Cartoon Cliches

1. "This is my personality" exposition. Didnt know that this was very common in animated films. Especially modern ones

edited 12th Dec '14 4:23:45 PM by teddy

Couldn't this be counted as a complain thread?

Idk. It's posting clichés, is this against forum rules?

edited 12th Dec '14 4:35:50 PM by teddy

Talking about cliches feels like it could lead to people whining about stuff that may or may not be cliches in animation.Plus the word cliche just seems to be negative,like its not a good thing to have in your work.

Siblings seem to hate each other, but have rare moments that show that they care about each other (Lucy/Linus, possibly Charlie Brown/Sally, Bart/Lisa (well, at least in Classic Simpsons, Lisa doesn't care about Bart in Modern Simpsons), Dexter/Dee Dee, Buttercup/Blossom and Bubbles (though a bit of a subversion, Buttercup's main rivalry is with Blossom, but the PPG's moments that show that they do care about each other are more common than a few of these examples), Andy/Molly (in Toy Story 3 only), Scar/Mufasa (though Scar doesn't love Mufasa), Inu Yasha/Sesshoumaru, Usagi(Sailor Moon)/Shingo Zuko/Azula (though this does become Cain and Abel eventually), possibly Sokka/Katara)

I know I used some anime examples, but there are more Western Animatino examples I listed.

edited 12th Dec '14 5:01:35 PM by powerpuffbats

well, hopefully it won't end up like a complaint thread. If it does, then it can be locked.

All those openings in that first compilation could have been improved with a "Who am I? I'm Spider-Man."

And is that "Cold as Ice" playing in the first scene of Megamind?

edited 12th Dec '14 11:14:11 PM by BagOfMagicFood

Do you guys know why almost every TV sibling seems to hate each other, only on rare occasions show love for each other?

Well, this often appears the case for me and my sister, although perhaps to a lesser extent. I guess it's just something that happens a lot in real life.

Dumb dads are a extremely common cliche in not just cartoons but live action as well.It makes Bob's Burgers refreshing since Bob usually is the sane man of the show(unless he ends up drunk/high/crazy).

Dumb dads are also used in Live-Action TV too. Case in point: Phil Dunphy from Modern Family.

Why does every adult show have the dads being dumb, while the moms are always portrayed as in the right.

Because if it was the other way around it'd be sexist. Obviously.

Also he said live-action already.

edited 12th Dec '14 10:36:55 PM by PhysicalStamina

I didn't notice that he said Live-Action already, lol

It is still sexist to have the dad be always dumb in TV.

Damn straight, it is. And NOBODY wants a stupid man taking care of them in a relationship IRL, whether female or another man. Not to mention, such unnecessary pandering BS only leads to creations of both Mary Sue and Karma Houdini female characters that I ultimately hate.

, What are you talking about, you can't be sexist against men, silly.

That's how society works, right?

Dumb dads were rarely funny to me. Just comes off as annoying. Definitely not "refreshing"

2. Dreamworks/attitude smirk

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/1708716

http://io9.com/5917202/see-the-first-image-from-dreamworks-cg-mr-peabody-and-sherman

edited 13th Dec '14 6:03:30 AM by teddy

Rich asshole bullies(Diamond Tiara as well as the upper class ponies in Sweet And Elite from Friendship is Magic,The popular kids in Fairly odd Parents,Lily from Kappa Mikey,Pacifica from Gravity Falls had started out as one but it seems like they're gonna give her some depth).

Only two of them were actually funny, IMO:

pre-Flanderization Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin (the seasons were they weren't jerkasses, but actually cared for everyone else that isn't their wives)

I'm also beginning to hate this in adult cartoons"

The character that always has to say their political views (Brian Griffin and Lisa Simpson)

And while it doesn't bother me too much, but Status Quo Is God needs to not be used anymore.

I agree that Homer was pretty funny. Though in seasons 1 and 2, he wasn't really dumb. There were times when he acted almost like a real dad lol. He hasn't crack me up since like season 12.

oh and I too find cartoon characters overly expressing their political views annoying. I swear that it's a rule to have one hippie/liberal character in almost every adult cartoon that forces their views on the characters. I guess it's supposed to be funny.

edited 13th Dec '14 8:31:50 AM by teddy

I remember they said that Lisa's activism is Played for Laughs. It's a good thing, too. After spending her formative years taking up every socially relevant cause imaginable, when (or if) Lisa grows up, she's going to be so burned out she's just going to want to smoke weed and play Frisbee for the rest of her life.

Don't you just haaaaaaate how cartoon characters get into so much violence and there's never any real consequences?

The most important rule in many comedy TV series (animated or live-action) is Status Quo Is God. And characters exist mostly to display amusingly bizarre personalities, and as such that leaves little to no room for Character Development.

I don't think Status Quo Is God is a bad thing as a whole,but the problem is that so many shows will have fake out moments where you think that something new or different will happen but by the end of the episode its reverted.Even worse is when it seems like the change will last(like adding a new character to the roster),but the next episode that character is gone,possibly forever(Like when Terra joined the Teen Titans,but she doesn't really appear until the episode she betrays them). Another problem is when it seems like a character/ multiple characters will get some depth and development,but either something happens at the end to change it or its forgoten by the next episode.

It begs the question,why do this something that won't matter by the next episode?Why say that these characters will meet again someday and never have them return?Why make the audience think that a bad guy is gonna join the heroes but never follow up on it and continue to have that character be a bad guy?Why make a episode where the girl or guy that a main/major/minor character likes starts to like that main/major/minor character back but have it go back to normal by means of the plot or just plain forgetfulness on the writers half?

Like I said,status quo as a whole isn't a bad thing,but having a moment where it seems like that something is gonna break it,but then have it go back to normal in some way is an example of bad writing.

It's easier to get something picked up for syndication if the episodes can be aired in any order.

I can understand that.But I don't get why a writer would try to do something that could introduce a new character or give a character some character development if its not gonna matter in the long run because of either the end of episode get rid of it or the show just ignores it as a whole and doesn't pick up on it.Like I said,why write a story where something could change status quo,but either ignore it or actively in force status quo?

Of course,there are times where a show does have some sort of cliffhanger or sequel hook thing like the villain of an episode saying they'll be back or a one-shot character says they'll meet again some day and later on the show has an episode that acts as a sequel where that character comes back,which could be a cliche in itself since I've seen it happen a lot before.