Don't Let The Simpsons Creators Hear You Call It A "Cartoon"

"The Simpsons" began as a surprisingly grounded series, with the family struggling with issues such as financial troubles and day-to-day issues that other sitcoms tended to ignore. As the show progressed, those realistic issues disappeared in favor of wackier, funnier plotlines, leading creator Groening to even say that "Futurama," a show set a millennium in the future and features many extraterrestrial characters, is a more "real" series than "The Simpsons".

But early in the show's lifespan, when her feet were still firmly planted on Earth, the show's crew had a real desire for her to be taken seriously. This involved avoiding the term "cartoon".

"I don't call it a cartoon, I call it an animated show," said director Wes Archer in the "Icons Unearthed" video. "Common use of 'cartoon' means something to younger audiences, or else something wacky."

"I consider it an animated series because it was meant to be like a sitcom," added Carol Wyatt.

While this whole argument is based on the frivolous semantics of labeling, I think it's quite interesting that some of the pioneers of the adult cartoon genre are still afraid to use the word "cartoon" themselves, even all these years later. With the level of success "The Simpsons" continues to achieve, you'd think using a word like "cartoon" wouldn't bother people anymore, but I guess those stigmas are hard to unlearn. p>