By Adriana Briscoe, News Editor
Growing up, senior Lawrence Brockie wasn’t a huge fan of the modern cartoons many of his peers adored, like the ones shown on Cartoon Network. Instead, he preferred watching old cartoons on the TV channel Boomerang, a channel that plays a combination of old and modern cartoons. His love for older cartoons is what urged him to join cartoon club.
Sophomore Jacob Perez launched cartoon club this year with the help of instructional assistant John Meyers. According to Perez, cartoon club is a place where students, watch, discuss, and draw cartoons.
The cartoon club hosted an animation festival on May 22 in the choir room from 3:30 p.m to 5:30 p.m. Admission costed just one penny, and popcorn was sold for a dollar.
Perez decided to host this festival to share his appreciation for cartoons with others.
“I thought it would be a good way to introduce the new generation [to] some of the great cartoons that were made,” Perez said.
The festival featured animated cartoons from 1908 to 1957, starting with the very first animated cartoon: Fantasmagorie by Emile Cohl. Additionally, the cartoons featured many favorite, classic characters such as Mickey Mouse, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, Betty Boop, Popeye the sailor, Superman, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and more.
The festival wouldn’t have been possible without the effort cartoon club members put in to promote it. Perez remembers enjoying spreading the news about the club and the festival.
“We drew on the board, and we drew many cartoons characters, and it was pretty big,” Perez said. “A lot of people liked it.”
Preparing for the festival was fun for all the cartoon club members, including Brockie. Although Brockie liked watching and drawing cartoons in this club, he would also like to create cartoon films.
“Animating is fun,” Brockie said. “I would love to do something like that in this club [specifically].”
Due to the success the cartoon club had in its first year, Perez definitely wants to continue it, and he wants to make the animation festival a tradition.
“I’ve [already] got cartoons planned for next year,” Perez said.