What is with all the disrespect for western animation?

[MaxwellMurder]

I have noticed that western animation gets a lot of disrespect in the media, on the internet, on the bus, in my house, and at my college. Why is it disregarded as crap for kids when there are gems like Ratatouille and Up? Don't get me started on the Spielberg cartoons of the 90s. If Up was live action It would have won best picture.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I think it's purely a cultural thing. Western animation has sort of been defined by Disney, Warner Bros, and the Simpsons. It's basically just inertia keeping it there, IMO.

 

[Lionsfan]

What do you mean? I think over here (in my area of the US) it's the Anime and other Eastern Animation's that don't ever get any respect and are seen as horrible things

 

[I forgot]

normally it's japanese animation that doesn't get respect and Pixar is highly regarded.

I would say it's more of a mentality among western (aka American) audiences that animation is for kids because in their entire history of animation when was something made for adults that wasn't a comedy? There has never been an american animated feature that could be compared to the likes of Akira, Ghost in the Shell or Princess Mononoke.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Put simply? We were raised on it. It may seem idiotic and shallow, but our snap impression of many things that we're raised on as kids, particularly as we get older, is to not take them seriously. After all, WE thought it was good when we were like....ten. This effect is only amplified when you invariably get bored or sleep-deprived or medicated or injured enough to look up those nostalgic little gems from your past and realize how utterly awful things like the plot and dialogue and catchphrases are. I think all of us can remember a few cringe-worthy 90s or 80s cartoon catchphrases off the top of our heads.

Speaking as a massive geek for a moment, this is seen alot by fans of Tokutatsu like myself. The thought that there's something actually entertaining to a person that's over the age of 12 hidden in the source-material for the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is impossible to most people. Even if you get people to give it a shot, the method of Live Action invariably invokes nostaliga, and the suspension of disbelief shreds faster than wet toilet-paper. Nothing wrong with it, really. People just like what they like, and not everything targeted towards the realm of children and young adult entertainment is well-written and charming enough to allow older kids and adults to enjoy it too. Some of it really is just that bad.

All that said, Eastern Animation brings something different to the table. Aside from the obvious difference in art-style and details, it's also just plain old different. and as adults, there's just a different feeling between watching say, Spongebob, and watching something like Naruto or Bleach. At it's core, I'd imagine it's mostly that the guilty pleasure effect is minimized.

The Disney works are really in a league of their own, though. They're truly family films, but ultimately they still likely suffer from the same issues, although likely to a much lesser degree.

Suffice it to say, the ability to watch Adventure Time just as easily as one might watch Hellsing or Evangelion, is just a matter of perception. Not just how other people look at the works, but also how the viewer sees it as well.

 

[TheIronRuler]

I have noticed that western animation gets a lot of disrespect in the media, on the internet, on the bus, in my house, and at my college. Why is it disregarded as crap for kids when there are gems like Ratatouille and Up? Don't get me started on the Spielberg cartoons of the 90s. If Up was live action It would have won best picture.

No disrespect at all.
Up is number 1 in my 'greatest montage scene' competition, The Watchmen following coming in second.
Up! is an example of an ADULT movie disguising itself as a kids movie. It has enough stimulation to keeps adults interested while the kids watch funny bits, and the other mature tones don't fuck with the psyche of the kids.
Dude, it's a cartoon for kids with DEATH as the main subject. DEATH.
Ratatouille was a cute film, but I don't like it as much as 'Up!'

 

[MaxwellMurder]

OK my problem also is that you can't get nominated for an Oscar Best Actor or Actress for great voice acting which is an art form in itself.

 

[TheIronRuler]

OK my problem also is that you can't get nominated for an Oscar Best Actor or Actress for great voice acting which is an art form in itself.

Why do you care about oscar awards?
Oscar awards is shit.
It's pretentious and I dislike it greatly. I wish I could have had a great community in which I would have found out about foreign films and other low budget flicks that might entertain me. Oh, wait, this is one of them.
Bob's the reason I got to see 'The Troll Hunter'. I wouldn't have gone otherwise.

 

[ultratog1028]

I personally like both styles. I think the main "problem" most people have with western style animation is They tend not to think of pixar as Western animation. They think of it as CG. A flip onto Cartoon Network will mostly be Eastern style or shows that are 30 minute long commercials for toys.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Because most of it is crap.

