I find myself occasionally thinking back to the year 1989, interesting given that I wasn’t born until 1993. So then, why does 1989 have any relevance to me then? The answer is rather simple, that being that I consider 1989 to be the year when Western animation finally made its comeback! Why? Good thing you found this article then because I’m going to go over the issues Western animation had prior to 1989, what the significance of that year was and the impact it has had ever since!
Prior to 1989, Western animation was in rather poor shape. In fact many now call that era the Dark Age of Animation! The box office failure of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty in 1959 along with the death of theatrical animated shorts and the rise of television, which necessitated cutting costs in order to be profitable and a pivot towards children who were more receptive to the simpler animation than adults, resulted in animation becoming disregarded as an art form. Of course, it’s important to mention that this term applies primarily to American animation as animation was thriving in Japan during this era and many other countries such as the UK and the Soviet Union were producing plenty of critically acclaimed animated media. Additionally, I also want to point out that there were still creative talents in the American animation industry at this time such as Don Bluth and Ralph Bakshi but even they struggled with financial issues and people’s distaste for animated works.
Now for 1989 itself. While the decade had seen several successful American animated films such as The Land Before Time, The Fox and the Hound, An American Tail, The Great Mouse Detective etc., it was a film released right at the end that saw animation truly break into the mainstream, The Little Mermaid. The critical response to the film could only be described as glowing but its box office gross of over $200 million worldwide as well as securing the Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Score established the beginning of what’s become known as the Disney Renaissance. This success did not escape the notice of other film companies and many attempted, with mixed results, to establish their own animation studios.
Of course, the success of The Little Mermaid at the box office isn’t the only reason that I consider 1989 to be a particularly important year for Western animation as it had another war to win, the battle for television. Despite dethroning cinema when it came to animation output, I think it’s fair to say that many Western animated TV series were dire in quality during the Dark Age of Animation, most certainly in terms of animation but also when it came to storytelling and the need to push merchandise. Coming off of a successful run as a series of 48 shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons aired its first episode on the 17th of December, 1989, and to describe that show’s impact on television as explosive would be an understatement. The show catapulted the Fox TV network to the mainstream while also establishing a demand for animated series aimed at an older demographic. While Simpsons competitors struggled for some time, the breakout hits of Beavis and Butt-Head and South Park showed that animation for adults was here to stay.
The comeback that Western animation made back in 1989 is still being felt to this day. The sheer scale of the animation industry has never been so large and, while it hasn’t necessarily gone in directions that I’d like, the quality and quantity easily outshines the output of the Dark Age of Animation. It’s rare when I’ve seen people point to 1989 as the year Western animation began to truly thrive again but, between the success of The Little Mermaid at the box office and The Simpsons on television, it certainly stands out to me as being one of the most important years for the medium as a whole.
Let me know your thoughts on Western animation and 1989, whether you agree or disagree with it being the year when the comeback happened, what you think about the direction the Western animation industry ended up going in and any additional information you might have on the topic.
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