∆ category: American children's cartoons 1995-current
send me a ▲ and a topic for an unpopular opinion
this is such a bizarrely specific question but: i firmly believe that cartoons have kind of always been at a steady level of quality overall, it’s sort of undeniable that there’s been this trend in the last ~8 years where there have been more frequent gems and deviations from the typical cartoon formula ( otgw is the big example ), while the bad stuff stuff has remained at its same consistent level of repugnant mediocrity. HOWEVER, that’s primarily talking about writing - it’s the trends in animation that irk me. the shift to flash-based cartoons has caused overall animation to get a lot... stiffer and a flatter, and while there are exceptions to that ( WANDER OVER YONDER, GO WATCH WANDER OVER YONDER ), it’s just a Thing now that cartoons i see in passing will seem really lifeless and static. i understand that it’s more efficient than hand-drawn animation, but man, there’s a lot being sacrificed there to save a few bucks.
also: I WISH CHARACTERS IN CARTOONS DIDN’T JUST STAND STILL WHEN THEY TALK! i don’t discuss atla much on this blog, but i am a HUGE fan of it and something that made that show really special for me was how ANIMATED the characters got when they were talking! they emoted REALLY WELL because they used their entire body to convey emotion, and they talked with their hands in a way that was fluid and organic rather than just being sudden movements for emphasis, which is something i feel like i nEVER see.
also also: holy shit why aren’t there more story-focused cartoons did the execs of every channel ever just not notice how highly praised atla and otgw were
