blagi | Recent Entries

"Shawn deserved better, Cory was the worst, Cory is an abusive control freak and Shawn is nothing but loyal"

So over the last 10+ years I've seen this crop up as people rewatch the show, realize how great Shawn is, and notice Cory's flaws more. Now Shawn IS great and Cory has flaws that turn him into a jackass sometimes, but.

Saying Shawn "deserved better" than Cory implies that Shawn's life wouldn't be ten times worse without Cory in it.

( Spoilers, ranting, cw for certain themes )

Current Mood: accomplished

( Talking about animated babies and their parents )

Current Mood: thoughtful

( Mostly talks about my first fangirl phase. CW for talk of rape, suicide and death themes. )

Current Mood: accomplished

( In which I may have dug a bit too deeply but give no fucks )

Current Mood: accomplished

( My journey with 7th Heaven, or why Sara is so lenient about 'bad writing' )

Current Mood: contemplative

( My thoughts on the genre and on both halves of it. )

Current Mood: thoughtful

So three weeks ago I was laid up with a cold and decided to go hunting for episodes of Rocko's Modern Life. I found them, but in the process I rediscovered two old favorites from the days of my childhood and early teen years: Hey Arnold and Doug.

( Mini-essays )

The "nostalgia filter" trope is brought up a lot when discussing the shows of your childhood. Sometimes you look back on the stuff you used to watch and think "wow, this is stupid, what the hell was I thinking" and it's clear you've outgrown it. There are shows you look back on and think "yeah, it was stupid but I loved it anyway". And the ones you loved as a kid but just wouldn't be able to "get" as an adult.

And then there are the shows that you see again for the first time and realize they haven't lost their charm even if you've grown older. For me, Doug and Hey Arnold! are spot-on examples of this type of nostalgic show. The former is far from perfect, but it's got its charm. And the latter is just plain amazing.

(I'll do a separate post about Rocko soon. XD)

Sources

rugratsfrankie on YouTube. Has a scattering of Hey Arnold!, Doug, Rocko, and assorted other Nicktoon episodes. (Except for Ren&Stimpy)

ArnoldPhilShortman on YouTube. Every episode of Hey Arnold! to date. The first and second season eps are shown flipped backwards, though, most likely to get around copyright issues.

Current Mood: happy

I feel like having a discussion, since my first big fandom essay isn't done yet and I don't want this thing to gather dust.

TVTropes definition: "A woobie (named for a child's security blanket) is that character you want to give a big hug, wrap in a blanket and feed soup to when he or she suffers so very beautifully. Woobification of a character is a curious, audience-driven phenomenon, divorced almost entirely from the character's canonical morality.

The Woobie's appeal lies in how it allows the audience to experience catharsis. The Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that tragedy is popular because it allows people to experience and let out their negative emotions, "cleansing" themselves. The Woobie is popular for this same reason. A story with The Woobie allows the audience to vicariously experience relief from some pain by fantasizing about relieving The Woobie's pain. (No, not that way! Well, okay, sometimes.)"

There always seems to be a line to be drawn with Woobie-dom, between "you poor thing" and "okay, this is getting creepy", aka the difference between Chiyo-chan and Sephiroth. Usually the line is crossed when a fan takes a character with little to no woobie-ish traits and piles them on either as a clumsy way of fleshing them out or because they love the character SO much (and if they're a villain, need to justify their intense love).

What makes a character a woobie to you? Do you gravitate towards seeing males or females as your personal woobies? Where do you draw the line at giving a villain or badass woobie traits to make them more human?

Current Mood: working

( Sara's top 10 tearjerkers. Spoilers within. )

( Sara's 15 most gut-busting crowning moments of hilarious in no particular order. )

Current Mood: tired

Late 1980s-early 1990s:
Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS shows, Saturday morning cartoons. Most notable: Chip&Dale's Rescue Rangers, Alvin and the Chipmunks, American Girls

Mid-90s:
ABC's TGIF Lineup, 7th Heaven, Mario, Archie, The Littl' Bits, Full House, Barbie dolls, The Simpsons, The Brady Bunch, Home Improvement, The Wonder Years, Welcome Back Kotter, The Babysitters' Club

1996-1998: Massive Brady Bunch/Boy Meets World/Home Improvement crossover

1999: The year of my discovery of anime

1999-2000: Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Slayers

2001: The year of my massive Pokemon/Sailormoon crossover-verse

2001-2003: Fushigi Yuugi, Oniisama e, Pita-Ten, Kanon, Noir, A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, Digi Charat. Flirting interests in Gundam Wing and Digimon.

2002: Rediscovery of The Brady Bunch.

2003-2004: Sorcerer Hunters, Fruits Basket, Everwood, Chobits, Wish, Angelic Layer, Idol Project, Excel Saga.

2004-present: Fire Emblem series, Homestar Runner. Rediscovery of Boy Meets World.

2006: Family Guy, rediscovery of Pokemon

2007: Rediscovery of Mario, Super Princess Peach, Pokemon gameverse

2008: Gatchaman, Rose of Versailles

2009: Avatar: The Last Airbender

2010: The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan

2011: Rediscovery of Daria

Current Mood: working

In this journal, I will talk about my historical journey with fandom. From the days of making up stories about Disney characters hugging and chasing robbers in my head to my discovery of anime to my current interests.

I'll also be comparing then to now. How my writing's improved since my first fanfics, the evolution of my general attitude towards fandom and shipping, the fact that I've had a weak spot for hurt/comfort since I was a little kid, that kind of thing.

Occasionally, I'll do a review of a show, a movie, a book or a game that I feel influenced me in a big way. I'll also discuss fictional crushes and idols...to a certain extent. I'm brave enough to admit that yes, I had a crush on Brock and wished I could be his girlfriend when I was 16, but you won't be subjected to an account of my most lurid fantasies about him doing me. :P

These entries will also likely get pretty personal, but I'll take care not to go the route of bleeding my innermost soul all over the internet like it was my therapist. This is the opposite of my personal LJ: it's about fandom first and me second.

Aaand that's about it. I'll probably make an FAQ at some point or a master list of every fandom I've ever been in for reference...and then I'll start planning some posts!

Current Mood: tired

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Fandom: A Retrospective

From my head to the internet

Recent Entries

dusts this thing off to post something important

/dusts this thing off

Sara's Journey with Sailor Moon

Zoycite and Zoisite: 13 years later

Long-overdue meta

Hurt/Comfort

Nicktoons Revisited

Woobies

Crossposted from my own journal

A rough timeline of my fannish fixations

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June 2024

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