Reviews
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
I Love Spongebob!
This has been my fave 'toon since it began airing last year. It's a very happy show, and not as violent as most cartoons can get. Spongebob is always making well-intentioned mistakes, but is not completely inept. He's the most popular guy in Bikini Bottom, the best fry-cook in the sea, and even manages to keep up an inter-species romance. Plus, his pet snail, Gary, meows like a cat!
Santa vs. the Snowman (1997)
They ruined Santa!
Ok, it was pretty funny, and the animation was nice, but this film destroyed my view of Santa. He is presented as an indoctrinating corporate logo/warlord! At first, I couldn't believe it was being shown for children, what with the apparent anti-Santa perspective the first part of the film gives. But the ending confirms that the main purpose of this short film is to bludgeon children into consumer-driven mindframe. And I thought those people griping about the commercialization of Christmas were just Humbugs. Now I know that they were on to something! Consumerism is the new ideology of the international marketplace, and this seemingly benign cartoon is a tool propaganda for that "Buy Toys!" doctrine. What a sad image for Christmas.