Dr. Toon: Going Swimmingly? — Part 1
Some artists did fight the trend, but their intentions unraveled due to a heavy-handed reliance on sex and violence. Therefore, we have witnessed past missteps in which X-rated features, such as Charles Swenson’s Dirty Duck (1974) or Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat (1972) seemed to be breakthrough artifacts in defining adult animation. Unfortunately, the former film is virtually worthless and the latter film a promising, though ultimately failed experiment. Bakshi would return with several animated films that were far more mature in content. However, Coonskin (1975) and Heavy Traffic (1973) tended to have more shock than entertainment value due to the factors described above.
After spending considerable time as substandard fare and extended toy commercials, animation resurfaced in the late 1980s due to a confluence of fortunate events, The Disney films Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and The Little Mermaid (1989), which were chartbusting hits. The first film adapted the detective noir film to images of classic cartoons, while the second wedded the Broadway musical to animation. Both genres are within the province of adult entertainment.
It was also at this time that a fantastic Japanese feature film, Akira (1989), opened American doors to a flood of sophisticated narratives that Asian (and American cult) audiences has been enjoying for some time. It is hardly surprising that The Simpsons (1990) followed shortly thereafter. This landmark series combined loony animation and the spirit of that decade’s sitcoms (with perhaps better writing) to create the most popular adult series to date, but it also signaled that animation was ready to launch into the adult domain.
By 1991, the foundations for “mature” animation were well in place. Both The Simpsons and The Ren & Stimpy Show were not only hits; they were fast becoming part of the currency of popular culture. Both generated considerable controversy at the time, and controversy is inseparable from public notoriety. Independents such as Marv Newland joined the fray; his infamous short Pink Komkommer was an important event in animation circles that year. Increasing amounts of breathtaking, mature anime flooded the country. Adult animation continued to progress in1991, taking root in a most unlikely milieu. Judy McGrath, the creative director at MTV, saw the signals and put Abby Terkuhle in charge of Music Television’s first animated series. Liquid Television was actually a collaborative effort between MTV and Britain’s BBC, and it was far less “liquid” than mercurial.
LTV featured a number of animated series within its 30-minute format, each lasting no more than a few minutes. Some artists, like Bill Plympton, got 60 seconds or less. Many of the animators were independents; a few of them were veterans of festivals and all of them were animating for adults only. Even the most (in)famous “graduate” of LTV, Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head, was not for the kiddies; it was aimed at young adults not long out of the phase in which the woeful protagonists were mired.
The stylish, ultra violent heroine Aeon Flux, a character heavily influenced by creator Peter Chung’s love for anime, needed no dialogue in order to convey narrative to the audience. She soon appeared in a spinoff series as well. Bizarre segments such as Robin Steele’s Stick Figure Theatre (which featured popular movie soundtracks voiced by kindergarten drawings) and The Specialists (a superhero/spy takeoff) were miniature delights for those disaffected by the mainstream. In all, LTV was a rapid-fire, non-linear attempt at bringing animation to the younger end of the 18-49 adult demographic; it actually succeeded across that spectrum.
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