Homer's Travels: I Like Cartoons. Am I Normal?

Monday, April 16, 2007

I Like Cartoons. Am I Normal?

I'm a 43 year old man and I like to watch cartoons. I remember getting up early Saturday morning to watch cartoons. This continued into college. This habit continued into my young adulthood. Eventually the Saturday cartoons lost their punch to the more interesting Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network fair. My cartoon watching has suffered since I married the wife. It's not her fault, it's just that my life is busier with the house and all and it is often hard to find time to watch. Then came the DVR.

The first thing I did when we got our DVR was record Futurama (I've watched them all) and Invader Zim (Still working of them). Next is Ren & Stimpy (though I've seen most of them already). Modern cartoons are not produced solely for the amusement of minors. Cartoon producers realize that parents often watch cartoons with their children and often insert humor aimed squarely at the adult in the room. The humor is often beyond children's comprehension and are dead on for the adult. I like this adult undertone but I secretly (well not so secretly now) like the childish humor as well. There is something about the innocence of it. Cartoons are an escape from the stress of the modern world. It is simple. It is absurd. It is logic defying. It is bounded by no rigid rules. If humor is the best medicine, then cartoons are pure morphine.

The wife does not share my interest in cartoon watching but, in the rare occasion that she is in the room while I am watching cartoons, I have caught her muffling a chortle.

So, am I normal? I like to think that adults who aren't watching cartoons in their spare time are missing out. Then again, I may just be trying to rationalize my weirdness. Sometimes you just got to get away from things. Hiking is one way I do this. Cartoons is another.

3 comments:

  1. Well, le'see, I like "Simpsons", "King of the Hill" and subscribe to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive RSS feed. I'm not qualified to judge anyone's normalcy.
    (The Best Man)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wonder if this a guy thing or are there women cartoon watchers out there?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excuse me, husband, but that last line in your comment sounds like a pick up line. Well ... it caught me. I would like to remind you that I went to see Spawn with you. I recall being the only woman there. Proof that you are truly loved.

    The Wife

    ReplyDelete