Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
The First Interview with Bill Watterson in Twenty Years

An unexpected, magical treat – Bill Watterson gives what’s believed to be the first public interview with the reclusive creator of “Calvin and Hobbes” in over 20 years. It’s well worth a read. Here’s the final parting exchange from the interview:

How do you want people to remember that 6-year-old and his tiger?

I vote for “Calvin and Hobbes, Eighth Wonder of the World.”

I vote for that, too.

Feb 01, 2010 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

Cartoon Network Goes Live-Action

Variety reports on two new live-action shows the Cartoon Network is adding to its line-up: “Tower Prep” and “Unnatural History.” Yeah, it’s still taking me time to get used to the whole “Non-Cartoons on Cartoon Network” thing too. (Is nothing holy anymore?!)

Still, neither of these two new shows look that bad – and the live-action strategy has been working out well for Cartoon Network so far.

Nov 07, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #

Yabba-Dabba-Doo! Celebrating 70 Years of Hanna-Barbera

The Paley Center for Media offers their tribute to the great animation staple.

Aug 22, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , :: #

YouTube to Feature Clips from Cartoon Network

Bloomberg.com reports on a deal between Time Warner Inc. and Google Inc. that will bring a wide selection of clips from many of Warner’s popular channels – including the Cartoon Network – to the popular video sharing site YouTube.

You’ll soon suddenly see me spending a lot less time doing productive things around here, and a lot more time watching reruns of “Scooby Doo” on my computer.

Aug 19, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

Children, Culture, and "The Last Airbender"

By Daniel Bigler :: Tuesday June 23, 2009

The first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon hit cartoon series,“Avatar: The Last Airbender” just found its way out into the world – despite the film just having begun shooting, in March.

I’m not sure if I’m really keen on this being a live-action flick, or one branded with Night’s name all over it for that matter. The original show’s animation is, in a word, stunning – even on a small screen – and a live-action version is going to have to do a heckuva lot to convince me that it was worth the switch.

Still, expect this to be a pretty big thing if you’re at all around kids next summer. “Avatar” has been a huge hit for Nickelodeon these past few years, and I can only see it’s popularity exploding with a full-length blockbuster film treatment.

I’ve been watching the series off and on for a bit now, and I keep coming back to it. I think what I love about the show is how complete and expansive of an alternate universe it presents – a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire – and just how steeped the show also is in eastern religion, mythology and culture. It’s a bit of a “Samurai Jack”/“Dragonball” hybrid, but it’s a beautifully told story with lush animation – and a sort of organic “wholeness” to it. These kinds of alternative constructed mythologies and worlds just seem to draw me, and I really think we can see kids being drawn to this type of culture too.

Children’s cultures – their material and media cultures – are really thought to have always been, even in ancient times, an integral part of socialization: transmitting social rules and norms through the mythology, songs, games, stories of a society. What I think is easy to forget, though, is how much of an incredibly dynamic, engaged role children have in culture – it’s not a passive transmission and reception, not by any means. Children interact with and interpret culture, and they actively influence and shape it to meet their own needs. As much as older generations might hate it, a society changes as children creatively interpret and shape that society’s culture.

Reflecting now, I think this might be a reason why “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is so popular among kids; the show openly beckons children to immerse themselves in its steeped mythological world – and its creators somewhat expect, I imagine, that children are going to dynamically engage the show in their inner mind: imagining new stories within the show’s ecological universe, filling in characters’ back histories, mapping its different worlds and locales. The show’s creators treat the mythology and universe of “Avatar” as real – or at least they treat it seriously, without limit, as something that you can step in and become an active part of – and therefore kids treat it that way as well.

I’d wager that’s probably what makes the difference with most cultural artifacts – movies, games, stories – that kids end up really liking… it all comes down to whether that bit of culture allows, or even encourages children to become a part of culture and actively engage with it.

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