What to watch instead of....

[pottyfry]

Disney has done it again with their series Ariel. Not only have they included a race-swapped version of the character, but they also appeal to kids with their fast-paced CGI animation style. Did you know? Kids and other people have a short attention span, so more fast paced promos and series are shown to get their attention. What we need is slow paced entertainment, not this fast-paced CGI garbage! So, which slow-paced, gentle animated TV shows from Disney would you recommend we'll watch instead of this fast-paced CGI new Little Mermaid series? You can even talk about your own nostalgic Disney toys, shows and films from when you were a kid.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I'm a bit out of the know when it comes to the current lot of animated entertainment. I wasn't aware this was happening, but it makes sense in a world of social media memes, GIFs, reels, etc. 10-15 seconds of entertainment, swipe, another 10-15 seconds, swipe, and so on. Parents just letting the electronic devices be entertainment for even the youngest of children. It's frankly, appalling. What are we doing to their little brains?

As an educator at the university-level, we too have had to adapt. Students that years ago, might be able to sit and be attentive for 30-45 minutes, is down to around 10-15 minutes. How myself and my colleagues design our lectures and labs has had to change in order to maintain their attention so they can learn.

It has even began to creep into things like driving a car where distracted drivers are now accounting for the majority of auto accidents, and now there is a push for robo-taxis and autonomous vehicles just to keep people safe on the road.

YouTube and other similar platforms are popular because information can be delivered in short little "bite-sized" pieces.

At work, the QI project I am working on that involves staff, again, every week I put out a small, bite-sized bit of information. Why? Because the staff will not sit down for 10-15 minutes and view a mandatory education video and be able to retain the information.

It's a sad situation that is effecting every aspect of our lives.

 

[Misery]

Honestly, the hyper-fast thing is a trend that's likely not going away anytime soon.

I know the first thing that comes to mind is probably Tiktok, when you think of this, but that's only part of the story. I dont know if you use Youtube much (it's my primary source of video entertainment), but on there, there's a very... distressing trend that has appeared on there. It is called a "content farm".

Content farms are typically extremely low effort, high engagement (read: hypnotizing). A lot of screaming and colors and movement, high saturation on EVERYTHING, lots of flashing, very frequent scene transitions, and did I mention the screaming? The more of this that happens in a short time, the more hypnotizing it is, particularly for kids (but dont think that adults are immune to it!)

And these things are just... hideous. And I mean that in multiple ways.

If you're curious about what they're really like and how they work, have a look at this:

Note also that there's a lot of hijacking with this trend... it's never anything actually new/creative, it's always playing off of something that is already there. On Youtube, this means latching onto characters that are popular on the Net (often from things that are not designed for kids), and just farting out video after video "featuring" that character. Not exactly with any permission from whoever owns said character. And some of it can get really disturbing. I'll put it this way: For anyone who has kids, DO NOT let them onto the "Youtube Kids" section of the site. It is supposed to be for children. But there's a ton of deeply messed up content on there, which is able to sneak into it due to the absurd volume/rate of uploads on that section of the site (which makes it very, very hard to moderate).

What makes this even worse is that Youtube does not have the purely short-form restriction that Tiktok does. Tiktok is ONLY shortform stuff. But a Youtube video can take just ONE of these and stretch it out into an hour of utter nonsense. So that's a ton of screaming colors, but WITHOUT the need to even swipe, and without having to leave the channel that is producing it.

And with Hollywood, well... execs look at stuff like that, see how it works, see WHY it works, and of course since it makes money (and oh boy does it ever do that), they'll do whatever they can to implement it.

 

[Judge]

I just consider Disney in terms of before and after Walt and Roy Disney.

I know, I know...that was so long ago. When Disney was still magical to people and not simply something on the Dow Jones Index with an army of some of the most aggressive litigators on the planet.

Now they're just another bunch of "suits", clamoring to discover the latest alleged and fleeting trends to capitalize on in the entertainment industry to lure shareholders.

Just seems so pathetically easy to recall Disney when it really was "Disney".

 

[thejuice]

I preferred "problemaaaattttiiiiiiccc" Disney

 

[Judge]

I preferred "problemaaaattttiiiiiiccc" Disney

If they target you for a lawsuit, it becomes exponentially worse than being problematic.

