If you were late with your previous entries, exceptionally quiet in class or feel you need extra credit for whatever reason, comment on any (or all) of the numbered blog entries (LBGTQIA+ YA, Hayao Miyazaki, Adventure Time.) The more you do, the more extra credit you accrue.
Post ONE reaction ( minimum 250 words) to the combined reading (and listening) linked. Students are encouraged (but not required) to additionally respond to other student reactions.
"Castles in the Air: The gorgeous existential funk of Adventure Time." By Emily Nussbaum
"An 'Adventure' For Kids And Maybe For Their Parents, Too: An NPR Interview w. Lev Grossman"
"An ode to Adventure Time, one of TV’s most ambitious — and, yes, most adventurous — shows." By Dan Schindel
4 comments:
The thing that I think holds most older cartoons apart from what is being made today is that they are able to be enjoyed by all audiences. Adventure Time is one of those shows where it can be enjoyed by anyone between the ages of 5 and up. They have funny cartoon action that kids can enjoy with a few fart jokes mixed in but also more deep lore that someone with more sophisticated needs than a fart joke can really get invested in. There are really dark undertones throughout and a decent amount of more raunchy comedy that could go over the average child’s head. The impressive ability to balance audiences is what really sets adventure time apart. The wide variety of characters also makes it easy to stay invested and gives someone from everyone to relate to or at least connect with. They have such a wide variety from my personal favorite tree trunks to the peppy go lucky princess bubblegum who has a secret dark side there is someone for everyone. It is really hard to find anything like that nowadays with the ending of a ton of tv shows from 2010 ish. Shows like phineas and ferb and regular shows were all out around the time of adventure time and though different had similar effects. They were shows made for kids that could be enjoyed by all. Also these articles really like to talk about stoners.
Nussbaum’s Castles in the Air from the New Yorker sets the stage for why Adventure Time was beloved by different types of people back in 2016. Even when I watched the show, I remember jumping from other types of Adventure Time fans. From being a young kid in middle school to still keeping up with it in high school because I felt like the show was growing up with me, personally. What I never thought about while watching Adventure Time was that the show was more versatile than I knew. “There are moments when Finn’s story feels suspiciously like a compensatory fantasy, invented to disguise a trauma that can’t be faced head on—as if it were the “Mulholland Drive” of children’s television.” Thanks to Nussbaum, I can go back into my memories of watching Adventure Time to highlight more important bits than I thought. I probably should’ve felt more whenever Finn being ‘The Last Human’ was brought up, but I was so caught up in him swinging his sword around to really think. Marceline and Ice King/Simon’s stories/backstories can also be grouped together. Almost every main character has had to walk through the darkness, whether or not we saw them start there. However, Nussbaum correctly points out that Adventure Time always makes sure to make it comforting. “Such darkness might easily turn cynical, and yet “Adventure Time” has a gentle heart.”
On that last note, Ulaby’s NPR opinion piece, An 'Adventure' For Kids And Maybe For Their Parents, Too holds excellent examples of how Adventure Time was able to make viewers feel safe and secure in the bad times that were reflected on the show. “Jake's a hip guy. He can watch his own death, and he's comfortable with it, and that's a weird thing, especially for Finn, who's superyoung, and it's really hard on him." Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time, said this when discussing the difficulties of making an episode where Jake sees his own death. Mind you, Adventure Time is still a ‘kid’s show,’ so the episode's premise alone already presented a challenge. Adventure Time has honest and realistic facts about life fused throughout the animation of supernatural landscapes. People will lose people in their lives and be hurt by it. Adventure Time did a great job of connecting to those emotions. Lev Grossman, a bestselling author, shows how the showrunners of Adventure Time did a great job. “My dad has been going through having Alzheimer's, and he's forgotten so much about who he used to be. And I look at him and think this cartoon is about my father dying." Grossman brings up the Ice King/Simon, who suffered from memory loss of his ‘past life when he wore the crown.’ While it may not have been thought out to have Simon and the Crown act as an analogy for Alzheimer’s, that is how art works. Good art, to be specific. Different people connect to the same things for various reasons.
Emily Nussbaum's "Castles in the Air" and Neda Ulaby's "An 'Adventure' For Kids And Maybe For Their Parents, Too" touch on the transformative power of storytelling but approach it from wildly different lenses. Nussbaum really gives details on how this show produces dreamlike scenarios and provides an experience that many other show cannot make. As she demonstrates there is more that can be done when the world of the tv show does not rely on real world logic.
Ulaby's review and Lev Grossman underline the complicated brilliance of Adventure Time and how that brillance shows a respect for the show's audience. While for kids, Ulaby hints at a universal appeal for how authentic and heartfelt the storytelling of Adventure Time is. This is attrubuted to how even the villains are given reasons for why they are the way the are. The examples they use are Lemongrab and the Ice King who both are damaged individuals with deeper emtional needs behind what they are.
Individually and together, the articles make a strong argument for why storytelling, characters, and imagination matters but also exposes how stories made for a younger audience can make exceptional television. While grandiosity might thrill, it's the authenticity that sustains. To me, that is a lesson: good stories can take many forms and can include many audiences as it allows for a more expansive world that can be meant for everyone. I remember that Adventure time when I was a kid was valuable for that reason, as I loved how anything could happen in the show.
I watched Adventure Time constantly as a kid and have recently gotten back into it. I can say that the meaning and the way I take in the story is a lot different than I did before. Like Lev Grossman said I do think it is very intelligent. I think part of the shows genius is the fact that it lets itself be stupid. It has no problem being goofy or making childish jokes but, the series is still able to convey the serious messages and sometimes hard topics within this silly crazy world that was built. I think the best shows especially kids aimed at children are the ones that can be enjoyed by adults as well. The first series that comes to mind when thinking about this is Avatar the Last Airbender. It is still one of my favorite shows of all time and has been a persistent story that everyone enjoys. Adventure Time is a show that is completely different from this but, it also shares the characteristic that it can be enjoyed by all age groups. I think the reason why Adventure Time is a show that is so enjoyable to adults because it is a show that is very easy to watch. It has a cool story and cool world with deep lore but, it can be a show you just look and laugh at. It can be complex or simple its a show that can be whatever you want it to be at the time.
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