Wait, dark isn't cool anymore? I thought happy sugar bowl settings were supposed to be dumb and kiddie and the cool kids liked it rough. That's why the edgy comic book antiheroes were a thing in the 90s (you know, when Rob Liefeld was cool?) and why the disastrously campy Batman & Robin led to a dark reboot in Batman Begins. Are we moving away from that again now? Man, I'm out of touch.

A-fucking-men. I don't even watch AoT or anything but just in general...goddamn.

Hahaha, wow. I'm just coming out of an art history exam about the 60s and 70s so I am still channeling that, but... Art isn't about enjoyment. Artists don't exist to mollycuddle people and provide them with nice things.

AoT is despite all the darkness and death still a pretty hopeful show, so I don't really get it...? But I recently watched Funny Games and Irreversible again, which are the poster children for darkness induced apathy in the audience.

Other then some plot holes I really like attack on titan. It's become the Saturday night thing in my household.
But then again I love dark (DS9 Fangirl).... you get sick of mary sues and its kinda nice to escape into more Real emotions in any genre.

I never understood that mindset either. I've always been actively seeking out things that make me extremely uncomfortable and/or sad. It seems important somehow, it's hard to explain. Maybe it's a counter reaction to most media being so light hearted? A fictional story only has merit when it can make you feel something or think about something. I don't want to be limited to warm fluffy feelings of love and compassion, the emotional spectrum is so much broader than that.

There's this general fear of negative emotions, making it unacceptaple to be angry or sad or bother other people in any way. If you're not a bundle of joy then you're not okay - I see that everywhere, it's not just about media. Kind of tragic really, I mean, no human being is free of anger, sadness and other negative feelings. When people become so self important that they can't even accomodate other people's problems and emotions out in the real world, it's not so surprising that media bursting their bubble would bother them too. Because I really think that's part of the problem here - Fear of sadness, fear of dealing with other people's sadness, fear of showing sadness themselves in case they will be alienated for it.

But then, I never saw any art or media as some fantasy land you can escape into. I understand why someone would feel compelled to look at it that way, I do. But... Art is a reflection of things that already exist - And bad things exist. Terrible, horrifying, nauseating things exist. It's strange to turn a blind eye to that, or even deny the validness of telling stories about it.

It annoys me when people discredit a thing simply because "it's too scary/sad/sweet/whatever". Very well, it might be too scary/sad/sweet for YOU, but the fact that it makes you feel too much of anything doesn't necessarily drag down the quality of that thing.
Have a little perspective, please :I

Faved so hard. I notice people sometimes have trouble relating to or simply don't understand darker themes like those present in AoT. I have a friend who didn't understand why Armin froze up and became catatonic after watching Eren (seemingly) die. He got really mad and a few episodes later even said "I hate that kid, he's so useless." Even though we just saw him plan multiple strategies of attack and basically saved everyone... Not that I think he should have been mad at Armin to begin with, but at least now he's redeemed himself? There's this awful idea that courage and bravery only come in one form- big muscle bound idiots running in guns blazing, not batting eye at the gunfire and carnage around them.

That's fucking boring, and it's bullshit. (Or well it can be if it's done wrong. Sometimes it's nice to watch a feel-good/funny action movie, too!)

But human beings- actual human beings- get scared. When shit hits the fan no one knows how they're going to react. A lot of people panic, some shut down, some take the lead. That's what's interesting about throwing people into these situations in the first place; watching how they react and handle it in their own unique ways.

I sometimes wonder if this is solely attached to animation because many still believe it's "just for kids". In the west we're used to seeing nothing but talking animals and singing princesses, and everyone gets their happy ending. And if they don't it's usually more on the obscure side and most people haven't seen it (like Plague Dogs or Watership Down). When I think of Armin I think of an episode of Band of Brothers that specifically focuses on a character who also freezes up during combat. I wonder if people had the same reaction to him? Or, because it's live action it's therefore easier to relate to and therefore more understandable? Human empathy is weird sometimes, haha.

I feel like this goes a little off-topic, but this shit gets me so mad. >:G

oh my god people are actually saying it's too dark??
well okay then.

Many Americans hate to see an unhappy ending and it frustrates the hell out of me.

Transformers Prime was dark. It went under the radar for a lot of people I think because Transformers seems to have an insular fandom and I think a lot of folks are still remembering how cheesy and shallow G1 was and know about the mostly unremarkable Bayverse and have no idea how deep and dark some of the others series have gotten. Oh my gods some of the stuff in Prime and Beast Wars they got away with, I don't know how they did in American audience kids shows, except perhaps because the traumatic things were happening to /robots/ and not humans. Well, sometimes to humans. Both Prime and beast Wars are really well written and I've been like, legit traumatized by character death in them. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I blame it on the 18 and younger crowd. All they watch are happy cartoons and are very sheltered by their parents. Also these kids expect cartoons to be catered to "children" and are used to seeing anime catered to children as well.
I also chock it up to stupidity.

Sad, scary, and dark things are important, especially for kids. Kids love getting scared. Stuff like the D-Reaper in Digimon, or an important character's death really hits home and does a lot to make them feel... The cold fuzzies, I guess it's called? At least, when it's done well. I demand more horror for kids!

Just more reasons why I'm glad to have been born back in the early 80's, where game developers could get away with making "T" and "M" rated games that were never labeled "T" or "M", at least, until squeamish people banded together to form the ESRB. We also had lots of dark fantasy books, to make us feel "warmer and fuzzier before we went to go sit down and play "Golden Axe 2" or "Blades of Vengeance". Or curl up for the night with some "Tales from the Crypt". <3

Meanwhile, the general consensus is that you're better off attending a building to compare clothing and not read over any such "nasty history" about the legalized raping of young girls...y'know, so you can go home with a clean conscience? Powers that be forbid that your interest in promiscuity and violence should exceed the exploits of King David and King Solomon.

Lol...