 

[Tom]

I didn't see much disney myself growing up but did get some films for my kids, my daughter in parrticular. My son was more a Thomas the Tank Engine fan and also liked those videos of nothing but construction vehicles operating. Which were actually pretty cool

Anyway some films that stood out and I remember being good and often funny are: (all original animation versions)

The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Robin Hood
Snow White
The Lion King

Also liked some British ones that looked like claymation but maybe were just animation

Wallace and Grommet series
Chicken Run

 

[Outdated]

What we need is slow paced entertainment, not this fast-paced CGI garbage!

I don't watch TV, don't even own one, so I've never seen it but I understand that the Aussie kids show Bluey is pretty popular. Maybe worth a look?

 

[pottyfry]

I don't watch TV, don't even own one, so I've never seen it but I understand that the Aussie kids show Bluey is pretty popular. Maybe worth a look?

It's okay, Out, I've seen Bluey before, though the episodes tend to be overwhelming at times.

 

[pottyfry]

Since Big City Greens has come out with a new movie, I always thought this stupid show isn't my cup of country-corn tea. So, I'm asking you lot to suggest some replacements for Big City Greens. They have to be gentle, nostalgic and not as repeatable as Big City Greens...or even Teen Titans Go for that matter. No more Cricket Green, just green beans for supper, me lord!

 

[Cryptid]

Disney is still producing content? Somewhat surprised.

What is not surprising is that they will change format while sticking to the same tired old characters and stories -- sorta like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to make it stop sinking.

 

[WildCat]

...

Content farms are typically extremely low effort, high engagement (read: hypnotizing). A lot of screaming and colors and movement, high saturation on EVERYTHING, lots of flashing, very frequent scene transitions, and did I mention the screaming? The more of this that happens in a short time, the more hypnotizing it is, particularly for kids (but dont think that adults are immune to it!)

...

I've seen what you're talking about but never had a name for it until now. "Content farms", got it. Thankfully, I find it more irritating than anything else, so I stay clear of those sorts of videos.

Honestly, just taking a look at the video thumbnail in the video you posted both gives me the creeps and makes me cringe. Pomni is that character's name, right? It looks like someone slapped a coat of shaving cream or vanilla frosting on their face and decided that'll work for facial makeup. I can't even tell where their nose begins or ends either.

To think, there are people making more in a week than I do in a month, maybe months, pumping that sort of garbage out and targeting children, AND they know exactly what they're doing while getting away with it.

 

[Misery]

I've seen what you're talking about but never had a name for it until now. "Content farms", got it. Thankfully, I find it more irritating than anything else, so I stay clear of those sorts of videos.

Honestly, just taking a look at the video thumbnail in the video you posted both gives me the creeps and makes me cringe. Pomni is that character's name, right? It looks like someone slapped a coat of shaving cream or vanilla frosting on their face and decided that'll work for facial makeup. I can't even tell where their nose begins or ends either.

To think, there are people making more in a week than I do in a month, maybe months, pumping that sort of garbage out and targeting children, AND they know exactly what they're doing while getting away with it.

Yeah, the character is Pomni. She's one of my favorite characters at the moment, I love that series.

...Which makes it even more irritating to see what they do to it. I swear, the bigger a series gets, the more likely it is that people are going to do amazingly disturbing things with it. Cant we just have nice things?

I hadnt even seen the thumbnail, due to an extension I'm using, I went and looked at it in another browser, and... yeah wow that's even more messed up than usual. Cant unsee that one...

The sad thing is, there are people getting genuinely rich off of this stuff. The worst of the farms I'm aware of is Lankybox, which is pretty much just a vortex of everything wrong with these. And those idiots indeed got rich off of it. I mean it gets like, REALLY bad. That one even makes terrible merch of ultra low quality character designs and somehow manages to sell them. Like one of them is this plush of a rock or something, it's so stupid. But kids will buy anything if they manage to get the ol' credit card.

 

[pottyfry]

Disney is still producing content? Somewhat surprised.

What is not surprising is that they will change format while sticking to the same tired old characters and stories -- sorta like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to make it stop sinking.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[pottyfry]

I've seen what you're talking about but never had a name for it until now. "Content farms", got it. Thankfully, I find it more irritating than anything else, so I stay clear of those sorts of videos.

