Are we entering a new age of animation?

Action cartoons also seem to go in waves. The 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s were all distinct in the kind of action cartoons they favored. They just haven't found their voice for the millennium, as the few attempted either sank quickly (like Thundercats or Symbionic Titan) or were throwbacks to the earlier era, like Young Justice or Korra, though we can see in them the seeds for what will come, an age of yet more complex plots. Just that nobody's made anything that really sang with networks.

I kinda think that companies should make more merch than toys for their action shows.

I don't think an age of ultra complex plots is coming up. It'll probably be a return to more simple plotting.

In fact, I have a feeling that this age as a whole is going to go the way of New Hollywood.

Of course you think that. You don't seem to give a damn about any sort of cartoon that existed after Flapjack despite there being tons of great varied cartoons. Not just cartoons that are bit more plot heavy. Theirs been lighter stuff like We Bare Bears, Uncle Grandpa, and Wander Over Yonder. In fact I think you'd love Wo Y since it's a throwback to old cartoons.

Uncle Grandpa, Wander Over Yonder and the like, to keep with my New Hollywood comparison, are sort of the Irwin Allen disaster films and Burt Reynolds comedies to the plot heavy shows', well, New Hollywood-ness.

This isn't a bad thing, mind you.

(Teen Titans Go, to its detractors, is probably akin to the Airport films.)

I meant strictly in terms of action shows, where heavier continuity and serial plotting seem to be coming into vogue, in the very stop-start manner of action cartoons which are few in number right now.

In terms of the rest of the shows, Steven Universe and Adventure Time thrive on a vast and ever-expanding mythos, but many of the others do seem to be going in a different direction.

Which is probably why there aren't many of them at the moment.

You get too complicated, you'll lose the kids. You might get the adults, but kids' shows just weren't made for grown men, so the network won't care if you protest its cancellation.

Really it's more that toy deals fell through and due to higher production costs action show are more vulnerable to such issues.

edited 13th Aug '15 4:46:52 AM by BigMadDraco

Would someone who hasn't really watched newer cartoons really add to this conversation? I would say that most TV cartoons are indeed better than a lot of the stuff from the 2000s (we only really had Avatar and Brave and the Bold to fall back on as good shows by the late 2000s). Film animation...we've gotten a lot of good and quite a few bad.

Come on! Don't you know your Animation History 101? We are in a new era of animation. It doesn't have a name, so I've made one for myself, and it's called, drumroll please...

The Executive Driven Era of Animation And The Second Dark Age.

Or, "the Executive Driven Era of Animation" or "the Second Dark Age of Animation" for short.

Now, before you start coming at me with torches and pitchforks, allow me to explain:

Somewhere around 2008, lots of things were happening in the animation scene. Dream Works was becoming more arty with movies like Kung Fu Panda, Pixar and Disney had merged, leading to the last of the original concept movies for Pixar in the form of Wall E, and the film that put Disney and John Lasseter back on the map again, Bolt.

And then we had the effects of two killing blows to creativity.

The first was the 2008 WGA Strike. The strike took down the writing staff behind cartoons, doing a lot of damage all around the board. This strike is the reason Revenge Of The Fallen turned out the way it did. In fact, I'm willing to wager CN Real was created alongside the importing of Canadian cartoons because of this strike; either the shows were reality shows, which did not require much effort, or they were pre-made from another country, thus did not need writers.

So what did that mean? Well, the Cartoonstitute, which was supposed to bring in a new generation of talent, was suddenly all out of the talent that constructed it. It also correlates to a universally-accepted drop in quality for FOX's sitcoms like The Simpsons. Fresh out of talent, the animation industry was forced to rely on people who writing the screenplay was their first job. I looked at the screenplays for animated movies made from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs on, and the screenplays are all written by inexperienced writers, who this is often their first job; or in the case of Dream Works, people who were more used to live-action writing instead of animation.

The screenplay is a very important part of a movie, as it determines the plot of the movie. You'll note these inexperienced writers, never used to animation, filled up the plot with cliches in lieu of a story. This is why every animated movie made nowadays features Narration At The Beginning And Ending But Nowhere Else, the Abandoned Hero, Daddy Issues, and why every one made since Cloudy is either a Coming of Age Story (Big Hero 6, How To Train Your Dragon, Tangled, Brave, Inside Out), a story about misunderstood characters (all three Villain Who's Actually An Okay Guy movies, Frozen, The Boxtrolls) or both at once.

As for television, most of the talent comes from the internet, as is the case with Adventure Time, Problem Solverz, and China IL. The rest is filled by newbies who just fill up the script with stupid humor (Mr Pickles, Teen Titans Go).

But how do they get so successful? Partly because we give them glowing reviews, but even if we don't there's a contingency, and it's all due to the second killer of creativity: The 2008 Recession.

Animation has always been about balancing cost with profit. It's the reason Limited Animation was created in the First Dark Age, and the real reason why Traditional Animation died: too expensive. With a severely reduced budget, people began relying on easy-to-use tools to create cartoons, like Flash and Lightwave. Suddenly, anyone could produce a cartoon. Everyone had the power. And when everyone's super, then no one is.

As a result of this recession, which executives believe still exists, marketing executives came into power with a revolutionary idea: Make everything Merchandise-Driven. The basic idea, as with the First Dark Age, was that the product itself does not matter, but rather, the surrounding products like toys, plates and lanyards comprise the profit. Unfortunately, writers with no experience or skills realized they didn't have to put in much effort in their product, so long as they promote the toys. The show/movie is in effect a commercial for the billions of cups, party decorations and toothpaste holders. This is the reason Ultimate Spider Man and The Simpsons have gone on for so long despite everyone hating at least their current incarnation: the show may be bad, but the show's not important; the merchandising is.

