Gargoyles: Is it bad most of my enjoyment for this one was ironic?

11:39 AM · Dec 19, 2020 "gargoyles is steven universe for people whose adventure time was batman the animated series"

The first time I watched Gargoyles was around autumn of 2016. If you were online at this time and talked about cartoons, you may have noticed a lot of people getting really angry at Steven Universe, and this time, I think it's justified. We just met one of the original crystal gems, Bismuth, who was mysteriously bubbled inside lion's mane. We found out that this was because Bismuth created something called the breaking point, intended to shatter the diamonds. Rose Quartz is very against this and so is Steven, because killing is bad, no matter who it is done to.

I'm older now and I do agree with Steven in this regard. I've grown rather naive with age and I want to think that people can be good no matter what, if they just make the decision to be better. It's a philosophy that gets me through a lot of things, mental health wise.

But it's also important to note that they were in the middle of a war. The diamonds were killing and corrupting various crystal gems and you would assume the crystal gems were doing the same, but no. It makes them "just as bad."

This Just-As-Bad-ism is seen in the multipart first episode of Gargoyles.

Back in the olden days and in the present day of... 1994, gargoyles seem to play a protector role to the humans who inhabit their land. Humans, then and now, while some are kind, others are quite thankless, with a considerable amount of gargoyles in the past being smashed to bits.

Despite all this, Goliath continues serving his role because he would not want to be just as bad as the humans.

Demona, as Goliath's foil, is set up as a straw woman, someone who hates all humans and destroys all humans, yet is working with a human, the villain of the show, David Xanatos. Demona is willing to kill to get what she wants, but Goliath, who tries to kill Xanatos, is told he'd be just as bad as Demona.

I know that without something like that there wouldn't be much of a show to begin with, but it really did make my skin crawl watching it. As I continued four years later, I found myself liking the show more, but hating Goliath just as much.

5:37 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "i cannot stand goliath......."
5:39 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "this show really just goliath is always right i hate it"
8:38 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "gargoyles would be SO GOOD if goliath wasn't such a steven universe"
8:38 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "quiet liberal"

 

 

 

 

9:01 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "cartoons feel more liberal now than when i first watched gargoyles, but there's a lot of aspects i dont like. you can argue demona's hating humans and means to ends deal is complex but it does from a political standpoint feel a little strawmany...."
9:02 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "we got in the last episode a pretty interesting middle ground with brooklyn who thinks some humans are okay but knows humans will beat him up for being different, and i wanna see more of that, but i feel like it's been wrapped up!"
9:05 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "from what i remember of the pilot tho goliath was quick to toss demona aside for her distrust of humans which.... WAS justified.... anyway if i were going the gay thread still i think goliath would be lgbt friendly but if a gay person yelled at a straight person he'd tone police"
9:06 PM · Dec 18, 2020 "all that being said. i'm liking gargoyles more than i remember."

Though we do get some varying thoughts on humans from the hero team. Particularly Brooklyn, who grew to become my favorite character. I really like when shows give the snarky character more to them besides snark. The episode "Temptation" has Brooklyn getting hatecrimed for being a gargoyle, and saved by Demona, who tries to lure him to her side, and he points out that she has a lot of points. Ultimately, he sticks to saving people because there are good humans and bad, but he stays pretty nuanced throughout the rest of the show. Or at least, the first season, which was all I watched.

Unfortunately, a lot of interest in Gargoyles was ironic... I think back to old black and white movies I used to enjoy and how corny they are. But these things used to be scary and intriguing for people. I guess that just means the culture has changed.

11:07 AM · Dec 19, 2020 "me: maybe gargoyles is a show i can take seriously gargoyles: fuck you. quack pack."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8:36 AM · Dec 20, 2020 "I kind of find it sad that I was expecting more ironic enjoyment of these shows but the one I got it from the most was gargoyles"

I guess I oughta feel bad for not enjoying Gargoyles in "the right" way, but it simply did not age well. That's usually something people say when a show has gotten more offensive with age, but for me, it didn't age well due to the oversaturation of neoliberal cartoons in the past 5-10 years. Goliath hating his brother, play us out I guess.

12:08 PM · Dec 19, 2020 "goliath: family is the most important thing ever
goliath when he sees his brother: you are an abomination."
12:08 PM · Dec 19, 2020 "i really hate goliath..... sm....."

 Overall Rating for Gargoyles: B Tier