I was watching this critique on SaberSpark's review of Ralph Bakshi films, and saw some comments that perfectly conveyed how I felt for the longest time regarding animation and frankly art in general. The feelings that led to me making the "I HATE ARTISTS" video and my "Liking things for the wrong reason" thought log. Honestly, I think that these thoughts are a big reason on why I HEAVILY DISLIKE mainstream alternative people. I'll just leave the comments I saw here:



It was SO HARD to put this into words because I'm an inexperienced dumbass, but I'll get into that later. I've become very disappointed with mainstream discourse about media. It's so aggravating to experience a game or a movie or an anime, FEEL something about said piece of media, and then having the pinnacle of discussion be inside jokes, "literally me" characters, and just plain aesthetics/vibes without any consideration of WHY that is. Oh, it's even better when most mfs HAVEN'T EVEN INTERACTED WITH THE MEDIA OUTSIDE OF IT'S COMMUNITY. And I don't say this to act as if I'm some amazing genius intellectual who wants nothing less than a 5 page analysis of anything I talk about. Because like I said before, I'm a total dunce when it comes to analyzing symbolism and themes. But I never even get an opportunity to delve deeper into these works since it seems that most people are too focused on the surface level appearance of whatever they consume.

Additionally, I feel that there is this insistence amongst the artists I interact with to solely pull inspiration from the cartoons they grew up with, and NO desire to go beyond family friendly animation. This is NOT to say that shows like Steven Universe and The Owl House are for stupid dumb babies and have no semblance of substance, though. But it's just so obvious that so many creatives are sourcing a lot of their experience from watching these shows, and you rarely see anything mainstream that draws from literally anything else like BOOKS or MOVIES or HISTORY or ACTUAL LIFE EXPERIENCE. Everything is described as "THIS but THAT" with "mature themes" and "subversive deconstruction" without an actual idea on what that represents. Too concerned with trying to be the next "blank" as opposed to letting the work speak for itself. The immaturity about the world and aversion to more taboo subject matter doesn't help, either. It really feels that some artists want the genre-defining impact of these works but refuse to acknowledge that you can engage with "wrong" ideas without ENDORSING SAID IDEAS!!! WOWAWAWOAW. I think that's why stuff like Kick Ass was so refreshing to me. I'm not going to pretend that there was deep meaning behind the murder, rape, and degeneracy not even close. In fact, Kick Ass is actually uh kinda ass as a comic. But when I look at it I don't think "oh this author is problematic. why isn't he spelling out how bad this is every 5 seconds?!!".

God I wish I can point at some more examples right now but I'm drawing blanks, which is why I never feel completely satisfied when I talk about this. I'm not going to act as if I'm the first to say this. And I'm not going to act as if every new gen artists SUCKS and there is NOTHING good anymore and wah wa wah wah waahhhh. And I'm not going to even PRETEND to act that I can do any better. I'm ignorant about the world, I need to step outside of my comfort zone more, I also find myself trying to "subvert expectations" without fully understanding the expectations in the first place. A lot of my inspiration is from the media I like as well. But as I'm growing older, I do find myself wanting more experimental stuff even if it's not as "flashy". I think that's why I've been drawn to older media, not out of nostalgia or because "they just did it better back then I'll tell you hwat" but because there were still trying to "figure out" what worked and what didn't. So many cool concepts explored in PS2 era games and 50s-90s era animation even if they didn’t completely stick the landing. I also really want to read more books, once again not because they're a "higher form of media" but because there are probably so many ideas and concepts I'm missing out on by not engaging with an entire medium.

Anywho, back to the audience. I despise how we're supposed to applaud someone who consumes one form of media over another. "grrrr all these people "nerding out" about the most basic things. Look at me nerd out about these more niche things!!! Yes I engage with them the exact same way "normies" do but brrrooooo it's anime and indie games and youtube!!!! Also I'm attractive so you kinda have to find me cool". Like I DO NOT CARE that you like Trigun and Batman Arkham Knight and everything I like oh gee. If all we can say to each other is "omg this is so peak" or "omg peak mentioned" without talking about the actual freaking work, then you are literally the exact same as the "normies" you're dogging on. I'm not going to lie to you I find myself doing that sometimes, too, but I always try to pivot the convo towards actual thoughts and feelings rather than "this good, this bad, literally me, rinse and repeat"

God reminds me of this girl my friend was going off about. Good looking lass who was literally into everything we were into. But that was all there was to it man. "I'm a cute girl who likes cool video games LOOK AT ME!!!! LOOOOOOK!!!". Once I broke out of the awooga mind control, me and my friend both agreed that it's really no different from layabouts who watch netflix, doomscroll, and go gym. Do you want to be defined by what you consume, or what you create? That's a question I want to expand upon later another time (I don't think either one is entirely the correct answer...).

I know it sounds like I'm hating on these folks, but really I just hate on feelings of superiority and the incessant need to be different. If you like something because you just like it, then THAT'S VALID!! If you want to make art based on cartoons you like, then THAT'S VALID!! All you gotta do is be self aware about it. I guess that's the common theme of this website; just get over yourself and like what you like. Though it is annoying to be someone who's into these "nerdy niche things" and being unable to actually convey what I like about them with others. That's definitely going to be the next addition to this website, logging my experiences with my favorite pieces of media.