Blog 10: I have no idea what to write about again

Guess what I'm doing? Writing all of my responses to blogs. Yep. I should have them all done soon. I liked waiting till the last minute so I could comment on all of the best ones.
At least that's what I'll keep telling myself as I write 20 paragraphs of responses.

Watching Legend of Korra now. Maybe I'll talk about that.
I've already talked about the blend of eastern and western animation, and the Avatar series seems to fit in precisely with that. (http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/legend-of-korra-101-full-episode.html) for those who are interested.

Avatar definitely has an eastern feel. The main character is dressed and trained like an eastern monk, and much of the mythology is very similar to eastern themes, even the theme of reincarnation. The fire nation bears many ties to imperial Japan during the Meji period. The story promotes a main character who is contemplative, and the art focuses heavily on a sense of place. Even the art is more eastern based, especially with the eyes.

Legend of Kora strikes me different for many reasons. Although it is a continuation of the series the character shares more in common with American Superheroes as far as ego and will is concerned, and the sense of pacing is a little lost. This is not a bad thing, it is simply a more western thing. Even the art style bears a more western tinge. Cities and statues outweigh natural scenes.

I'm not sure what my animation point is here, maybe that some TV shows are really trying to find out where cultural differences can become similarities.

THE FINAL IS DUE TODAY!?!?!

DID I MAKE IT! HERE IT IS! I totally forgot it was due. Luckily I had the intro done. I wanted so much more.

Blog 9. Ponies

It’s getting harder and harder to come up with topics for these blog posts. It may be because I’ve been watching less and less car…toons…

WAIT A MINUTE! MY LITTLE PONY IS ON NETFLIX!

*A few hours later*

Whew that was good. Now where was I… Oh… I forgot about my blog post. I better hurry up and write something. Something that has to do with animation and…

Ponies.

That’s right this blog post is about Ponies. Don’t like it? Tough cookies. But how do I make this about something other than appreciation? …

I got it.

Why is guys liking My little Pony such a big deal that they garner the nickname “Bronies”. We do live in a society where gender differences are mocked when one takes on the other, a prime example being the ridicule I received from my girlfriends family when I gave her son a toy kitchen for his birthday. (By the way, the kitchen is the manliest place in the house as it houses knives, fire and food.)

So my argument here is, do classic cartoons promote gender bias and do modern cartoons seek to reverse it?

Let’s take a look at classic cartoons. The first Disney princesses are, for lack of a better term, subservient and totally dependent on men and preyed upon by other women. Classic cartoons paint women at their best as helpless and at their worst as petty vultures. Look at old Disney movies. Look at Popeye the sailor man’s Olive Oil. Look at any female character in looney toons. Cartoons are meant to be caricatures, but there is a fine line between pointing out differences and promoting stereotypical themes as fact.

Now let’s look at modern stuff! My little pony, Foster’s home, Phineas and Ferb. All of these shows feature a host of many gendered characters but instead of relying on gender stereotypes they instead rely on themes. My little pony’s characters are based off of laughter, honesty, loyalty, magic, kindness and generosity, and the only way to tell they are girls is because of their voices and some of their quirks. The stereotypes are hidden behind the themes, not in place of them.

I suppose what spurred this article was the disbelief that I could like a show most people assume is a girl show. It was, back in the day, but now it is more than that and people simply revert to the classics to inform their decisions. And the kitchen thing. My son can have a kitchen and be a man.

Blog 8: Are all of these shades of gray making us blue?

One thing I've noticed lately, especially after last classes look at the movie 9, is that animation changed from fairy tales and pretty distinct sides to plots with a little more shades of gray. You always knew Popeye would be good and Bluto would be bad. You know Mickey mouse will be good. You always knew a witch would be bad. Now look at modern cartoons, which many split the gambit of not having a "good guy" or having a main character who's flaws sometimes make it hard to tell if they are a hero or not.

Part of this comes from our societies falling out with the fairy tale. Reality TV has proven that many people like to watch shows where they can identify aspects of their own lives. This is why spongebob is so popular. There's rarely a quest, it's just simple day to day living. We don't need a hero anymore to enjoy a story. Cartoons have matured with their audiences and we no longer need that black and white morality, we no longer even crave it, we just want people living life. Of course I'm in the latter part here I suppose, as I love a hero more than I love everyday life. It seems rare that a cartoon will give us a hero to aspire to anymore.

Which brings me to my next point. Shades of gray. Lets look at the best example of a gray hero: Invader Zim. He wants to take over earth, but in many episodes you see him show compassion, kindness, and he even saves the earth a few times. He's a moral ambiguity. You never know what he will do. We like that. Just look at the evolution of superheroes. We go from paragons such as Superman in the 1930's to less than perfect people like Spiderman and Wolverine. This also has roots in the first point I made, that people like things relatable in real life. It is rare we can be a paragon of any real world troubles. Life is about give and take, and paragons rarely compromise.