Honestly, just taking a look at the video thumbnail in the video you posted both gives me the creeps and makes me cringe. Pomni is that character's name, right? It looks like someone slapped a coat of shaving cream or vanilla frosting on their face and decided that'll work for facial makeup. I can't even tell where their nose begins or ends either.

To think, there are people making more in a week than I do in a month, maybe months, pumping that sort of garbage out and targeting children, AND they know exactly what they're doing while getting away with it.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[pottyfry]

Yeah, the character is Pomni. She's one of my favorite characters at the moment, I love that series.

...Which makes it even more irritating to see what they do to it. I swear, the bigger a series gets, the more likely it is that people are going to do amazingly disturbing things with it. Cant we just have nice things?

I hadnt even seen the thumbnail, due to an extension I'm using, I went and looked at it in another browser, and... yeah wow that's even more messed up than usual. Cant unsee that one...

The sad thing is, there are people getting genuinely rich off of this stuff. The worst of the farms I'm aware of is Lankybox, which is pretty much just a vortex of everything wrong with these. And those idiots indeed got rich off of it. I mean it gets like, REALLY bad. That one even makes terrible merch of ultra low quality character designs and somehow manages to sell them. Like one of them is this plush of a rock or something, it's so stupid. But kids will buy anything if they manage to get the ol' credit card.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[pottyfry]

I didn't see much disney myself growing up but did get some films for my kids, my daughter in parrticular. My son was more a Thomas the Tank Engine fan and also liked those videos of nothing but construction vehicles operating. Which were actually pretty cool

Anyway some films that stood out and I remember being good and often funny are: (all original animation versions)

The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Robin Hood
Snow White
The Lion King

Also liked some British ones that looked like claymation but maybe were just animation

Wallace and Grommet series
Chicken Run

Best suggestion ever!

 

[pottyfry]

I just consider Disney in terms of before and after Walt and Roy Disney.

I know, I know...that was so long ago. When Disney was still magical to people and not simply something on the Dow Jones Index with an army of some of the most aggressive litigators on the planet.

Now they're just another bunch of "suits", clamoring to discover the latest alleged and fleeting trends to capitalize on in the entertainment industry to lure shareholders.

Just seems so pathetically easy to recall Disney when it really was "Disney".

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[pottyfry]

If they target you for a lawsuit, it becomes exponentially worse than being problematic.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[pottyfry]

Honestly, the hyper-fast thing is a trend that's likely not going away anytime soon.

I know the first thing that comes to mind is probably Tiktok, when you think of this, but that's only part of the story. I dont know if you use Youtube much (it's my primary source of video entertainment), but on there, there's a very... distressing trend that has appeared on there. It is called a "content farm".

Content farms are typically extremely low effort, high engagement (read: hypnotizing). A lot of screaming and colors and movement, high saturation on EVERYTHING, lots of flashing, very frequent scene transitions, and did I mention the screaming? The more of this that happens in a short time, the more hypnotizing it is, particularly for kids (but dont think that adults are immune to it!)

And these things are just... hideous. And I mean that in multiple ways.

If you're curious about what they're really like and how they work, have a look at this:

Note also that there's a lot of hijacking with this trend... it's never anything actually new/creative, it's always playing off of something that is already there. On Youtube, this means latching onto characters that are popular on the Net (often from things that are not designed for kids), and just farting out video after video "featuring" that character. Not exactly with any permission from whoever owns said character. And some of it can get really disturbing. I'll put it this way: For anyone who has kids, DO NOT let them onto the "Youtube Kids" section of the site. It is supposed to be for children. But there's a ton of deeply messed up content on there, which is able to sneak into it due to the absurd volume/rate of uploads on that section of the site (which makes it very, very hard to moderate).

What makes this even worse is that Youtube does not have the purely short-form restriction that Tiktok does. Tiktok is ONLY shortform stuff. But a Youtube video can take just ONE of these and stretch it out into an hour of utter nonsense. So that's a ton of screaming colors, but WITHOUT the need to even swipe, and without having to leave the channel that is producing it.

And with Hollywood, well... execs look at stuff like that, see how it works, see WHY it works, and of course since it makes money (and oh boy does it ever do that), they'll do whatever they can to implement it.

Thanks for the suggestion!