. Being "shocking" sort of went as far as it could in the 1997-2000 time.



Yeah, I would agree. The very realistic violence in cartoons started up in the late '80s, and around 1993 or so actually became pretty mainstream. And during the 1997-2001 period, starting with South Park, mature cartoons became huge.