ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Golden age of American animation

Hey there! So, do you know what cartoons are? They are those fun shows with colorful pictures and characters that move around and talk. Well, a long time ago in America, there was a special time when cartoons became really, really good. This time is called the golden age of American animation.

During this time, which was from the 1920s to the 1960s, a lot of really talented artists and animators made some amazing cartoons. They used something called hand-drawn animation to create these cartoons. They drew every single frame of the cartoon by hand, which means they had to draw hundreds and even thousands of pictures to create just one short cartoon.

Some of the most famous characters from this golden age are Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Tom and Jerry. These characters are still super popular today!

But why were these cartoons so special? Well, they had great storytelling, humor, and really cool animation techniques that made them stand out from other cartoons of that time. And people loved them! Families would gather around their TV sets to watch these cartoons together and they would laugh and have a lot of fun.

Sadly, this golden age came to an end because new technologies, like computer animation, started to take over. But we can still enjoy those old cartoons today and they will always be remembered as some of the best cartoons ever made.