2-D chirox
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2016
- Messages
- 230
When you think of the 90s what is one of the first things you think of? Attitude would be one of them. The "extreme" skateboarding and in your face catch phrases. Now what about the 2000s? Well what it comes to the 2000s I tend to think of media that was dark and edgy. Emos and an overall preference for depressed and angsty characters in gritty environments. Each decade has its own trend in media which usually branches out to animation. So this begs the question of what the 2020s will bring. To figure this out I am going to list out each trend from the last few decades
1990s: Attitude. The 90s was famous for its attitude which was heavily based on that of Bart Simpson. A common trend in the 90s was to have characters who were something of daredevils as can be seen by the focus on skateboards and stunts and all this jargon which emphasised how "cool" a character was. The basis of this trend was to kick back against authority figures in a light hearted and easy going way. It highlighted how "awesome" the world could be.
2000s: Edge. The 2000s was something of an outright rejection of the 90s attitude. Instead of the idea of a care free and cool world where you should rebel against authority in order to experience this cool world, the idea was that the world sucked and nothing had meaning. Characters such as Shadow the hedgehog are a prime example of this. The 2000s and its accompanying emo culture were about idolising characters which were tormented and angry and often times with very gritty aesthetics with muted colours..
2010s: Meta. The 2010s constituted another reaction to the trend of the previous decade. Meta was very much a "get over yourself" move and very much had its origins in parodying the dark and edgy overtones of much 2000s media. This trend valourised self-depricating and self-referencial humour. I'd argue this largely had its origins in the animation culture of newgrounds and youtube. Good example of this is teen titans go. The accompyning aesthetics were that of exaggeration such as the chibi trend and the use of very bright colouring with often times conflicting design languages in order to emphasise the comedic element.
So why did I list all of this out? Well there's a very good reason for this. I'm using this as a means to make a prediction for future trends in animation and wider culture. Considering the pattern of a reaction to the trend of a previous decade defining the next decade I have come to the following conclusion concerning this now current decade. I present...
2020s: Dramaticism. This to me is the most logical response to the 2010s. A call for people to take themselves and other things seriously again. The characteristics of this will likely be that of characters which are more prone to showing honest and raw emotion. In contrast to the 2000s, anger and a sense of nihilism won't be the key themes less than it will be highly emotive set pieces and characters who engage in serious discussion matters in a genuine fashion. And I think this has already started coming into being with the release of netflix's Blood of Zeus which was very much a departure from the typical self-aware comedy cartoons that otherwise dominated the platform.
Thoughts, opinions?
1990s: Attitude. The 90s was famous for its attitude which was heavily based on that of Bart Simpson. A common trend in the 90s was to have characters who were something of daredevils as can be seen by the focus on skateboards and stunts and all this jargon which emphasised how "cool" a character was. The basis of this trend was to kick back against authority figures in a light hearted and easy going way. It highlighted how "awesome" the world could be.
2000s: Edge. The 2000s was something of an outright rejection of the 90s attitude. Instead of the idea of a care free and cool world where you should rebel against authority in order to experience this cool world, the idea was that the world sucked and nothing had meaning. Characters such as Shadow the hedgehog are a prime example of this. The 2000s and its accompanying emo culture were about idolising characters which were tormented and angry and often times with very gritty aesthetics with muted colours..
2010s: Meta. The 2010s constituted another reaction to the trend of the previous decade. Meta was very much a "get over yourself" move and very much had its origins in parodying the dark and edgy overtones of much 2000s media. This trend valourised self-depricating and self-referencial humour. I'd argue this largely had its origins in the animation culture of newgrounds and youtube. Good example of this is teen titans go. The accompyning aesthetics were that of exaggeration such as the chibi trend and the use of very bright colouring with often times conflicting design languages in order to emphasise the comedic element.
So why did I list all of this out? Well there's a very good reason for this. I'm using this as a means to make a prediction for future trends in animation and wider culture. Considering the pattern of a reaction to the trend of a previous decade defining the next decade I have come to the following conclusion concerning this now current decade. I present...
2020s: Dramaticism. This to me is the most logical response to the 2010s. A call for people to take themselves and other things seriously again. The characteristics of this will likely be that of characters which are more prone to showing honest and raw emotion. In contrast to the 2000s, anger and a sense of nihilism won't be the key themes less than it will be highly emotive set pieces and characters who engage in serious discussion matters in a genuine fashion. And I think this has already started coming into being with the release of netflix's Blood of Zeus which was very much a departure from the typical self-aware comedy cartoons that otherwise dominated the platform.
Thoughts, opinions?
