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Jean Vander Pyl said that the great part of The Flintstones was that it ''wasn't too cartoony''
How The Flintstones managed to keep things honest, despite being a cartoon.
The Flintstones' theme song states that the family is "the modern Stone Age family," but strangely enough, some of their antics leave them relatable to a family unit of the present day. This animated family has more in common with a real-life family today than many live-action families we've seen on sitcoms of decades past. Despite the wild premise and incredibly lax interpretation of the history of the Stone Age, The Flintstones manage to come across as a fairly realistic family.
Often animation gains a reputation that moves away from realism, relishing in the strange and imaginative. The Flintstone's more down-to-earth tone could be in part thanks to show creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who are believed to have based the series off the acclaimed live-action series, The Honeymooners.
Jean Vander Pyl, voice of Wilma Flintstone, attributed the show's success to the more down-to-earth elements of the series during an interview with The Tampa Tribune.
"Part of the charm was that it wasn't too cartoony," she said. "Fred and Wilma seemed like real characters. My favorite line is till from the opening show, where Fred comes out on the front lawn, and Arnold the news boy calls out, 'Here's your paper, Mr. Flintstone,' and he tosses out a stone slab that knocks Fred flat. And Fred says, 'I hate the Sunday paper.'"
Another rumor that animation is forced to deal with is that it is mainly geared toward children, a claim that Vander Pyl nipped in the bud by claiming that gags like the newspaper bit appealed to both children and adults watching The Flintstones.
"I still crack up when I see it," Vander Pyl said. "I think other adults howled too. They knew Sunday papers were like that, and they appreciated the humor, while the kids just laughed at Fred getting knocked down. Slapstick and satire - it was a good combination."
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