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not to be pretentious but yall should really read this… C.H.A.T. (Come Here for All Talk)
- Thread starter Astra
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if you promote antiviolence i'll batter you
^mods this is a clever and funny joke and not a real threat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
some people need a punch in the face. several people, actually! just not using this Real Grievance for Content, is all.
Is there any forums for sharing fakemon?
no because your ocs will never match up to CAP
Wtf am I supposed to do at work while showdown is down
Lots of aquariums live stream their fish and such. I like to throw those up on a second monitor when I have the space.
Do what generations of bored office workers before you have: Play Solitaire.
your job???
It truly is deeply strange to me just how little extended universe Harry Potter media there is. Here you have the biggest book series of the century with a sprawling world with all sorts of underexplored little nooks and crannies, and all there is to show for it as of 2024 is a trilogy of decent-to-bad prequel films and one fairly solid "Play your own year at Hogwarts!" game. I'm hardly a fan of the series but a casual readthrough of the books filled me with no shortage of ideas. To pick just one example: You mean to tell me that there are wizarding schools like Hogwarts all over the world and nobody with influence at Warner Bros. has shown interest in building off this?
I'm not saying that trying to turn the Wizarding World into a Star Wars-esque never-ending sandbox of Capital C Content is an intrinsically good idea; I have deep reservations with that whole approach. I'm just surprised that the corporate overlords have shown sufficient restraint not to get the ball rolling on such an endeavor. We're talking about a series known for its sprawling history of fanfiction, clearly there's an appetite for more stories in this setting. Maybe the major financial success of the aforementioned Hogwarts Legacy will be what breaks the dam so to speak, but for now I'm left to wonder.
I'm not saying that trying to turn the Wizarding World into a Star Wars-esque never-ending sandbox of Capital C Content is an intrinsically good idea; I have deep reservations with that whole approach. I'm just surprised that the corporate overlords have shown sufficient restraint not to get the ball rolling on such an endeavor. We're talking about a series known for its sprawling history of fanfiction, clearly there's an appetite for more stories in this setting. Maybe the major financial success of the aforementioned Hogwarts Legacy will be what breaks the dam so to speak, but for now I'm left to wonder.
jk rowling is too busy livetweeting a full-scale brain-melting to churn out wizard slop these days
Shiiiiit... I hadn't thought of the possibilities of an extended universe of the HP franchise. If there's wizards all over the world, there could be so many avenues to take for a new series, maybe a hogwarts in the UsA, France, China, who tf knows.
Eh, I still think WBD will someday do that. The series has been around since the 90s. it isn't too late for them to revive the series with a new saga.
Funnily enough, Pokemon is a great model for how an extended Harry Potter franchise could play out. They could keep making new regional schools in perpetuity, each telling their own story with a fresh cast each time. None would be as extensive as the core tale of Hogwarts, of course, but maybe a film/book trilogy or a couple TV seasons apiece. Keep it going for long enough and you could eventually have fun little fanservicey crossovers, like maybe the New York school series features the return of an Italy school character as an exchange student for one of their later years, and then you get an episode with adult Hermione doing some ceremony on behalf of the UK Ministry of Magic that gets derailed by some hijinx the class needs to solve with her help. Again, I refuse to believe none of the suits have expressed interest in anything like this, it's just free merch for the rest of eternity
Earlier, this probably would have been a great financial decision. However, Hogwarts Legacy has shown to what lengths people will go to to stop someone who is already ludicrously rich from getting just a (relatively) little more money, including sending death threats to people for just consuming the product. After the backlash against a product as good as Hogwarts Legacy, I don't think Harry Potter spinoffs will be the easy money you think it is.
Speaking about Star Wars, The Acolyte was extremely shit and I'm 98% sure I could make something better
If I wanted to make it more interesting I'd make Osha and Mae the same person. Not the half-ass "We're the same person split in half, you make me shit and you make me fart", I'm talking a full-on personality disorder. Make the investigation of "Mae" actually have weight instead of instantly clearing Osha's name.
Also why did they kill off half of the characters in ONE EPISODE. They gave us like no time to actually get attached to them. Yord Icksbig was done dirty and so was like
7 other characters.
Yeah there's a lot wrong with this show
Pokemon Live! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Harry Potter The Cursed Child (also reminder that j.k. itself canonized it as the official eight entry
)Doesn't matter how corny it was for the most part, but nothing tops this.
