There’s a scene in the ‘90s Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats where Stu wakes up in the middle of the night to make chocolate pudding. “It’s four o’clock in the morning,” his wife exclaims. “Why on Earth ...

Many of the modern cartoons that have connected with audiences are melancholic and beautifully tragic, focusing on characters’ deepest issues and turning away from traditional narrative storytelling ...

Apart from Eeyore, Droopy, and maybe a couple of low-energy Smurfs, there aren’t too many sad, mopey characters in the pantheon of Western animation. Cartoon characters tend to be upbeat, confident, ...