What Did the Horse Learn Today, Flying Through Space on His Pink Sofa? Or Why Is Social Satire in American Animated Series Effective

Through an overview of the key elements of selected animated satires, I try to show why social satire in animated series is so popular and effective among a wide range of target audiences. The animated form enables the viewers the possibility of alienation and distance but, by directly addressing the current problems and employing exaggeration beyond the limits of the absurd (which often leads back to the probable), it also enables their re-identification with the problems of the protagonists. The effective manipulation of the form of the series on the visual and semantic levels allows for a greater degree of (visual and textual) vulgarity and directness, while the multitude of allusions to and quotations of events from the real world causes us to encounter the latter again and question it with a critical distance through an escape into a world that is not ours.

The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!