TL;DR: Would Netflix ever make a move to create mature animation (like an X-Files cartoon)? Saying this now because their is a WALL of text, bruh. Just savin' ya the trouble.
You know what bothers me about animation? It can be used to create amazing and unbelievable worlds, create scenarios that parallel our own in reality, and ultimately get message through to the viewer unlike other shows, but they're all always aimed at kids, and that's what bugs me. So far there has been only one exception to the rule "Animation is only for kids" and that was the Electric City web series with Tom Hanks(which I really really liked). It's a cartoon, but it's not about stupid animals doing something stupid with stupider characters to drive up the stupidity. It was a post-apocalyptic utopian spy-thriller, watching how fragile this new city built after the end of the world is and the lengths people will go to protect it or change it. This was something that would be shot down before pen touches paper at a concept meeting for a cartoon(I don't know how animation production works). But it was made, it was watched, and it won an award. It was mature, it had something to say; it had an intrinsic value that you got from it (at least I did) and it was fairly insightful.
Moving on from my mouth-foaming fangirling, the thing that ticks me off is that shows like Electric City are rarer than White Rhinos. You can't make a mature cartoon with a deep meaning on network TV, you can only make cartoons like Bob's Burgers or the Simpsons, and while network TV is willing to allow more adult things to be said and done, it's still mainly rooted in comedy (see Archer or Dethklok). The only truly mature cartoons I've seen that aren't from the East (Ghost in the Shell, Stein's Gate, etc.) were the DC animated shows like Justice League or Batman.
When you were a kid you just watched it for the action, but if you go back now the show actually gets better when you're older because now you're in on all the inside and adult jokes, as well as grasp the concept of super heroes and their effects on politics and the world and even why Cadmus built synthetic Supers to fight them (I even understood what the heck Lex Luthor was saying when he built that low-budget city in his campaign for presidency). These shows amazed me when I was a kid, and now fascinate and challenge me as a young adult. While it was brilliant in managing to have such adult concepts intermingling with what was essentially supers vs supers, it was still a show for children (just barely, barely). I get animation is costly, but why hasn't any other show tried an animated cop drama or something? My only guess is that they're too afraid to try something new because of the losses they could experience from something like that bombing, so they stick to basics. While I get that basic and even network isn't all that excited about experimenting, Netflix seems pretty ecstatic about it.
Netflix is pretty much dominating television and movies to the point where its invention caused the collapse entire corporations whose sole profit was from renting movies and tv shows on VHS or DVD. So it safe to say the Netflix is pretty amazing as well as successful; successful enough to create another season for Arrested Development, create two new award winning shows, and even become the sole financier for a cartoon that was actually nominated for an emmy.
It's safe to say Netflix has almost become the sort of place where the crazy ideas that could only thrive on the net have also found a new home on Netflix(I can always be wrong, so don't hold me at gunpoint for that statement). It's the sort of place where HBO class shows (in terms of subject matter) could find a home there, and even encourage experimentation. They have the money to finance two seasons of a cartoon (which I assume isn't cheap, unless it's flash), so why not something bigger? I'm sure they'd be sceptical of something like this at first, but would be more than willing to give it a try. They gave Orange and House of Cards a shot, and those have become fighting reasons for people to join Netflix. Heck, maybe they'd be willing to be the primary financiers for new seasons of Symbiotic Titan or final installment to Samurai Jack, or create something even new and philosophical.
I don't think I'm being completely naive and starry-eyed here (at least I hope), I honestly believe Netflix would be willing to at least listen and see a concept of something like this in action. And then maybe from there, networks try something similar.
What do you think? Could Netflix be a provider of deeper animation? Or would it rather not attempt the loss it could experience? Or maybe it would be willing to try and catch lightning twice, and finance something that manages to mix maturity with big fights like late '00s Justice League?
You know what bothers me about animation? It can be used to create amazing and unbelievable worlds, create scenarios that parallel our own in reality, and ultimately get message through to the viewer unlike other shows, but they're all always aimed at kids, and that's what bugs me. So far there has been only one exception to the rule "Animation is only for kids" and that was the Electric City web series with Tom Hanks(which I really really liked). It's a cartoon, but it's not about stupid animals doing something stupid with stupider characters to drive up the stupidity. It was a post-apocalyptic utopian spy-thriller, watching how fragile this new city built after the end of the world is and the lengths people will go to protect it or change it. This was something that would be shot down before pen touches paper at a concept meeting for a cartoon(I don't know how animation production works). But it was made, it was watched, and it won an award. It was mature, it had something to say; it had an intrinsic value that you got from it (at least I did) and it was fairly insightful.
Moving on from my mouth-foaming fangirling, the thing that ticks me off is that shows like Electric City are rarer than White Rhinos. You can't make a mature cartoon with a deep meaning on network TV, you can only make cartoons like Bob's Burgers or the Simpsons, and while network TV is willing to allow more adult things to be said and done, it's still mainly rooted in comedy (see Archer or Dethklok). The only truly mature cartoons I've seen that aren't from the East (Ghost in the Shell, Stein's Gate, etc.) were the DC animated shows like Justice League or Batman.
When you were a kid you just watched it for the action, but if you go back now the show actually gets better when you're older because now you're in on all the inside and adult jokes, as well as grasp the concept of super heroes and their effects on politics and the world and even why Cadmus built synthetic Supers to fight them (I even understood what the heck Lex Luthor was saying when he built that low-budget city in his campaign for presidency). These shows amazed me when I was a kid, and now fascinate and challenge me as a young adult. While it was brilliant in managing to have such adult concepts intermingling with what was essentially supers vs supers, it was still a show for children (just barely, barely). I get animation is costly, but why hasn't any other show tried an animated cop drama or something? My only guess is that they're too afraid to try something new because of the losses they could experience from something like that bombing, so they stick to basics. While I get that basic and even network isn't all that excited about experimenting, Netflix seems pretty ecstatic about it.
Netflix is pretty much dominating television and movies to the point where its invention caused the collapse entire corporations whose sole profit was from renting movies and tv shows on VHS or DVD. So it safe to say the Netflix is pretty amazing as well as successful; successful enough to create another season for Arrested Development, create two new award winning shows, and even become the sole financier for a cartoon that was actually nominated for an emmy.
It's safe to say Netflix has almost become the sort of place where the crazy ideas that could only thrive on the net have also found a new home on Netflix(I can always be wrong, so don't hold me at gunpoint for that statement). It's the sort of place where HBO class shows (in terms of subject matter) could find a home there, and even encourage experimentation. They have the money to finance two seasons of a cartoon (which I assume isn't cheap, unless it's flash), so why not something bigger? I'm sure they'd be sceptical of something like this at first, but would be more than willing to give it a try. They gave Orange and House of Cards a shot, and those have become fighting reasons for people to join Netflix. Heck, maybe they'd be willing to be the primary financiers for new seasons of Symbiotic Titan or final installment to Samurai Jack, or create something even new and philosophical.
I don't think I'm being completely naive and starry-eyed here (at least I hope), I honestly believe Netflix would be willing to at least listen and see a concept of something like this in action. And then maybe from there, networks try something similar.
What do you think? Could Netflix be a provider of deeper animation? Or would it rather not attempt the loss it could experience? Or maybe it would be willing to try and catch lightning twice, and finance something that manages to mix maturity with big fights like late '00s Justice League?
