You gotta hear this, Denis Dutton, one of the world's finest theorists of aesthetics reveals that his favorite cartoon was 'Ren and Stimpy'. Fills my heart with Joy.
Denis Dutton was at the forefront of the emerging 'Evolutionary Aesthetics' / 'Literary Darwinism' research field. His book 'The Art Instinct' is one of my favorite books of all time, an immense inspiration.
Dutton's thesis is that art has universal characteristics (which he lists and explains in detail) and can be understood through the lens of Darwinian thinking: we are biologically predisposed to make and appreciate art which crosses cultures, gender, races, and the test of time. This flies in the face of the Marxist Postmodernism which has taken over the art world. Denis has been taken from us at the age of 66, it shocked me to lose such a gentle and brilliant man, I hope you got the patch of heaven you so much deserved, rest in peace.