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Reviews
BoJack Horseman (2014)
Depressing Apathy toward Life
Beyond the inside jokes and meta-humor best suited to the writers themselves than a mainstream audience (this is a Netflix series after all), this show reveals the nihilism that has grabbed hold of Hollywood and our vain, materialistic culture. What do you expect, when everything from promiscuity to profanity, from drug addiction to backstabbing, is now the norm?
The show tries to push some kind of moral struggle through the main character, who is toxic to his own relationships but tries to do good nonetheless. And yet, whatever accomplishments he makes in this struggle don't seem to matter much in the context of this mean and indifferent world that the writers have created for him to inhabit.
Forget about the strange phenomenon of humans coexisting with what are basically humans with animal heads. What kind of fictional animated world is this, where career women feel guilty for having natural human emotions, where friends threaten to kill each other (for laughs), and where rappers make music videos about how violence perpetrated against the defenseless unborn is "cool" and "hardcore"? Not to mention where characters often seem lost in nostalgia, as if to imply that the present world has turned into a hellhole of abandonment and despair. (It kind of has.) But if Bojack Horseman is trying to be as profound as so many critics say it is, why keep dwelling on the negatives of modern life instead of making an effort to show how things ought to be? Being realistic and "down to earth" only gets you so far unless you can build a constructive message from it, and Horseman's fatal flaw is its refusal to tackle real human problems seriously. It pretends to, but its quick diversion to flat gags and standard sitcom resolutions can only mean that it has no real answers for us. It's a sad sight, in all honesty.
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Propaganda at Its Nastiest
Regardless of your judgment as to whether or not Fritz the Cat is an animated film that "goes too far," there's something about it that is more destructive than some of the raunchiest animated entertainment coming out today.
For starters, the filmmaker Ralph Bakshi's anger permeates the film. You can call it a righteous anger, as I'm sure he felt it was. But it's anger like this that only helps destroy society, like what we've been witnessing in America recently.
Imagine if Bakshi's cop-shooting-innocent-black-man scene was shown in mainstream theaters today. Violence (which he seems to think is cool in the black community) would be evermore justified by groups such as Black Lives Matter, who are fueled by this false narrative!
Furthermore, I'm sure that because of Bakshi's frustrations working on cookie cutter animated programming back in the day, he wanted to come all out with in-your-face cursing, violence and sex... even if it involved cartoon animals (created by self-critical cartoonist Robert Crumb). Apparently the film is meant to be political, in the sense that obscene art = good art, just by virtue of subverting tradition. Not so in my book.
It's one thing to be angry at America for its legitimate problems, but if you're not going to offer any solutions besides wallowing in indulgences, why should any sensible person listen to you?
This film had wasted potential, but at least Crumb's thoughtful-if-not-naive dialogue shone through. And at least Bakshi was honest in his ambitions to make adult animation, as well as to ironically point out the self-righteousness of SJWs in the film's best scene.
Steven Universe (2013)
Well-Intentioned But Fetishistic
I've followed this show out of curiosity - not only does it have a massive fanbase but it explores themes that hardly any Western animated show I've seen attempts to explore. It's "avant-garde" for that reason alone, and while it does have fascinating world-building and lore, it undermines itself by pushing a feel good agenda.
American society has changed radically the past several years, and the entertainment industry has capitalized on this fact. With Steven Universe, you have plots and characters that seem to have more in common with action and slice-of-life anime than traditional Western cartoons. But moreover, this show is a symptom of our emasculated culture that thrives on feelings and is intolerant of self criticism.
I heard somewhere that the writers of this show like to focus more on how the characters feel about their circumstances than on plot. And while the characters have potential for interesting action stories, they are often bogged down by needless angst that seems to drag on without end. It's become even worse with the new episodes, where the writers don't seem to know where they're going, or otherwise seem to be writing fanfiction for their own show. The plot arcs tend to intensify and then just disappear, which reminds me too much of poorly written anime.
The overarching message of this show seems to be: "your feelings about yourself and your choices matter more than anything else." This is exactly what's being advocated by the LGBT and hipster community. Rather than question bad habits or unhealthy relationships, choices of any stripe are glorified in SU, whether it be working in food service, bumming around while working on the next big album, or in the case of the Gems, engaging in lesbian love. Meanwhile, destroying the lives of your enemies for a good cause is seen as evil, and I have yet to see successful businesspeople making an appearance, or any place on Earth other than rural nature zones (big cities are viewed from a distance, as if they have little significance in world affairs).
The amount of crying and inner anguish of the characters is staggering, and it's clear that this show took a lot from the anime playbook. The creators fetishize anime style and tropes to the point where frankly it's uncomfortable for me to watch. Let's stick to something more original, like the Gem lore. And let's not treat melodrama like a high art form.
The show has an overall air of moral superiority that I don't like, because much of it is baseless. I can definitely tell SU is headed by a woman for all its infantile self-assurance themes - and before being criticized for this, note that I myself am a woman. I wish there were more children's shows today that centered around problem-solving rather than the acceptance of choices both good and bad.