Returning to some media I loved as a kid makes me feel like a good chunk of it wasn't really created for kids
The Incredibles for example. It's kid-friendly, but it straight up covers suicide in it's opening, has a main plot point of perceived infidilety, has a villain who is a straight up mass murderer and shows some really fucked up aspects of society in the health issurance scene. Also, something like health issurances screwing over people or the frivolous lawsuit that ended Bob's career is not something that children would particularly understand. It's like a movie made for adults that just happens to be kid-friendly
Similarily, fucking SpongeBob. There's so many jokes that went over my head as a kid, straight up references like the infamous Nosferatu scene, indirect mentions of George Carlin or the entire episode that's just an allegory for being really obsessed with sex. Mr. Krabs being a pretty horrible person and a boss that completely relies on the good nature of SpongeBob to make cash and never pays back the loyality that's given to him is realistic to an uncomfortable degree
The Incredibles for example. It's kid-friendly, but it straight up covers suicide in it's opening, has a main plot point of perceived infidilety, has a villain who is a straight up mass murderer and shows some really fucked up aspects of society in the health issurance scene. Also, something like health issurances screwing over people or the frivolous lawsuit that ended Bob's career is not something that children would particularly understand. It's like a movie made for adults that just happens to be kid-friendly
Similarily, fucking SpongeBob. There's so many jokes that went over my head as a kid, straight up references like the infamous Nosferatu scene, indirect mentions of George Carlin or the entire episode that's just an allegory for being really obsessed with sex. Mr. Krabs being a pretty horrible person and a boss that completely relies on the good nature of SpongeBob to make cash and never pays back the loyality that's given to him is realistic to an uncomfortable degree
sponge bob is my favourite adult media
bitches will say "gaming is in a downward spiral" knowing full well about the existence of the soulful crayon shin chan life sim
I'd say the adult animation pipeline is
Family Guy -> Rick and Morty -> Bojack Horseman -> SpongeBob -> Smiling Friends
It's interesting (and worth clarifying) how we think about "adult" and "kid" shows. You implicitly framed this divide in terms of accessibility–kids probably won't understand certain references and content, for example–and I agree with that. I especially like it giving room for good "kid" media to exist–some important themes are accessible to kids, after all, giving you room to make meaningful and good content for them. (Hop's arc in SWSH is a good example here; kids can understand bullying and the struggle to be themselves in the face of mockery and failure.)
However, I'd add that there's a spectrum here. A lot of media is partially accessible to kids, partially only to adults, but there's a difference between a kid's show having one throwaway reference that only adults understand, versus the entire show being impossible for kids to understand. I think The Incredibles and Spongebob are great to examine this split. For example, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible trying to keep their family safe is really core to the movie's emotions, and it's something that kids struggle to fully understand because, well, it's unlikely you've been in charge of a family when you're 9. They've likely been in a family, sure, but as many parents can say, having kids (and trying to keep them safe) is different emotionally than having parents. Similarly, Syndrome's disillusionment is the type of process that often takes years to fully manifest, years that kids haven't had yet. I'd comfortably call The Incredibles partially kids media, partially adult media.
Spongebob, while it has adult references, I think they're a lot less important to the show than The Incredibles' adult themes. I saw the Nosferatu reference before I knew about Nosferatu, but I don't think my reaction would have been different if I knew. I thought "haha weird vampire guy called Nosferatu", and if I knew about the movie, I'd have thought "haha that weird vampire guy, Nosferatu". Pretty similar. When it comes to Mr. Krabs, I think an adult perspective actually makes the show less comprehensible. In a kid context, like, he's a funny silly haha jokey guy who does stupid and occasionally mean stuff sometimes, it makes sense that he's a "normal part of the gang" that characters often get along fine with. From an adult context, though, his relationship with Spongebob has pretty intense abusive undertones that start unraveling the fabric of the show. Why does Spongebob tolerate this abuse? Why do his friends not help him? If we want to really go down the rabbit hole of silly trivialities, where are the labor laws? It's uncomfortable, as you say, and it could be a springboard for someone to understand labor injustices, but I struggle to see this discomfort as valuable to understanding the show. I would call Spongebob a kid's show overall with occasional adult references, though some episodes here and there are probably more adult, I don't remember them all.
This was a lot of words, and more using your posts as a springboard to analyze the concept than a "no your wrong" type thing, but the internet has a lot of pitfalls for relatively shallow media analysis, and thoughtful, critical artistic perspective is very valuable, so I try to provide some when I can.
