Blog Post 11: Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy
In a few of my posts I have made on this blog I have discussed adult television animation. I seem to have neglected the primary audience for animation on TV however, kids. Most animation on television since it’s inception has been primarily intended for kids. Of course I have my own set of complaints for this subset of animation as well. One of my pet peeves in children’s animation is when the cartoons try to relate the children. It oftentimes seems rather cheesy and oftentimes shows just how out of touch the creators of these shows are with kids these days. It oftentimes makes me dread to see a cartoon about ordinary children. One particular exception to this rule, however, is the show Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy. Not only does the show avoid trying to hard to relate to children but also is in someways an interesting throwback to the old theatrical shorts as well as the simplistic and abstract animation of UPA and other 50′s cartoons.
Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy is a cartoon about three children who are misfits in their neighborhood. Ed is big and strong but not-so bright and rather slobbish, while Edd (oftentimes reffered to as double d) is intelligent and proper. The real brains behind the trio however is Eddy who i rather narcassistic and always scheming to make money to buy jawbreakers. The trio povides an interseting dynamic with Edd being frustrated with Ed’s lack of hygeine and Eddy’s lack of morals, Eddy with Ed’s stupidity and Edd’s preachyness, whil Ed could care less and causes trouble for the other two. The use of stereotyped characters works in the shows favor, rather than making the protaongist the dull everyman we are all supposed to relate to, it gives us 3 rather looney characters more along the lines of Goofy, Porky or Daffy.
One way in which the show really provides a throwback to animation of old is it’s use of music. Oftentimes scenes are accompanied by music which in a mood which matches whats happening on screen. This is somewhat similar to the old silly symphonies in looney tunes in some ways. It also differs in others, the music used is not classical music but more along the lines of jazz, and it is certainley used much more subtley as well.
The art style however is quite remoiniscent of the stylized animation of the 50′s. The back grounds are comprised of fairly simple shapes, with blocks of color filled in and only have enough detail for the viewer to understand where the action is taking place. The characters themselves are drawn rather crudely and not even the slightest attempt is made at making them look like well proportioned humans.
The actual humor of the show is usually quite slapstick oriented, again quite similar to looney toons. But the humour is also the biggest difference between Ed, Edd, n’Eddy and cartoons of the past. While a lot of the humour is slapstick, there is also quite a bit of jokes both relating to the life of a suburban child and a bit of gross out humor. The jokes regarding being a kid are fairly low key, they more serve as plot devices than actual jokes and it never feels as if the writers are tying to make childhood as depicted in the show anything like John Q. Public’s childhood. The gross out humour may be repulsive to some, but most of it is in reference to Ed’s hygeine and it’s nowhere near the level of a show like Ren and Stimpy.
The show is quite interesting in how it combines aspects from both the animation of the past and the oresent to create what is one of the better children’s cartoons of the past decade. It manages to capture some of the zaniness of looney tunes in a familiar surburban setting. I was unable to find a decent video clip to show but I would reccommend seeing the episode 1+1+Ed, a very surrealistitc episode involving the Eds discovering the secrets of the universe only to cause it to unravel, an interesting throwback to many of the surrealist cartoons of old such as Porky in Wackyland and Duck Amock.
This week I commented on Joseph Gayck and Jessica Martin’s Blogs/
I remember Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy because of how crude it was not really how relate-able. The boys never really got much done, the plot never progressed, the humor was always crude, and I never felt close or invested in the show (except maybe for plank). Though, I do agree the animation was very different and engaging in its own right but I guess I liked my humor not as bathroom centric.
Well actually my point was that the characters weren’t that relatable, just like no one really related to bigs bunny or Elmer Fudd. I guess I didn’t communicate that cleaerly enough. The crude humor certainley can be a turn off for many people, it’s probably the biggest difference that the chow has with older cartoons.
I totally forgot about this show! What an old gem. Either way, you make a good point about cartoons for children these days. I don’t watch too much of it, but from what I’ve seen it seems that there is a real lack of quality animated programming for kids. I think that Ed, Edd & Eddy was originally aimed at older children (similar to another great show, The Fairly Odd Parents), but still it related to kids on a goofy and fun level in lieu of a preachy one. I remember one episode of E3 where the 3 tried to build a spaceship, and if (of course) went terribly awry. Either way, it was escapist fun; and if there’s one thing we could all do with a bit more of these days, it’s that.
I was already a teenager when this show came out, but my younger brothers watched it all the time, and I remember being interested because of the 50′s art style and what seemed like absurd plots. but then once I started paying attention, I realized that it was totally unrelatable. Like they were trying to make sense to kids but it was just silliness (as opposed to actual absurdity for absurdity’s sake. Ha, if that makes sense coming out. Anyway, I always did like the art style, I just wish the humor and plots were more interesting.
Totally forgot about the existence of the show! I remember watching it with my brothers and verbally denouncing it to them, but still I couldn’t look away! Almost like a rubber-necking effect. I felt like I did related to it because the silliness and obscene nature expressed in the three Edwards is that of my three brothers. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane!
Thanks for posting this up! Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy was a show my sister would always watch with her friends and every time, I entered the room and see them watching it, I would walk slowly out of the room and hide in the closet until it was over! But all kidding aside, Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy was a fun show and I am glad you posted this up.