Steven Universe: Bad
Avatar The Last Airbender: Good
Invincible: Bad
The Road to El Dorado: Meh
That's good to hear. I've heard good things about the show but haven't seen it.
Invincible is fun but it really does ignore the material realities of how the world works. If the Viltrumites run an empire you need to talk about resource extraction, you can't just say they're bad dudes. And I've spoiled it for myself and looked up the ending and holy shit the idea that the empire would be good actually if they had a nicer leader is just such libshit it kind of killed my interest in the show. I'll still probably watch it because superhero fight scenes with real gore is cool (check out Gendy Tartakovsky's Primal, it's dope) but I don't think I could ever actually get invested in it
Yeah, how Invincible ends really lays bare how it's a product of the early 2000s and the Iraq War. It speaks to a Gen X that was trying to reconcile all the pro-U.S. propaganda they'd swallowed all their lives, with the naked reality that the U.S. was slaughtering an entire country in their name.
the idea that the empire would be good actually if they had a nicer leader is just such libshit it kind of killed my interest in the show.
It's definitely not as libby in the comics. THe comics actually have a lot of great takes about this. They say that the Coalition of Planets is actually a drain on the coalition members, mascarading as a democracy but draining resources for the capital planet. They call out Superheroes as being bullshit, people who only defend the status quo and don't use their godlike powers to change the material world.
And yeah it's a little libby, but there is a switch in the status quo. People decide to make material changes like building damns and bridges and shit. They talk about how criminals aren't inherently evil, they have something they want (some times they want something good and go through the wrong means), but it is miles ahead of any superhero comic.
Also I think they had a good take about viltrumites being able to change. They really hammer home that it is the toxic, violent viltrumite culture that makes them evil. As soon as viltrumites are removed that that culture, they change.
There are A LOT of steps that go between EVIL VILTRUMITES to GOOD VILTRUMITES and it does make sense internally with the story. I would highly recommend you continue to check it out.
Steven Universe is a great case study for understanding media critique. You can enjoy the show for what it is/offers - art style, LGBT themes, music, family trauma, etc - but also understand there are some big fumbles in the story regarding their take on imperialism.
Forgive your oppressors and they'll become your allies in liberation!
Doesn't that happen pretty much constantly in Dragon Ball Z? People seem chill with that.
DBZ doesn't pretend to deal with themes of liberation or imperialism. People fight.
Regardless, making bad guys become good guys with the power of love and friendship is one of the most common tropes in kids shows ever. I don't know anything about Steven Universe and almost as little about DBZ. From what I do remember, wasn't Vegeta and Frieza's army intergalactic conquerors?
Vegeta literally committed genocide in a filler episode, and even after mellowing out there's the scene in the Buu saga where he blows up half a stadium and kills hundreds of people to prove a point.
So yeah, genocidal maniac that gets forgiven when he becomes good guy
I do hope we'll get more development on that sort of thing next season of Invincible, it was a pretty short run so I hope the absence is just so they could dive in later more fully rather than just, they're not gonna talk about it
I don't want to spoil anything for you but
spoiler
Invincible ends with Mark becoming emperor of the Viltrumite empire, and him reforming it into a galactic police / missionary force. Like if the Peace Corps was made up of SuperBeings or if all the feel-good propaganda about the U.S.' "global leadership" was true.
Oh well that sucks
Thank you, you've released me from giving a shit, now I'll just watch the clips of the fun violence when they next come out lol
I haven't seen any of these. Here are my reviews of each one anyway:
Steven Universe: Seems really saccharine and cutesy. I'd probably hate it
Avatar the Last Airbender: I'd probably end out liking it but it seems like a huge commitment.
Invincible: Is that some kinda superhero thing? It's probably mediocre.
The Road to El Dorado: I've actually been meaning to check it out sometime. Feels like something to watch with pals and thats not really an option right now.
Oh yeah, I can knock out sixty episodes of a show I don't even like no problem.
Anything resembling anime is a hard sell for me and so is fantasy. I dunno, I mostly like Star Trek and John Carpenter movies, stuff along those lines.
