Essays I've written. Usually media analyses.

The Big Bang Theory is not for nerds

The internet loves dunking on The Big Bang Theory, and my main problem is that it's not a show made for nerds, even though the cast are geeks. The laugh track starts playing at them just playing D&D or listing off all the games that were stolen from them (mainly JRPGs). As someone who is a big fan of JRPGs and used to play D&D, it' just not funny. My reaction to it is just "Okay, so Sheldon likes Zelda. Where's the joke?".

Rather than making jokes about the content and gameplay of these things, or those heavily into nerd culture act, the joke is just that they like these things. If the show was to mock how nerds act, it would be hilarious, as some fans go way too far in their interests and could be really funny. For example, South Park has jokes about Star Trek fans, but it's not mocking the show itself, it's mocking those who're really into it.

The Big Bang Theory is made for people who were high-school jocks and cheerleaders, so they can laugh at the loser nerds who they used to bully. It was pretty much just made for people like Penny. Those who actually like the same things as the cast won't be entertained, but feel bad for liking the things they do.

Young Sheldon is different though: the comedy doesn't come from Sheldon's interests, it comes from how the others around him act. It's not Sheldon playing D&D which s meant to be funny: it's his crazy Christian mother thinking it's satanic.

I'm not the type to hate watch, I only watched TBBT when my sibling was, mainly because I find Sheldon really relatable. Anyway, that was my Ted Talk.

Gene Belcher (Bob's Burgers) character analysis and rant

Gene Belcher is a main character in the animated TV show Bob's Burgers. Gene sticks out to me, but not in the good way. The rest of the family (the main characters) are fully fleshed out, showing many sides to them and having many purposes in the show. Gene, however, feels a lot more flat and isn't as developed as the others. In this project, I'll go over why Gene is my least favourite in the family.

Personality

Before going through my points on why Gene is the worst member of the family, it's important to understand Gene's personality.

Gene is very loud, energetic and hyper. He loves music, food and making jokes. His flaws is that he is un-responsible and didn't want to hurt Courtney's feelings by breaking up with her. I can't really say much else, because there isn't much else. I'll explain this more in the next part.

A two dimensional character

Gene isn't the most interesting character. As I explained about his personality, he doesn't have much going on. His personality is kind of spray painted over him.

This really makes him stand out in comparison to the rest of the family, because they have so much more going on. For example, Louise has loads of development. She starts off as an insane kid, who'd do pretty much any scheme as long as it benefits her. She even tells Tina to kill herself in season 1. But Louise starts to get a better moral compass throughout the show, as she gets better relationships, such as getting a good friend like Regular-sized Rudy and bonding more with Tina.

And whilst Tina doesn't go through a huge amount of development, we instead get to see the other sides of her, besides what's on the surface level. Whilst on most occasions she's just a kind and awkward kid, she gets drunk with power and becomes more selfish and bossy.

Gene has none of this though, when making this project and re-watching Gene centric episodes I was wondering if maybe Gene wouldn't be as much of a boring character in another show, because Bob's Burgers has such amazing characters Gene seems boring. But there are characters in other shows who have energetic, hyper personalities who I think are great, like Luz Noceda and Mabel Pines.

His purpose in the show

Gene's main role in the show is saying one liners. He will usually just say or do something either very shocking (most likely due to the fact that he's eleven years old) or something that random it's funny.

Unlike other characters, he doesn't really add anything else. I would say that he adds more chaos, but Louise already does that, and he doesn't add more energy and fun, as Linda already does that. He's not really needed.

Gene-centric episodes

Gene-centric episodes aren't the best. The only amazing one is The Unbearable Like-Likeness Of Gene (which is actually one of my favourite episodes), but besides from that the rest are really forgettable. If they aren't forgettable and a distant memory, they honestly just suck. Beefsquatch is a terrible episode, as it's just Gene and Bob fighting with each over and just being horrible.

I think the main reason Gene episodes suck is because as I said, he's a two dimensional character. How can you make good episodes based around a wooden plank with "HYPER AND FUN" sprayed on it?

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gene is the worst member of the family, and one of the least interesting characters in the show (just one of though, I can't stand Regular-sized Rudy and I'll explain why some time).

Gene is more of a side-character who was put in the role of a main, which was bound to not work out. Anyway, that was my rant and tell me your thoughts on Gene, I'm interested because my sibling finds him annoying and he's actually my dad's favourite Bob's Burgers character.

The Death Of 2D Animation

2D animation has slowly died out, with it being replaced by dull, boring 3D animation. Most animated movies now are animated using computers, and I'm not a fan of this. I'm going to talk about the history of 3D animation and why I dislike it.

The History

During the renaissance era of Disney (the 90's), instead of traditional hand drawn animation, computers were used to help scale certain scenes that would be impossible to animate using trad hand drawn animation techniques, an example of this is the ballroom scene in Beauty And The Beast.

Then in 1995, Pixar released Toy Story, the studio's movie debut and the first fully computer animated film made.

Then in the 2000's 3D animation became more and more popular with Pixar being a very well respected studio. In 2006 Disney bought Pixar.

In the 2010's Disney switched to 3D animation, around this time there was also more computer animated shows, with a lot of kid's TV being digitally animated.

Why I dislike 3D animation

Computer animated movies/shows look lifeless, dull. It has a cheap look, hand drawn animation takes ages, and you can see all the effort and emotion just flowing through every frame, but I could create a 3D model for a computer animated film on MS Paint 3D.

It also lacks expression and flexibility- this may seem odd, but think of the scene in Aladdin where Aladdin is running away from guards in the town. Think of all the exaggerated movements, how flexible the characters are. This scene would not work with 3D animation, because 3D models aren't as expressive, they're more dull.

3D animation also ages poorly. Look at Disney's first film Snow White, and see how the animation holds up, it still looks beautiful. Now see Pixar's first movie Toy Story, it doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look good as well. Computer animated movies/shows don't hold up well, in a few decades Encanto is going to look like crap.

Animation Flexing

Animation Flexing is a term I have created to describe something that happens a lot in digitally made movies. This occurrence happens when a computer animated film has hyper realistic backgrounds, but then has basic, cartoony humans/animals placed in this world. It's jarring to see these basic people placed in a photo realistic environment, it's like the animation studio is saying "Hey look at what we can do! Look at how realistic the backgrounds are, we're so talented!", they're flexing about what they can animate, hence the name Animation Flexing.

Epilogue

So that's why I dislike 3D animation, I think it's sad that hand drawn and 2D animation is a thing of the past, and it needs to come back.

NOTE: I'm talking about western animation, Japan has stuck to 2D animation, but I don't know how long that it will stay that way, because Studio Ghibli recently made a 3D animated movie, and with the video game industry (which is dominated by Japan) taking influences from Hollywood with remaking/making sequels to old properties it probably won't last.