02.06
I remember a time back when MAD magazine was pretty much everywhere. Back when magazines were hip and new, MAD seemed to be in the forefront of things, giving a less serious opinion on recent pop culture. From the handful of issues I leafed through, its tone alone was very tongue-in-cheek in that it was a compilation of short written works as well as comics and the like all compiled for the sake of mocking what we as a society have deemed the latest “it thing”—it was like some kind of precursor to the internet. Coupled with the rise of grunge and alt music during its high point and it’s no surprise that the generations growing up with the magazine have spawned some of the most interesting of people in our pop culture today—just IMDB any writer or director born in the ‘50s to see what I mean.
So with a magazine under their belt since the ‘50s and their own TV sketch show from ’95 to ’09, what more could be asked of the magazine?
Well, how ‘bout an animated series?
With the somewhat edgier shows coming out of the woodwork from Cartoon Network, it makes perfect sense for MAD to join CN for some shenanigans of their own. But does it work?
As expected, the series is done very much in the style of Robot Chicken, stringing together a series of animated sketches which are apparently part of some kind of paper world where MAD is law. That said, one would think that Robot Chicken more than fills in that particular spot for Cartoon Network, leading one to question just how necessary MAD is.
For a good number of years now, but especially starting post-millennium, more and more television shows and the like are coming out of the woodwork showing a clear influences and even nostalgia for shows as far back as thirty years ago. Parodies on Robot Chicken, online videos such as The Angry Videogame Nerd and pretty much every movie Michael Cera’s been in rely heavily on not just pop culture knowledge from years past, but specifically childhood pop culture from years past. Whether it be a major focus or just a joke in passing, one can definitely tell that the generation who grew up on Ninja Turtles and the Super Nintendo have developed into quite the interesting man-children, creating entertainment for their fellow kind.
This still leaves something of a problem, however.
As much as I appreciate shows making reference to childhood memories, one can only go so far with memories alone. As the case is with Robot Chicken, the number of parodies they do with old cartoons and the like end up rather well done for the most part, the viewer knowing that the people in charge of that particular skit fully appreciate the source material they’re working with. However, every now and then they try to appeal to a slightly younger audience, making reference to things like anime… only to fall completely flat on their face. The anime boom hit the states around the late ‘90s/early ‘00s, which I think was a bit too late for most people currently working in the entertainment industry to have truly grown up on it. As man-childish as they have become, their opinion on anything past that time period will only come off as something an adult would say to their kid while watching TV alongside them—it just comes off as fake, is all.
Enter Grey’s In Anime, a skit from the third episode of MAD. For the first time ever, I’m actually able to see proper references to anime on something other than YouTube. The number of in-jokes and particulars that only someone born in the ‘90s (er, I guess ’89 for me) could get and appreciate are all there in their glory. And it’s not just that episode. So far all three episodes of MAD have done an excellent job of pandering to the new generation of man-children, ripe with references old enough to be appreciated by a slightly younger audience than the [adult swim] Cartoon Network block.
With the fourth episode airing tonight, I think we can all assume that MAD will be here to stay—one of the only, if not the only, new cartoons out there I’ll be keeping up with.
Originally posted on Monday, September 27, 2010.