It seems that you can’t be a geek/nerd if you don’t watch tv from both Great Britain and Japan. It’s all stitched into the culture and everywhere you turn you’ll hear “Doctor Who” or “Naruto” spoken amongst the masses. Go to a convention, comic book or otherwise and I am pretty sure you’ll see a few people dressing up in the Anime and or British Sci-Fi genre, and I have no problem with that, of course. And with the internet being just so amazing, you have access to all of that at your finger tips.
But you all know this. I’m preaching to the choir. I just want to throw this out there to the people who read this blog and enjoy tv. Why does American television suck? (Please note this will be a “generic” look at TV. I know there are fantastic American shows that I enjoy and that others love, like “Breaking Bad” “New Girl” “Castle” “House”, etc.”) This is going to be a rant on what’s popular for no good reason.
Okay, that’s a pretty global statement, because not all television sucks, and my knowledge of what’s popular in the UK is limited to what I’ve researched, which means…I don’t dedicate my life to it, so if I get stuff wrong, please correct me. But American television steals from the BBC all the time. We have the Office, Being Human, Free Agents, and even America’s Got Talent. We even steal from their reality shows. Doesn’t the US have enough crappy reality TV? We follow a bunch of New Jersey Shore people and debutantes in Beverly Hills for entertainment’s sake! What?!?!
I think UK TV is better than American TV, because shows like “QI” exist. You can watch a show that not only isn’t afraid to curse, but is also funny and informative. They talk about subjects that would be considered dull and just blow it up into something quite interesting. There is even open discussion about religion, well…okay, maybe not open. They make fun of Christianity quite often, but you couldn’t get away with that in the United States. Some tiny, ten man group will look at that, complain, and shut down the show. That’s sad that we let the minority dictate the majority. It’s like we’ve allowed a vocal few to determine our freedoms. They have the freedom not to watch/listen/read anything they find offensive. They also have the freedom to complain. But we, as people who enjoy “controversial” shows have the freedom to have something if we like it, especially if we outnumber the people who don’t.
Then there are Japanese anime. I could talk about their insane game shows, their displays of physical prowess like “Ninja Warrior”, but that doesn’t seem to have caught on to the geek chic as Anime has. Now anime is better than American cartoons in such strange ways. Yes, many anime look the same art wise, because anime is a style of cartoon…isn’t it? Either way, anime and in turn, manga, are such amazing things. Often adult, and yet geared towards kids, it shows off a maturity in some shows and immense humor in others, and have no qualms about nudity and language (for the most part) when it comes to their animation. They explore all manners of subjects and situations that we now know of school girls and tentacles. I also realize that’s just a niche of anime called hentai, but it’s amazing how acceptable it is in the world of the anime watcher.
I think of classics like “Ghost in the Shell”, “Akira”, and the now popular “Naruto” that doesn’t shy away from sexuality, even if it’s a cartoon for kids. It’s that openmindedness, and of course, culture, that I feel is lacking in the US TV cartoon market. Yes, the US has great cartoons, though I haven’t seen any recently, I know they exist, like “Spongebob Squarepants” “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (which actually plays itself off like an anime). But I think the era of cartoons is lacking what was so great in America’s cartoon past. “Darkwing Duck” and “Animaniacs” are still my two favorites.
Yes there are fantastic television and cartoons in the states. But much of it is, in MY opinion, mediocre in comparison to cousins across the seas. What do you think? Are American cartoons beter than Japan’s? Does American TV have more to it than the UK TV shows that we port over? Is this just a fad, or are these shows from other countries simply superior? What are your thoughts?
