If 2016 felt rotten and exhausting and bad, one thing was certain: we were all due a lot more. The fact is that 2017 wasn’t much better and was arguably much more relentless. So. Much. Happened. And most of it had nothing to do with cartoons: An orange 12-year-old took the highest office in the land. The Women’s March. The greatest Oscars self-own of all time. A massive solar eclipse. The #MeToo movement. Hollyweed.
Through all that insanity, the writers and editors behind The Dot and Line relied more than ever on animation to keep us sane. Despite the fact that 2017’s major animated feature releases left a lot to be desired, American television acquitted itself admirably with smart seasons from BoJack Horseman and Rick and Morty and a stirring debut run from Netflix’s Big Mouth. The DuckTales reboot, against all odds, wasn’t just good, but artistically fearless, proudly feminist, and able to hold its own every week. Internationally, we were able to tout the staggering labor of artists from Spain, Iran, Colombia, Japan, and elsewhere and look forward to covering more in the new year.
In a development for our still-young (not yet 2-year-old, not yet money-making) enterprise, cultural events informed and contextualized our coverage of animation more than ever. The fight over the Affordable Healthcare Act became a story on the work of legendary animator Chuck Jones, who earned one of his Academy Awards for a short that broke down that very topic. The ongoing public health disaster that is gun violence in America led us to report on Tower, a film of shock and awe based on the award-winning journalism of Pamela Colloff. Our pieces on Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, Moral Orel, and Pokémon explored the simple and complicated statements each make about class, gender, religion, and race, respectively.
The enduring relevance of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korrra proved irresistible targets to cover in weeklong packages twice this year, in equal parts for their mastery of character-driven story arcs and emotional trauma. Our examinations of “In a Heartbeat”—a short, animated tale of queer love whose viral fanfare preceded the much noisier Oscar buzz around Call Me by Your Name—and hit series like Steven Universe, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, and others continue, for the moment, to celebrate humanity’s differences, rather than cast them into oblivion. Writing and editing that kind of stuff probably felt best of all.
All of that represents some of the work we tried to do this year between the “Pickle Rick” jokes and the dumb pranks. Here are the 15 stories in the set that we are proudest of. We can’t wait to do more in 2018. Thanks for reading, and see you then.
Ask Scratchy: Can I Talk to This Boy Without Hurting My Friend?
In which and Corinne Segal and Amelia Kidd give Ginger’s feelings the Dr. Scratchansniff treatment.
The Enduring Timelessness of ‘The Simpsons’
In which someone—in this case, David S. Atkinson—finally writes a Dot and Line piece on The Simpsons.
25 Years Ago, ‘FernGully’ Taught Us to Love the Earth
In which Katie Bohri gives us a hell of an environmental lesson.
Here’s How Cartoon Network Talked About Its Shows 10 Years Ago
In which katie van brunt gives us a hell of a history lesson.
Here’s What Goes Into Animating ‘BoJack Horseman’- Exclusive
In which we get a hell of an animation lesson.
‘BoJack Horseman’ Gives Us TV’s First Out-and-Proud Asexual Icon
In which Sammy Nickalls shows how we finally see all of one of BoJack Horseman’s main characters.
Uncle Iroh Will Now Teach You How to Brew a Fine Jasmine Tea
In which Alex Kingsepp discovers a hell of a tea-brewing lesson.
Real Talk from the ‘Moana’ ‘Cultural Appropriation Advisor’ — Exclusive
In which Tiana Camacho lets someone contracted by Disney school us on Moana.
This 70-Year-Old Cartoon Made the Strongest Healthcare Argument Ever
In which a cartoon debunks everything Paul Ryan stands for.
How an Animated Film Powerfully Documented Gun Violence in America
In which we reckon with one of America’s greatest evils.
The Creators of ‘Virus Tropical’ Explain Their Approach to Sex and Taboo
In which Sam Reynolds shows how these two artists explain their “punk,” very weird film about sex and coming of age.
The Brown Girl Pokémon Trainer I Needed—Finally
In which Amanda Ramsaran explains how Pokémon managed to do something unusually surprising.
Inside the Stylized Greatness of ‘The Big O’
In which Alex Costello unlocks a powerful, often forgotten show.
Exclusive: Kayla Rae Whitaker on ‘The Animators,’ Sobriety, and Her Favorite Toons
In which Sean Fitz-Gerald and Kayla Rae Whitaker bring books into the cartoon conversation.
Here’s How Chuck Jones Really Felt About “What’s Opera, Doc?”
In which we honor our mandate as a site called “The Dot and Line.”
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