JLG
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2006
- Messages
- 256
- Reaction score
- 37
They really did it.
They really remade "A Loaf of Bread, A Container of Milk, and a Stick of Butter."
In all seriousness, I always try to avoid being a cranky adult who's always ranting about "Things were better when I was a kid and blah blah blah..." because ragging on that stuff, at least in most cases, strikes me as pretty silly. But things like THIS irk me. They really do.
I don't think many people would deny that Jim Simon's original (
) was one of the most memorable things that ever showed up on Sesame Street. So many people remembered this one, years and even decades later. Why? Besides its catchy soundtrack, the main reason was because it had character. It was unique, quirky, offbeat and personal. It was a reflection of someone's aesthetic. Only Jim Simon characters walked like that, prancing down the street like a ballerina in the midst of seizure fit.
In terms of showcasing people's personal aesthetic, so much of Sesame Street used to be like that, even well into the 90s.
In light of that, what bothers me so much about the wave of remakes of recent years is that they're just so.... blah. Compared to what they're meant to replace, they don't have any flavor at all. No real character. They look like, for lack of a better way of putting it, products designed to be "safe." Conservative and safe. I don't think that's accidental.
The recent trend in animation for young children, I've noticed, is an emphasis on very generic, simple graphics. I guess the idea is that children respond better to images that are bright, colorful and easy to digest. It may well be true, as reluctant as some of us are to acknowledge it. But it's still very sad that the personal is always being sacrificed for the committee-approved, the quirky for the generic, the organic for the sterile. And yes----the hand-drawn for the Flash (or whatever program was used to create this bland assortment of vectors). I'm sorry, but the robotic, lifeless movements that low-budget Flash animation produces are very ugly to look at. No matter how cute the characters may be, like this new girl, they come off stiff and lifeless when rendered through this animation process. It really is a shame, and it makes me sad that this trend is so pervasive.
I just don't understand why people think this is the right path to take, all things considered. The Jim Simon original got a strong audience response for so many years, just as it was. So why the remake? Why bland it down? Sigh.
They really remade "A Loaf of Bread, A Container of Milk, and a Stick of Butter."
In all seriousness, I always try to avoid being a cranky adult who's always ranting about "Things were better when I was a kid and blah blah blah..." because ragging on that stuff, at least in most cases, strikes me as pretty silly. But things like THIS irk me. They really do.
I don't think many people would deny that Jim Simon's original (
In terms of showcasing people's personal aesthetic, so much of Sesame Street used to be like that, even well into the 90s.
In light of that, what bothers me so much about the wave of remakes of recent years is that they're just so.... blah. Compared to what they're meant to replace, they don't have any flavor at all. No real character. They look like, for lack of a better way of putting it, products designed to be "safe." Conservative and safe. I don't think that's accidental.
The recent trend in animation for young children, I've noticed, is an emphasis on very generic, simple graphics. I guess the idea is that children respond better to images that are bright, colorful and easy to digest. It may well be true, as reluctant as some of us are to acknowledge it. But it's still very sad that the personal is always being sacrificed for the committee-approved, the quirky for the generic, the organic for the sterile. And yes----the hand-drawn for the Flash (or whatever program was used to create this bland assortment of vectors). I'm sorry, but the robotic, lifeless movements that low-budget Flash animation produces are very ugly to look at. No matter how cute the characters may be, like this new girl, they come off stiff and lifeless when rendered through this animation process. It really is a shame, and it makes me sad that this trend is so pervasive.
I just don't understand why people think this is the right path to take, all things considered. The Jim Simon original got a strong audience response for so many years, just as it was. So why the remake? Why bland it down? Sigh.