Big Mouth

Besides Bojack, another great animation on Netflix is Big Mouth. It's a comedy about kids going through puberty. I just started watching their second season (highly recommend) and they do a lot of really cool stuff with animation. Besides just having a fun style that makes the story easier to watch, they use the fact that this is animation to enhance the story. For example, in one episode where the characters try drugs for the first time, they do a lot of really cool effects to show a bizarre drug trip. My favorite thing they're doing this season, in terms of animation, is they keep breaking the fourth wall and addressing the fact that is it is an animated show. For example, in one episode one of the characters references the fact that she only has four finger instead of five, saying it's, "pretty standard animation stuff".  Also since this show is definitely more than a bit awkward given its topic, the characters basically addressed the camera and said something along the line of as long as we're using inmate to tell the story about kids going through puberty it should be fine (and less pervy). Which actually feels kinda true, like we talked about in class, by using animation to tell more graphic/tough to watch stories, it makes it softer and easier for the audience to handle.

Comments

  1. pajama partyOctober 22, 2018 at 10:27 AM

    This is a great show and you make excellent points about subject matter in relation to the medium. Something else I have pondered is the cultural difference between the aesthetics of animation. For example, anime is drawn to make their characters look cute, with large eyes and rosy cheeks. But in American animation, particularly with shows like Big Mouth, the characters are drawn to look like monsters. Why does these aesthetic differences exist, and what do they signal about both cultures?

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  2. Madison ZaccagninoOctober 24, 2018 at 10:23 AM

    I love this show and I love when they break the fourth wall for the same reasons as you listed. I think that Big Mouth is a great example of how animation lets storytellers be more free with what they're doing on screen. In addition to making the mature content seem less intense with simple cartoon animation, it also gives more freedom and malleability of what's shown on screen. Animators can have characters eyes come out of their heads while still continuing the normal story. This option adds another layer to the complexity of animation, particularly in "adult animation".

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