The prevalence of these TV shows may explain why so many Americans remain convinced of the prospects for upward mobility.

  • OfficialBenGarrison [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Even in a lot of the "woke" shows that hogs like to whine about, they still uphold their fantasy of "rich people are the only ones that matter."

    Case in point: A lot of Cartoon Network shows

    • Steven Universe, the kid grows up in a FUCKING BEACH HOUSE and has so many Jesus parallels its absurd.
    • We Bare Bears? Three bears that comfortably live in the Bay Area despite not really having a stable job. Not exactly "chosen one" per se, but there's no way that someone sub six figs lives that comfortably, let alone at all in the Bay Area.

    Hell, even Scott Pilgrim is a bit of a breath of fresh air because the main character is an awkward "loser" archtype that tries to grow up. Yeah, he's a creep and the story is the textbook manic pixie dream girl, but at least Scott can be semi-relateable to young men who do feel like losers and want to grow up as well. Spider-man tells a rather working class story. But what would really be nice is the story about someone who lives in the midwest in a not-so-glamorous city: Let's say Columbus, Ohio. If they really want to mix things up, make it so that the main character never took a single college class and isn't "the chosen one" by any stretch of the imagination. Even better? Make them NOT conventionally attractive. No abs, not even a waifish twink. If people are able to create an amazing story with all this, they have more than proven to be god-tier storytellers.

    • jack [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Steven Universe:

      spoiler

      steven is literally the reincarnation of an immortal space empress