What Happened to Animation's "Middle Ground"?

[Goldstar!]

It seems as though nowadays, every new cartoon is some dark, edgy, serialized angst fest. It's all moody. emo, edge lord stuff like Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Infinity Train, Unicorn Wars, Lakadaisy, Helluva Boss or Digital Circus. The only cartoons that don't fall into this category are preschool shows. It's either Cocomelon or South Park, with nothing in between. I don't like dark cartoons, but I don't want to just watch cartoons for the pre-K crowd either. What happened to the middle ground? Why is no one making cartoons that are just fun, with no sagas, angst or heavy subject matter? Where are the new shows like Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, Dexter's Laboratory or Rocko's Modern Life going to come from? The only recent animated series that seem to be middle-of-the-road are Big City Greens and Kiff, and the former is a show that I respect more than I actually like (I wish BCG were funnier).

I realize as I'm writing this, that I'm teetering dangerously into "grumpy old man yelling at the clouds" territory, but I'll take something like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry over Unicorn Wars, Kibo and the Wonderbeasts or Learning with Pibby any day of the week. I'd rather play Super Mario Brothers than The Last of Us. I'm that weirdo.

 

[Classic Speedy]

...Since when are Adventure Time and Steven Universe considered "edge lord"?

 

[Frontier]

...Since when are Adventure Time and Steven Universe considered "edge lord"?

I guess because they eventually deal with very serious and heavy topics?

 

[Goldstar!]

...Since when are Adventure Time and Steven Universe considered "edge lord"?

OK, perhaps edge lord was a poor choice of terminology. I'll substitute that with "anti-fun".

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

What about The Loud House?

 

[Goldstar!]

What about The Loud House?

The Loud House isn't anti-fun. However, I lost interest in it after season #2.

 

[Frontier]

OK, perhaps edge lord was a poor choice of terminology. I'll substitute that with "anti-fun".

I mean, I would say those shows are pretty fun, but that can be in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

Also what about Craig of the Creek? I guess it gets kind of “anti fun” later on.

 

[AngusTinMan16]

It seems as though nowadays, every new cartoon is some dark, edgy, serialized angst fest. It's all moody. emo, edge lord stuff like Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Infinity Train, Unicorn Wars, Lakadaisy, Helluva Boss or Digital Circus. The only cartoons that don't fall into this category are preschool shows. It's either Cocomelon or South Park, with nothing in between. I don't like dark cartoons, but I don't want to just watch cartoons for the pre-K crowd either. What happened to the middle ground? Why is no one making cartoons that are just fun, with no sagas, angst or heavy subject matter? Where are the new shows like Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, Dexter's Laboratory or Rocko's Modern Life going to come from? The only recent animated series that seem to be middle-of-the-road are Big City Greens and Kiff, and the former is a show that I respect more than I actually like (I wish BCG were funnier).

I realize as I'm writing this, that I'm teetering dangerously into "grumpy old man yelling at the clouds" territory, but I'll take something like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry over Unicorn Wars, Kibo and the Wonderbeasts or Learning with Pibby any day of the week. I'd rather play Super Mario Brothers than The Last of Us. I'm that weirdo.

You really want to know what happened, do you? The animation industry saw major cutbacks combined with the animation community being influenced by some of the worst in online reviewing.

 

[Goldstar!]

You really want to know what happened, do you? The animation industry saw major cutbacks combined with the animation community being influenced by some of the worst in online reviewing.

I don't know if that is the reason why 90% of the cartoons on the Internet are bleak and dark. I'd say that it's more that the artists/creators themselves seem to have a more jaded and cynical outlook on life in general.

 

[[classic swim]]

Live action serialized shows in comparison to this day are trying to catch the drama high that Sopranos started.

The entertainment industry will just repeat the same patterns thousands and thousands of times if they get so much of a whiff as to one cog in the machine going well.

I abhor generalizing things unfairly but sometimes I totally get the sensation of seeing the exact same thing done before way too many.

 

[JMTV]

I really trying to figuring out the answer, but I honestly don't know.

I guess maybe because kids don't really watch cartoons anymore due to so many other options they can consume (ie: social media and streaming). Preschoolers has their own cartoons they can watch, same for the adults, but for kids, they're more spread out.

Not to mention, companies are playing things way too safe, and they're not risking making shows for kids if no kid is gonna watch them.

As for independent cartoons, I do notice most indie cartoons were edgy and cynical, but that's what the target demo (young adults) wants. They LOVE that kinda stuff. If they are into it, that's fine. It's just not for me.

But yeah, it would be nice if we see more light-hearted cartoons for kids, but sadly, we can't even get those right now.

 

[The Overlord]

OK, perhaps edge lord was a poor choice of terminology. I'll substitute that with "anti-fun".

I don't know, Steven Universe seemed pretty hopeful overall, what about Owl House or Amphibia? Were Batman the animated series and X-Men the animated series ''edge lord'' by tackling subjects kids animation generally didn't cover back then? I disagree with where you set the line.

That being said I think there is some truth to your words. I find a lot of the animated shows today are aimed at adults or aimed at toddlers, with a few exceptions like The Ghost and Molly McGee. But yeah, more shows are needed between say works like Bluey and Mad God. I do think Steven Universe is in the middle ground though.

