Tangled

This is the story of how animation died. And it began with the words, "This is the story of how I died."

What is Assembly Line Theater?

By now, you've read the title and wondered what it means. I'm afraid the title will only make sense to someone who knows me on deviantART as Darkton93, the only other venue I've posted this to. But for those of you who've never been there, I'll be brief...

My name is private knowledge, but if you're looking to call me something, Leonardo McDowell's as good as any, though Leo will also do. I'm a longtime fan of animation since I started watching Cartoon Network in 1997, and was raised on a diet of Pokemon, Disney and DreamWorks. And it was pretty fun.

Lately, though, I see a lot of trends in the animation industry. How should I put this... Have you ever seen an animated movie since 2009 that features a young boy protagonist having difficulties with his father, needing to strengthen them? You probably have; that's the plot to How to Train Your Dragon, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, The Croods, Para-Norman, The Lego Movie, and The Good Dinosaur.

Have you ever seen an animated movie that features first-person narration at the beginning that talks about the character's identity, philosophy, friends and family, and living quaters; then never has narration until the very end of the movie? Sure you have; that's how it worked in Inside Out, The Croods, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, both How to Train Your Dragons, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Megamind, and Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

Have you ever seen an animated movie where the hero ends up in a position where they have lost everything and everyone, with his friends now hating him and leaving him to die in a dark environment with sappy piano score? There's a good chance you have; it's a trick How to Train Your Dragon, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Wreck-It Ralph, Megamind, Para-Norman, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, The Lego Movie, Horton Hears a Who, The Boxtrolls, and The Powerpuff Girls Movie have used and abused to my never-ending frustration.

And it's easy to see why these movies are so unoriginal. After all, the people working on them are rookies. In 2008, the Writers' Guild of America went on strike, the effects of which were felt for real in 2009. Naturally, some companies, like Disney, branded these writers as traitors and simply fired them, since they could be replaced. The problem was that 2008 was the year of an economic recession that lowered budgets, and the only people the major companies could hire were complete rookies who work for cheap. Add to that that Marketing executives tried to keep animation afloat by making a movie's value not in how good it is, but in how well it can sell associated merchandise with it, and you've got a situation where writers see no need to make a movie good, but marketable. After all, they've got a built-in audience through name-brand recognition, and the companies in charge can bribe the Motion Picture Academy of America to give them the Oscar, especially if they're Disney. You don't have to work hard to make a billion dollars worldwide, so why should you?

So that's where this series comes in. Through a combination of critical thinking and wit, I'm going to take a look at some beloved animated movies and see just how unoriginal they really are. I'm going to be taking all of their tropes, cliches and formulas and seeing just how much of the screenplay is a rehash. Hopefully this will get you to realize your favorite movie is just another trend-follower. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but this is my blog, so if I say we've got a problem, this blog will generally say we've got a problem.

So, we'll begin with a movie that started it all, the story of how animation died...