Jubenhimer
Member
A fanbase/community on YouTube that's still pretty small and recently, has gained a bit of infamy from outside viewers, and that's the cartoon community. The people who talk about and review western animation with their thoughts and opinions on various shows and topics. At least it's supposed to be. See, the Cartoon "Community" is a bit of a clusterfuck, with most people in it being whinny, obnoxious spammy click-bait, interspersed with a few genuinely good creators. And of course, YouTube comments are as lazy and one-dimensional as ever in these videos. So what are my problems with the community having followed it over the years?
1. Beating a dead horse - We get it, Teen Titans Go! sucks, PPG 2016 is lame, your tired of CN and Nickelodeon spamming SpongeBob and TTG respectively. We get it, so why do you feel like you must ram these talking points down our throats in every video? There's people like Vailskibum94 making constant click-bait about Teen Titans Go! and Cartoon Network being worse than Hitler. Look, it's not that you aren't allowed to express your criticisms of these things, we just don't like you droning on about it every other video. In regards to schedules specifically, again, you have the right to complain about it. Here's the thing, complaining about it, won't make a damn difference. Cable as a format, is dying and these networks know this, and thus aren't interested in doing anything about it, as digital media is just more convenient and has more market potential now. Even if they didn't spam these shows, that's not going to make viewers come back in droves, when everyone prefers binge watching over not missing the newest Steven Universe at 8:00 PM sharp.
2. Gate Keeping Specific Types of Shows - I see this a lot among Steven Universe/Star/GF fans. Yes, something being for Kids still has the right to be a well written and entertaining show. However, that doesn't give you the right to dictate what Kids shows should or shouldn't be. This mentality stems from the fact that if a Cartoon isn't serialized, action-oriented, or doesn't have lots of Drama and "Progressive" themes. It's automatically pandering trash not worth watching. What Kind of elitist thinking is that? Good TV comes in all forms. Whether that be Silly, wacky comedy, or serialized drama. Same is true for bad TV as well. Somebody can make a heavily serialized, left-wing, drama cartoon that has all the right check marks, and it can still be shit. Kids deserve good TV yes, but they also deserve some meaningless goofy nonsense here and there as well. Kids aren't sheep that you need to bend to your will. They're human beings with thoughts and opinions just like us adults. It's important to let them decide what they think is a good show, not you. Also, it's okay if somebody doesn't like these shows either. Don't rain justice down on someone for having a different opinion.
3. Old Men Yelling at Clouds - Now we get to the category of the community that basically devolves into the grumpy old man attitude. It's been around in the community since its earliest days. The thinking of All or Most modern cartoons are trash and that back in my decade our shows were awesome just because they were old. Conveniently ignoring that there was just as much crap in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s as well. People with this are completely unaware of Sturgeons Law, 90 % of EVERYTHING is crap, regardless of decade or industry. In entertainment, especially Cartoons, that's definitely true. Yes, you've got a lot of regurgitated, SJW-filled, or just plain bad stuff coming out. But there's still good entertainment being made today that doesn't fall into these categories. Same for Cartoons, even if you ignore the Big 3, there's still some great stuff over on the Streaming Networks, and even some independent animation you can find on YouTube. Even the Big 3 still regularly put out great shows (well, more-so CN and Disney since Nick's been floundering for the past decade or so).
4. Complaining about "CalArts" style - Look, it's one thing to be tired of an art trend, I get it. It's another to blame that trend solely on a single college that they never went to. I get when people get sick of the current visual trends of cartoons today, I'm kind of tired of the "Noodle limbs and round shapes" aesthetic myself. But blaming it on a single college is reductive and completely stupid. I guess you don't remember, the rough, crudely drawn doodles of the mid-late 90s, or the sharp, thick-outlines and anime aesthetics that paraded in the 2000s. The current "CalArts" style is just another design trend that'll pass with time, nothing more, nothing less. What's worse is when people start injecting their political views into it, calling the style "Cucked" and "SJW-fied". I love making fun of leftists and SJW's as much as the next guy, but this is kind of pushing it. Just say you don't like the style and leave the politics out of it, kay?