However, I'd add that there's a spectrum here. A lot of media is partially accessible to kids, partially only to adults, but there's a difference between a kid's show having one throwaway reference that only adults understand, versus the entire show being impossible for kids to understand. I think The Incredibles and Spongebob are great to examine this split. For example, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible trying to keep their family safe is really core to the movie's emotions, and it's something that kids struggle to fully understand because, well, it's unlikely you've been in charge of a family when you're 9. They've likely been in a family, sure, but as many parents can say, having kids (and trying to keep them safe) is different emotionally than having parents. Similarly, Syndrome's disillusionment is the type of process that often takes years to fully manifest, years that kids haven't had yet. I'd comfortably call The Incredibles partially kids media, partially adult media.
Spongebob, while it has adult references, I think they're a lot less important to the show than The Incredibles' adult themes. I saw the Nosferatu reference before I knew about Nosferatu, but I don't think my reaction would have been different if I knew. I thought "haha weird vampire guy called Nosferatu", and if I knew about the movie, I'd have thought "haha that weird vampire guy, Nosferatu". Pretty similar. When it comes to Mr. Krabs, I think an adult perspective actually makes the show less comprehensible. In a kid context, like, he's a funny silly haha jokey guy who does stupid and occasionally mean stuff sometimes, it makes sense that he's a "normal part of the gang" that characters often get along fine with. From an adult context, though, his relationship with Spongebob has pretty intense abusive undertones that start unraveling the fabric of the show. Why does Spongebob tolerate this abuse? Why do his friends not help him? If we want to really go down the rabbit hole of silly trivialities, where are the labor laws? It's uncomfortable, as you say, and it could be a springboard for someone to understand labor injustices, but I struggle to see this discomfort as valuable to understanding the show. I would call Spongebob a kid's show overall with occasional adult references, though some episodes here and there are probably more adult, I don't remember them all.
This was a lot of words, and more using your posts as a springboard to analyze the concept than a "no your wrong" type thing, but the internet has a lot of pitfalls for relatively shallow media analysis, and thoughtful, critical artistic perspective is very valuable, so I try to provide some when I can.
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I don't even think it's subtext, it's surfacetext. Mr. Krabs literally sold SpongeBob's soul for 62 cents and only regretted having done that when he realized that he could've squeezed more money for his soul. SpongeBob has also directly mentioned that he pays Mr. Krabs for his work. Mr. Krabs was willing to sacrifice SpongeBob and Squidward for the big clam he wanted to catch. He's supportive sometimes, but very clearly abusive throughout the show
The reason is also directly in the text. SpongeBob loves his craft. He loves his craft so much that he's ready to gloss over all the abuse. It's something that happens in the culinary world, where cooks are treated like shit by chefs, managers and owners, but accept the toxicity and shitty pay because they love their work so much. I think his friends don't help him because they see how happy he is with his job and couldn't imagine him being particularly abused
And labor laws, idk, Bikini Bottom is a weirdly lawless place. The police just kinda do what they want and I don't think there are rules that go beyond civil law. Mrs. Puff is the driving instructor at her own boating school and she gives out the licenses instead of any legal authority, for example. There's an episode with a health inspector visiting the Krusty Krab, but if health inspectors really had legal power, then the Chum Bucket wouldn't exist. Kinda like how modern OSHA authorities don't have much if any say
I think this whole dynamic makes the show more interesting. I only perceived Plankton as a villain, but Mr. Krabs really is just as bad, if not worse in certain aspects. His relationship with SpongeBob gives the Krusty Krab an interesting dynamic. And it makes SpongeBob more relatable, he may act like a child at times, but he's very clearly an adult, going through adult problems and I think we've all had at least one abusive boss in our lifetimes. It fits well with his issues attaining a boating license or not being accepted by people like Squidward
Completely agree with the rest of your analysis. Here's a pic showing us discussing the subtext and writing of SpongeBob Squarepants:
Talking about suicide and the question of what is "kid" and "adult" media reminded me of Zira's death scene from The Lion King 2, in which she dies by falling to the flood. Kiara tries to save her but Zira loses her grip and falls to her doom...while smiling all the way down. This was bc in an earlier sketch she outright denied Kiara's help and let herself fall on purpose, she was so full of hate that she'd rather die than to be given a chance. Suffice to say, it didn't make it to the final product except for the falling scene, whoops!
Zira and Scar's followers aka the Outsiders were something that didn't fit with me. "Why would someone like Scar have a cult-like following?" "He destroyed the Pride Lands and left everyone almost out of food." "Who in their mind would devote to someone like him?"
...............
My take away from this is that kids would likely don't get the "why" of everything happening on media directed to them, but it leaves an impression on them so when they evaluate it again later on with older lenses, they can find these meanings and appreciate said media in new ways. The Lion King 2 is one example of mine. That being said, it's still awfully convenient that none of the Outsiders were present when Simba faced Scar in the first movie :P
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