Now, the model simply describes a situation where the merchandise is more important. It doesn't mean the show is necessarily bad. In fact, the number-one rated cartoon of the era is a toy commercial. The problem, however, is that since these executives are so powerful, they have the ability to can a show if the demographic that buys the toys and the one that watches the show mismatch. This is why Young Justice was cancelled: the model set was the Toy Commercial model, but the toys were in one demographic and the show attracted another, so it was cancelled because, to them, it had failed to attract the "correct" demographic.

The champion of this era, that is to say, the cartoon most indicative of it, is Teen Titans Go. This is a show made by writers who realize they can put absolutely no effort into the project, on top of being new. They get away with it because the show is so cheaply produced. With low-quality Flash animation combined with a short run time, and because episodes can be cranked out quickly, the show is attractive to marketing executives. The execs pitch it to the intended demographic, and when it reaches it, they deem it a success and order more. This is also the model Ultimate Spider Man falls under, as well as Spongebob Squarepants and The Simpsons, so if anything is indicative of a trend, it's that.

There still is hope to get us out of this Dark Age, but it needs people who actually care about animation. Disney does a great job with its TV series, and they have the talent of people who've worked on animation before. Same with pony, only with the added bonus of hitting its target demographic for the toys. Armed with experience, Disney's new writers can turn out some good stuff with Frozen and Big Hero 6. And of course, there's Gennedy Tartakovski, who's making some of the best animated films in this era.

Ultimately, for the Dark Age to go, we need writers who care about animation, and for the marketing execs to lose some serious power. Otherwise, animation will continue to stagnate.

One little problem with that theory...

Kids' cartoons weren't affected by the writers' strike.

The primetime shows were, but the kids' cartoons were not. They operate by different rules.

edited 21st Aug '15 9:35:11 AM by Aldo930

Are kid's shows' writers not actually in the union or do union rules simply not apply?

I don't know the rules, but I think they had their own, different union, separate from primetime writers.

In any case, though, kids' animation was not affected by the writers' strike.

edited 21st Aug '15 9:39:21 AM by Aldo930

Even if they weren't, they were still affected by the Recession. Like I said, the Recession made it so that marketing executives made it into power and emphasized the various food packages, Halloween costumes and popcorn tubs, thus the success of a show is not measured by ratings, but in how much these products sell and if the right people are buying them. It's not called a Toy Commercial for nothing; it exists to sell the products, and if the ad isn't viewed by the right people, it goes kaput.

Most cartoons don't get canceled if they're not Sponge Bob-level merchandising powerhouses.

The recession wasn't that bad off on the entertainment industry anyway - not the animation side, at least.

edited 21st Aug '15 9:50:32 AM by Aldo930

And this is my rebuttal. The shows I listed in the links all had bad merchandising sales, or no merch to speak of, and when the commercial can't sell anything to the right audience, it's canned.

You underestimate the high-risk nature of animation. When films are continually trying to push the envelope, how do you pay back that budget spent on the exquisitely-detailed graphics? Through merchandise.

edited 21st Aug '15 9:53:59 AM by Darkton

And they were all action shows, which are significantly more expensive to produce than the comedies that were Nick and CN's bread and butter even back in the 90s and 2000s.

Fair enough. Bad example. Still, the problem does explain why most films are the way they are. When your only objective is to sell Rapunzel backpacks, party hats and band-aids, you don't have to actually try. Again, it's the reason Ultimate Spider Man has survived for so long.

Alright, better example: Robotomy. Couldn't make back it's budget, got canned.

edited 21st Aug '15 9:58:30 AM by Darkton

That's not exactly a new thing though.

Show's in general have always had to put with the need for proper demographic appeal for ads and merch. To say that that is something unique to now just doesn't make sense.

edited 21st Aug '15 9:59:42 AM by Mio

Well, the recession certainly didn't help. I need to check my notes on whether 90s and 2000s shows had this problem, but the recession certainly made the issue more noticeable.

It's not particularly a problem, anyway.

Steven Universe isn't popular with the child demographic - it's actually more popular with adults - yet it's still on the air.

Ah, see, there's the problem with citing stuff like Steven Universe, Adventure Time and Regular Show alongside others like them: those shows are all airing at dead hours when kids are away with little advertising. Now the hours are certainly more suitable for adults to watch, but the target demographic has not changed.

Because, yeah you're right, shows being canned over not meeting their demographic is nothing new. I suspect it's only a matter of time before that show is shoved aside to make room for Teen Titans Go reruns. After all, SU isn't a Darling. It's a Black Sheep.

Anyway, can we talk more about movies? I'm already in hot water for TV, and, let's face it, I'm driving a Bias Steamroller against CN.

edited 21st Aug '15 10:09:43 AM by Darkton

I had always thought that SU and shows like Adventure Time and Regular Shows were not strictly aimed at kid audiences anyway. At least that's the impression I always got.

You'd probably be hard pressed to find any concrete data on that since I doubt media companies do that detailed studies for their kid's programming and any effects the recession actually had would appear very indirectly.

edited 21st Aug '15 10:11:07 AM by Mio

Since when are toy driven shows something new? They have been around since the 1980s.

The "dead hours" are when kids are in school. I'm pretty sure new episodes of AT, RS, SU and the like are shown in the afternoons, when children are home.

I heard that the reason for the Uncle Grandpa crossover was to get more kids to watch.

The recession, I think, had pretty much no impact on the quality of entertainment. Lean economic periods don't, really. If you look at the entertainment of the Great Depression, you'd be hard pressed to know that we were in a depression...

They've never really gone away. It's no longer a "Buy all our playsets and toys!" thing, though.

edited 21st Aug '15 10:15:27 AM by Aldo930