movies/tv The double standard governing TV animation

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

This is something that I first noticed just recently and it annoys me to no end.

 

With the recent release of Inside Out, I have turned many corners on the Internet and found mountains of mainstream media articles praising the film's inspiration and profound themes, one even favorably comparing it to other mind-related films including The Matrix and Inception. Before that, there were piles of articles in both mainstream publications and animation enthusiast communities questioning the direction feature animation was headed. Even the uninformed who call feature animation a "genre" were concerned with the quality of animated films.

 

Then there's the state of TV animation. To call it a tale of two cities would be a gross understatement. While demanding quality and praising attention to detail is promoted in the feature film side of the industry, similar voices are less heard or even silenced using the age-old "it's just for kids" excuse, or "it's only a comedy/it's only a cartoon". TV animation is held to a much lower standard than feature animation. You do not see people writing about and flocking to Gravity Falls the same way you would for any equivalent feature film, and you don't see professionals illustrating how Teen Titans Go! reflects any trends in the industry with the same conviction as that discussion about Turbo and Planes promoting the "cult of self-esteem" that went around back in 2013. The downfall of Nickelodeon is just background noise compared the waves being made about DreamWorks Animation's downfall.

 

My short answer to this is the simple fact that there's more money in feature films, with all kinds of financial risk and reward involved, from the multi-year-long production process to the lucrative and widespread marketing campaigns surrounding their releases. However, there must be a deeper reason as to why TV animation is treated so much lesser than feature animation these days, almost as if it's irrelevant, by most of the mainstream. I'd like to see if any of you have anything to add to this.

[Grepper 3,193]

Maybe there is less of a stigma for adults to enjoy family movies than there is for them to watch children's cartoons because you can seem like a more casual viewer if you just watch a movie rather than keeping up on an entire TV series.
It could also be because there is more hype about a single event, the movie release, than the release of an episode of an ongoing TV show.

I'm just throwing my thoughts out there, so I'm sorry if it doesn't answer your question or even make sense.
What made you interested in this topic?

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

Maybe there is less of a stigma for adults to enjoy family movies than there is for them to watch children's cartoons because you can seem like a more casual viewer if you just watch a movie rather than keeping up on an entire TV series.

It could also be because there is more hype about a single event, the movie release, than the release of an episode of an ongoing TV show.

I'm just throwing my thoughts out there, so I'm sorry if it doesn't answer your question or even make sense.

What made you interested in this topic?

Your answer does make sense. There is a sort of balance between the pomp and circumstance of a big theater release and the smaller scale of TV. I wonder, however, why TV isn't held to at least half the critical standard feature films are.

 

As for the answer to your question, it's clearly stated in the OP.

[Shanks 10,816]

I don't get it either, good is good and bad is bad whether it in movie or TV form. It is good that there is some expectation of quality for film animation but not that there isn't for TV animation. It is very disingenuous to excuse one thing as being "just for kids when it sucks" yet not doing the same for the other.

[1111 1,284]

Think its just a commonly held belief kids are easier to entertain kids because they don't have as well developed taste and if its made for them that makes sense.  

[Alto 437]

imo depends on what tv animation are we talking about

 

adult toons like

family guy and south park are highly budgeted per episode

 

nicks teen oriented toons

Avatar: The last Airbender and Legend of Korra is also highly acclaimed and a commercial succes

 

i think its the kid oriented shows that dont get enough love

Edited June 24, 2015 by Alto

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

imo depends on what tv animation are we talking about

 

adult toons like

family guy and south park are highly budgeted per episode

 

nicks teen oriented toons

Avatar: The last Airbender and Legend of Korra is also highly acclaimed and a commercial succes

 

i think its the kid oriented shows that dont get enough love

I was mainly focusing on kids' animation, but the standards for adult cartoons are pretty low, too. Virtually everything is expected to be Family Guy or some semblance thereof, with crude animation, tasteless shock comedy, and pseudo-satire. It's how crap like Allen Gregory and Brickleberry gets made.

 

Avatar and Korra are amazing, but Nickelodeon shafted Korra so hard it's not even a joke. And yet, the headlines about Nickelodeon going down the crapper, even though names like Marc Summers are also among the many complaining that the network no longer cares about its audience, don't catch as much as a headline about DreamWorks Animation's slump, or Pixar's slump post-Toy Story 3 and pre-Inside Out.