 

[Goldstar!]

Also what about Craig of the Creek? I guess it gets kind of “anti fun” later on.

I admit that I enjoyed Craig of the Creek more before the show started having story arcs, but I find CotC to be OK, for the most part.

But yeah, it would be nice if we see more light-hearted cartoons for kids, but sadly, we can't even get those right now.

It doesn't even necessarily have to be for kids. I would love to see some more adult oriented animated series that aren't super gross, ugly or mean spirited. I enjoyed Mission Hill and wish that it had gotten to complete it's run instead of being canceled after a single season. I also enjoyed Duckman, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 (before the passing of Harry Goz), Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, although I haven't watched it past Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 (but I did watch the ATHF Plantasm movie on Max and thought it was decent.

Were Batman the animated series and X-Men the animated series ''edge lord'' by tackling subjects kids animation generally didn't cover back then? I disagree with where you set the line.

Actually, I usually put action cartoons in their own separate category.

 

[[classic swim]]

I would love to see some more adult oriented animated series that aren't super gross, ugly or mean spirited. I enjoyed Mission Hill and wish that it had gotten to complete it's run instead of being canceled after a single season. I also enjoyed Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 (before the passing of Harry Goz), Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, although I haven't watched it past Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 (but I did watch the ATHF Plantasm movie on Max and thought it was decent.

I’m so glad in this day and age that less people lump these in with the bad fruit when begrudging adult animation. It shows me that one right step was taken forward somewhere.

I had to put up with the world’s unfunniest stoner comments for years. No one knew how to categorize [as] shows back in the day without making lazy ass marijuana cheap shots which were never clever once.

And even now you’ll probably hear one comment or two about nihilism presented in most of those shows when they were just giving you what no one else was providing at the time.

 

[Silverstar]

I'd say the current trend towards "edgier" fare and subject matter is a reactionary response combined with current demographic shifts.

For a long time, people have tended to think that "light-hearted, simple and cute" = for kids and "darker, heavier and edgier" = mature, then you had the anime boom in the mid-to-late 90's to early '00's, which exposed a wider range of storytelling and subject matter to a mass audience. The result is a lot of young and up-and-coming artists are now realizing that there's an audience for edgier stuff and everything doesn't have to be Looney Tunes or Mickey Mouse, so now that's become the trend. Some of these types of shows catch on and get high ratings, then the execs running the media outlets want to repeat that success and BAM! You get an influx of darker, edgier cartoons. There's nothing wrong with that; good storytelling should be able to tackle all kinds of emotions and subjects, but at the same time there should be a variety; too much of any one genre of programming is bad.

I personally prefer comedy and wackiness overall, but that doesn't mean that the heavier stuff should go away. We should be trying to push the medium as far as it can go, there's a place for the more serious and serialized shows, even though they're not my thing personally. The pendulum between light and heavy constantly swings back and forth, right now the industry seems to be favoring the deeper, heavier, more emotional, serialized fare. All it takes is for one new artist who grew up inspired by Roger Rabbit or the Three Stooges to catch their big break and strike gold and the pendulum will swing the other way.

That's a clumsy explanation, I know.

 

[The Overlord]

I admit that I enjoyed Craig of the Creek more before the show started having story arcs, but I find CotC to be OK, for the most part.



It doesn't even necessarily have to be for kids. I would love to see some more adult oriented animated series that aren't super gross, ugly or mean spirited. I enjoyed Mission Hill and wish that it had gotten to complete it's run instead of being canceled after a single season. I also enjoyed Duckman, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 (before the passing of Harry Goz), Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, although I haven't watched it past Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 (but I did watch the ATHF Plantasm movie on Max and thought it was decent.



Actually, I usually put action cartoons in their own separate category.

Okay, so where would the current crop of action animation aimed at adults like Arcane, Castlevania, or Invincible fit in?

 

[JMTV]

It doesn't even necessarily have to be for kids. I would love to see some more adult oriented animated series that aren't super gross, ugly or mean spirited. I enjoyed Mission Hill and wish that it had gotten to complete it's run instead of being canceled after a single season. I also enjoyed Duckman, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 (before the passing of Harry Goz), Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, although I haven't watched it past Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 (but I did watch the ATHF Plantasm movie on Max and thought it was decent.

Okay fair enough. Coming from someone who wasn't into adult cartoons, it would be nice to see more adult cartoons are more light-hearted and funny, like Close Enough for example.

 

[Fone Bone]

Gilda And Meek And The Un-Iverse is usually in the middle. Often it's adult, and there IS a great deal of blood at times, but compared to similar comics the sensibility is measured.

 

[Silverstar]

The Cartoon Cartoons of the 90's to early 00's are a good example of what I (and I think @Goldstar!) would like to see more of. Of the Big Three animation networks of that era (Nick, CN, Disney), Cartoon Network was always my personal favorite of them because their shows weren't super fluffy or cutesy and they had some more mature jokes without going into frat-boy/locker room territory. Early (what I suppose now can be considered 'classic') Adult Swim was like that too. Not too kiddie, not too adult, not overly simple but not overly complicated either. I believe those shows embody the fabled "sweet spot" that @Goldstar! is asking for.