"Screw you!" attitudes in animation

C

Conberal

New member
I've noticed this term being used a lot on the forums for a while now, just why exactly is this sort of attitude in animated shows not liked a lot
 
Someone else can probably explain much better than me, but basically it's when the makers of a show are aware of what the audience wants/expects, and they continuously ignore it or actually tease viewers and make fun of them for wanting it to happen. What people refer to as a "screw you" ending is generally when something major-- that the fans have anticipated for a long time-- almost happens, or does happen but then it turns out to be a cop-out and it didn't really happen. Some examples would be... (spoilers ahead, I think)

*Last night's Family Guy-- Stewie kills Lois and takes over the world, only Lois isn't really dead, and it turns out to all be a simulation
*Everybody finds out Danny's secret in Danny Phantom, and then everybody's memory gets wiped (I don't actually watch that show, so I'm not sure of the exact details, but I've read about it here)

The most well-known "screw you" ending is the simple 'dream ending'. It's disliked, and considered to be lazy writing. The main problem is that it means the whole episode didn't actually happen.

Some people also feel that the Simpsons has a "screw you" attitude all the time, in the way it makes fun of its fans for complaining about its flaws. Rather than fixing the flaws, they say "screw you, we don't care and neither should you". Which isn't really the best way to keep the fans.
 
This is a little bit confusing, because there's also something known as a "screw you" joke, which was largely pioneered by The Simpsons over 10 years ago. It's the kind of joke where they make you think one thing but it's really something completely different, and there's no animosity toward the fans involved.
 
Yeah, that's how I use the term too. Just watch "And Maggie Makes Three" and "The PTA Disbands"- there are a ton of screw you gags in there.

"Of course, for safety reasons, we don't keep the cannon loaded. It's just common sense."
 
Foster's Imaginary Friends has been notorious for doing this. I think the gag is that it's got the guise of a cutesy cartoon but it's actually much more absurdist and cynical than you would think.
 
I forgot about that... didn't remember that those jokes can also be considered "screw you" gags too. In my mind, a more appropriate term for those would be 'misleading' or 'an unexpected twist'.
Because "screw you" really does suggest a bit of animosity.
 
I figure that the pioneers of the Screw you gag were indeed Rocky and Bullwinkle. In fact, they had more of a "screw you, screw us, screw the network, screw everyone" attitude. Both on the show and outside of it. Who can forget Jay Ward's Operation Loudmouth campaign to advertise the show's move to NBC? And the Bullwinkle Puppet that once said about people still owning black and white TV's, "Think of Krushcev's latest speach. and then think about the mean things Mr. Disney said about you're TV. Betchyer seeing red now. Now enjoy the Bullwinkle show in glorious Red color."

Not to mention in the Treasure of Monte Zoom, where Boris is just about to shoot Rocky, and a giant flag comes out instead. Boris replies, "What do you expect? they don't allow violence on Television." Amongst other things.
 
Which was the vast majority of the public at the time, color TV still being expensive/not in too many homes in the early 60s. ;-)

(For the uninformed: Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" was an NBC staple and major ratings-grabber in the 60s, with the whole show basically set up to push color television, and hence color TV *sets*---NBC was owned by TV-manufacturer RCA. Hence the Bullwinkle puppet's joke... ;-) ).

-B.
Still needs the third DVD box set of R&B
 
David Mirkin from The Simpsons pointed them out in many commentaries that he loves screwing with the audiences expectations about what will happen next. Many of his episodes on the show involve a lot of these gags and they're usually among the funniest.

Because of this I've started saying "there's a lemon behind that rock" whenever I see a "screw you" joke coming. I got that from one of my favorite "screw you"s from the Simpsons' "Lemon Of Troy" episode when Bart's looking for the lemon tree in vain.

"I'm as useless as that lemon-shaped rock... Wait a second... There's a lemon behind that lemon-shaped rock! The tree!"
 
Actually, a more correct term for this would be "a bait-&-switch."

I was expecting that ending, or something like it, from that Family Guy episode. Once Stewie kills Lois, they've completely jumped the shark, and have nowhere to go. South Park did a masterful job of satirizing Family Guy a few months ago with the "Mohammad Episode."
 
The Simpsons used to play with cliches/expectations very well. The cannon and lemon examples are classic. I miss that. All we get now is "Homer gets a nail gun in the eye"
 
If you want to know about a "screw you" attitude, I got one right here.

In the most recent episode of Dino Squad, when one of the characters makes a reference to "Oh, what a tangled web we weave...", another character is like "uh, tangled 'web', you mean like, uh, internet web"?

If anything, I consider that a "screw you" attitude, but basically it's like this show is saying to the viewers "You're too stupid to know any better. The World Wide Web isn't the only "web" in the world, you know. Oh yeah, and lying is uncool by the way. So, screw you!" It doesn't matter if it was intentional or not. That's the way it nonetheless turned out.

I could name other examples, but I think this will suffice.
 
Uh.. From the way you described that, it sounds like it was just supposed to be a joke, based on the second character's stupidity. He was the one who thinks of the internet when the first person says 'web'. The joke relies on the audience's knowledge that there are other kinds of webs. I wouldn't call that a 'screw you' joke. More of a bad pun.
 
Reading the responses, I'm not sure that others are realizing the nature of your question. There seems to be some confusion between intellectual satire and a general disdain for the audience as reflected in recent shows. If I understand your question correctly, it is more of a concern about a cavalier and calloused edge to the shows that use cheap shots and short cuts to subsitute for good writing and story telling. In this, there seems to be a lot of mean-spiritedness in the form of perceived satirical dialog and situations. In this, the "screw you" attitude is a general disregard for others, embracing a self entitlement attitude.

If your question is related to this attitude being registered in the programs of discussion, keep in mind it is a reflection many times of the people involved with producing the programs. It makes one wonder why they got into this business if they have such a hatrid and disregard for it.
 
I don't watch Foster's Home very often, but when I do I notice there's usually a scene where the characters just kinda stand around and don't do anything. They might be staring at each other waiting for the other to react, and it usually just goes on WAY longer than it needs to. I mean, this is animation. Things need to move. I might as well be staring at a still image. Family Guy has a similar problem. They'll take something that's "kinda" funny and stretch it out to the point where you just feel like changing the channel. They'll also make characters have boring "normal" conversations that go on forever and don't really go anywhere. I've always considered that kind of thing extremely lazy and insulting to the viewers. It almost seems like they're testing the audience or something, like they're daring you to change the channel. "These morons will watch anything!"

No offense to anyone who likes FH or FG. That's just the vibe I get from them.
 
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