Those are my thoughts on the "Cartoon Community" on YouTube and the internet. Not sure how many on modern GAF care about it, but as someone who likes animation and cartoons, I figured to share my grievances here.
1. Beating a dead horse - We get it, Teen Titans Go! sucks, PPG 2016 is lame, your tired of CN and Nickelodeon spamming SpongeBob and TTG respectively. We get it, so why do you feel like you must ram these talking points down our throats in every video? There's people like Vailskibum94 making constant click-bait about Teen Titans Go! and Cartoon Network being worse than Hitler. Look, it's not that you aren't allowed to express your criticisms of these things, we just don't like you droning on about it every other video. In regards to schedules specifically, again, you have the right to complain about it. Here's the thing, complaining about it, won't make a damn difference. Cable as a format, is dying and these networks know this, and thus aren't interested in doing anything about it, as digital media is just more convenient and has more market potential now. Even if they didn't spam these shows, that's not going to make viewers come back in droves, when everyone prefers binge watching over not missing the newest Steven Universe at 8:00 PM sharp.
2. Gate Keeping Specific Types of Shows - I see this a lot among Steven Universe/Star/GF fans. Yes, something being for Kids still has the right to be a well written and entertaining show. However, that doesn't give you the right to dictate what Kids shows should or shouldn't be. This mentality stems from the fact that if a Cartoon isn't serialized, action-oriented, or doesn't have lots of Drama and "Progressive" themes. It's automatically pandering trash not worth watching. What Kind of elitist thinking is that? Good TV comes in all forms. Whether that be Silly, wacky comedy, or serialized drama. Same is true for bad TV as well. Somebody can make a heavily serialized, left-wing, drama cartoon that has all the right check marks, and it can still be shit. Kids deserve good TV yes, but they also deserve some meaningless goofy nonsense here and there as well. Kids aren't sheep that you need to bend to your will. They're human beings with thoughts and opinions just like us adults. It's important to let them decide what they think is a good show, not you. Also, it's okay if somebody doesn't like these shows either. Don't rain justice down on someone for having a different opinion.
3. Old Men Yelling at Clouds - Now we get to the category of the community that basically devolves into the grumpy old man attitude. It's been around in the community since its earliest days. The thinking of All or Most modern cartoons are trash and that back in my decade our shows were awesome just because they were old. Conveniently ignoring that there was just as much crap in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s as well. People with this are completely unaware of Sturgeons Law, 90 % of EVERYTHING is crap, regardless of decade or industry. In entertainment, especially Cartoons, that's definitely true. Yes, you've got a lot of regurgitated, SJW-filled, or just plain bad stuff coming out. But there's still good entertainment being made today that doesn't fall into these categories. Same for Cartoons, even if you ignore the Big 3, there's still some great stuff over on the Streaming Networks, and even some independent animation you can find on YouTube. Even the Big 3 still regularly put out great shows (well, more-so CN and Disney since Nick's been floundering for the past decade or so).
4. Complaining about "CalArts" style - Look, it's one thing to be tired of an art trend, I get it. It's another to blame that trend solely on a single college that they never went to. I get when people get sick of the current visual trends of cartoons today, I'm kind of tired of the "Noodle limbs and round shapes" aesthetic myself. But blaming it on a single college is reductive and completely stupid. I guess you don't remember, the rough, crudely drawn doodles of the mid-late 90s, or the sharp, thick-outlines and anime aesthetics that paraded in the 2000s. The current "CalArts" style is just another design trend that'll pass with time, nothing more, nothing less. What's worse is when people start injecting their political views into it, calling the style "Cucked" and "SJW-fied". I love making fun of leftists and SJW's as much as the next guy, but this is kind of pushing it. Just say you don't like the style and leave the politics out of it, kay?
Those are my thoughts on the "Cartoon Community" on YouTube and the internet. Not sure how many on modern GAF care about it, but as someone who likes animation and cartoons, I figured to share my grievances here.