The only company to output western animation of a good quality every time they release something is Pixar. Compared to them, most of it really is crap.

I mean, for crying out loud, when a show like Adventure Time is praised like crazy, I can't help but think that people are just that desperate for something good.

But it's not like it's all crap. Look at Avatar: The Last Airbender, or... um... I don't know, Spongebob isn't too bad, even though it's gone downhill since the movie.

It's just that, with very rare exception, children's shows never tackle mature subjects anymore, and most of the time when they do they do it horribly.

I miss the days of Hey Arnold! and The Wild Thornberrys where you learned lessons while being entertained.

For the record: I also dislike most anime. The only animes I really, really enjoy are Dragonball/DBZ and Full Metal Alchemist (not Brotherhood).

 

[kayisking]

OK my problem also is that you can't get nominated for an Oscar Best Actor or Actress for great voice acting which is an art form in itself.

Why do you care about oscar awards?
Oscar awards is shit.
It's pretentious and I dislike it greatly. I wish I could have had a great community in which I would have found out about foreign films and other low budget flicks that might entertain me. Oh, wait, this is one of them.
Bob's the reason I got to see 'The Troll Hunter'. I wouldn't have gone otherwise.

As pretentious as the oscars are, I think on the whole they have a good influence on the movie industry.

 

[MaxwellMurder]

Because most of it is crap.

The only company to output western animation of a good quality every time they release something is Pixar. Compared to them, most of it really is crap.

I mean, for crying out loud, when a show like Adventure Time is praised like crazy, I can't help but think that people are just that desperate for something good.

But it's not like it's all crap. Look at Avatar: The Last Airbender, or... um... I don't know, Spongebob isn't too bad, even though it's gone downhill since the movie.

It's just that, with very rare exception, children's shows never tackle mature subjects anymore, and most of the time when they do they do it horribly.

I miss the days of Hey Arnold! and The Wild Thornberrys where you learned lessons while being entertained.

For the record: I also dislike most anime. The only animes I really, really enjoy are Dragonball/DBZ and Full Metal Alchemist (not Brotherhood).

Well all this statement reenforces is Sturgeon's Law
Also when it comes to Adventure Time the Pilot was much better than the series

 

[Da Orky Man]

I'm guessing it's because pretty much all western animation is geared towards children. Japanese anime isn't scared of meandering into rougher territory. I'd like to see any kid that made sense of Code Geass.

 

[LordOmnit]

That's because as a few people have said, in the west anything not live-acted or composed entirely of words is viewed as a lesser form. But it doesn't stop there, because there has been little outside of one or two studios (Pixar and somewhat Disney by itself) actually trying to make substantial cartoons and not failing. Avatar the Last Airbender fared pretty well, but other than that and the aforementioned Pixar movies, what is there? South Park? The Simpsons, kinda? Everything else (and even those two) are driven by purposes that have little to do with animation or narrative. If it isn't as vacuous as the space between superclusters, then they only have obvious metaphors to make or are attempts at line-crossing (South Park, The Simpsons, Family Guy, most 90's cartoons that weren't Spielberg features- especially those out of Nickelodeon).
Although I'm a big anime fan, I won't say that it all is good or doesn't have its own share of problems. That said, it at least frequently tries to do something different, excel more at what it does, or make an impact. Few succeed, but you can't succeed if you hardly ever try (and you can't get things that crash spectacularly into flaming debris that make you wanna vomit and laugh like Occult Academy).

 

[Wintermoot]

allot of people only know western animation from TV and since TV animation isn't as big as Japanese TV animation it usually has a smaller budget making the animation pretty bad.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Unfortunately the issue of children's shows never tackling adult-oriented problems is, again and sadly as usual, based on perception of children's shows as a whole. It gets so bad sometimes that I wonder if the production crews and writers even take any pride in their work or if they're just phoning it in for the paycheck.

The good news, I think, is that as those of us who think differently and enjoy what can be considered childrens' shows into our adult years are beginning to have an influence on the industry. Adventure Time, for all the polarization over it, is an example I think. A better one is stuff like Young Justice or....the show whose name I shall not invoke lest I stir The Herd and their thunderous hooves.

Give it a few more years and we'll see better things even than what we have now.

 

[mrc390]

Funny, I live in Ireland and it's the opposite here, if you mention Anime most people think of pokemon