A still from Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies, 1935

The Pre-Captain Planet Eco-Heroes of Animation

Environmentally oriented films from the classical era of Hollywood animation delivered powerful messages about the negative consequences of technological progress.
Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny Scholarship Is a Wascally Wesearch Wabbit Hole

In this edition of Research Rabbit Hole, we dig up scholarship about what one academic calls "the signifying rabbit."

Five of the Best R. Cobb Drawings in the Underground Press

The artist turned a critical eye toward American society, but he didn't want to be called a political cartoonist.
Quaran, the official quarantine mascot of Japan

There’s a Mascot for That? Cute COVID-19 Education

How to get people to stay healthy during a quarantine? Some countries have taken to a new communications strategy, and it's super cute.
Employees of the Fleischer Studios picket the New Criterion Theater in New York to protest against the showing of Popeye and other cartoons drawn by striking Fleischer artists, 1937.

The Great Animation Strike

Animation workers took to the streets, carrying signs with bleakly humorous slogans. One read: “I make millions laugh but the real joke is our salaries.”
Binocular-framed view of Tweety Bird who is also holding a pair of binoculars

The Tweety Bird Test

How a classic Tweety Bird cartoon became a mainstay in linguistics research.
A still from Betty Boop: Minnie The Moocher (1932)

Remaking Betty Boop in the Image of a Housewife

Betty Boop was literally designed to be a bombshell, but around 1935, her creators decided to change her appearance.
New Yorker cartoon

The Enduring Humor of New Yorker Cartoons

With 90 years of New Yorker cartoons, readers learn much about changing trends in political and social history, all while celebrating through laughter.
The Simpsons

“The Simpsons”: More Than Just a Cartoon

"The Simpsons" is the longest-running scripted series in television history, full of canny satire and the occasional prophecy.
Going through the storm of Universal suffrage...

The Golden Age of Political Cartoons

Does it sometimes seem as if our political culture is a political cartoon?