The weekends are important. You already know this, and there is no point telling you that as if you don't, but there is a specific greatness to this time of the week that goes completely overlooked in this age of constant activity, bad shiftwork, and unending job hopping. That being, the importance of leisure and relaxation.
For kids, the existence of Saturday Morning Cartoons were the perfect encapsulation of such a thing. Before they were destroyed by the very same people currently censoring everything unchecked today, Saturday Morning Cartoons were the one place where kids could relax and have fun after a long week of work.
This is what things like TGIF used to tap into, though for the entire family in that case. There is something to a thing as a simple as a television block being so capable of drawing out so much excitement and anticipation from an entire set of people that hasn't truly ever been studied by all these supposed Pop Culture scholars of today.
Here is a brief piece on the history of Saturday Morning Cartoons found online. It's short, but a good primer for those who might be unfamiliar with the time period.
Saturday Mornings were the closest things kids have to a true rest day, at least in the modern world. No other day really came close, especially not the way parents would treat the rest of their activities as time blocks to be filled in. We all knew kids like that back in the day. Perhaps we do that ourselves today. Regardless, it's no way to live.
There is a reason commercial compilations still exist on YouTube
Think about it.
After the dreary "reality" you have been forced to endure all week, you finally survive and make it back home to rest. After emerging from said rest you awaken into a world of wonder and excitement, taking you to new worlds and possibilities far away from what you know. Not only that, but you also share it with your friends and families, your entire community. You all experience this together, and you all grow to experience the same sensations as you get older and older.
This is how, even nearly a quarter century from their unceremonious implosion, Saturday Morning cartoons remain such a positive memory for everyone who experienced them. Everyone who was alive for the short period those blocks were around still remember and thinks highly of them. You won't find anyone who lived with them calling them down. They were important, and they remain so, even years after they were shut down and taken away.
In an age where we don't see much of a purpose to most work, leisure doesn't quite seem like the reward it once was. Now it merely is treated as a break between the dreariness of modernity. There isn't much there these days.
Do we have an equivalent to Saturday Morning Cartoons today? Is there an adult equivalent to bring us together into a shared experience?
No, there is not. There is nothing at all that unites us, not even for one morning out of seven in a full week. Even putting aside cartoons, we are less united as a culture than ever before. In an age of remote work, never ending job hopping, and low societal trust, there is little true escape to be had. Suffice to say, we've completely lost any sort of connection between us on any level and it harms the sort of escapism we can indulge in.
But that doesn't mean we can't learn from this example of a dead practice and apply it to the future. Even something as simple as a television block has something to teach us about the importance of leisure. Perhaps something will come about in the future to eclipse those experiences we had long ago. Who knows? The future is wide open.
Until then, we can work for something better. There are no limits, after all. We should start acting like there aren't!
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