The Brain Trust

If you haven’t heard the news about Goldman Sachs, then you should know that your bailout money has been used as going away presents for their CEO’s and more chances to buy up your bank, my bank and everybody else’s.

Its the same old game with these socialists turned neo-liberal capitalists – deny rights – deny truth, and then when the going gets tough, turn to mother government for some cash and some other things.

What is happening now my friends, is the new era of America is coming. Series 1 (From Spanish-American war to first Great Depression) birthed animation across the world. Series 2 (From end of great depression to the end of the vietnam war) saw changes in the country and changes in the world, as animations golden, silver age rose and fell.) Series 3 (from end of vietnam war to the present day) saw a second golden age and a second silver age… But now we are in Series 4…and its not going to be pretty.

Something began to change – and the TV business started to move away from the masses (as much as the critics say it isn’t and I tell you it is). Look at the world series – the lowest rated series of the modern era, but don’t tell that to New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.

Hannah Montana is the biggest major girl superstar ever to come out but will not be the last.

But what you see in these new stars is the change.

Let me explain.

The TV business ever since 1988 has never had the ratings it had two years before it. Meaning when that strike happened, the masses left for cable slowly but surely. Add the internet and you had the audiences not just watching the tube, but doing every thing else with it (video games and the like)

What has happened is real simple.

The media no longer does entertainment for the masses, but as the anime dubbing industry clearly doesn’t see – and now is suffering for it, the media now only does entertainment for the top 15% percentile of the nation – i.e. the richest 15%. 

Let me explain further:

A 11 year old kid, asks his mom for NDS (Ninty DS) and Pokemon Platinum – the total cost of this product is $156 dollars. She can afford this cost because her job gives her the capital to do so.

A 17 year old teenager, who works for minimal wage, is trying to buy a PSP (Playstation Portable) with God of War: Chains of Olympus. The cost is 200 (225) dollars. He only makes about 550 every 2 weeks at best. There is a cellphone bill that cost 60 bucks, and if he lives in apt he needs to pay 760 a month. He could buy it – but he is screwed if he cannot cover the cost. This isnt a anti PSP tirade, but it is to show you how the media is acting.

Time Warner, Disney and Nick has decided to get out of the TV business when it comes to animation and the like. There isn’t enough money, and they cannot create at best a subcription only product. They only way they would have the freedom from FCC rules to promote their wares and product is through the DVD – Blu-Ray market. Anime cannot be supported by this alone because the audience for the most part does not have the capital to have any of there series break even. Disney however, can – because as just recently as last week, the new Disney Fairies initiative had over 1 MILLION pre-orders for the first DVD of a planned 8.

They have moved away because they feel as though despite the rise of live action production and so on – it isnt enough.

They moved away because the FCC E/I issues now baring down on them.

Lets just make it really clear. They no longer produce for the nearly 90 percent of kids, teens and yes many adults that watch animation – at best they produce for the richest 15%, which is around the same amount of ratings points/viewers that a typical episode of ICarly gets every week. To put in another way – the week that HSM 2 aired, it got 17 million viewers. 18 million watched the game between the Eagles Vs Cowboys on ESPN (which “cheats” on the Syndication ratings every year.) That same day – Hannah Montana got 10 million viewers. You have to take 2.5 million out of the equation, so your got 8.5 million. (Its a lot less than that – because you have to account for the ratings point which is different for broadcast than for cable.)  There is about 35 or so million kids living in this country today between the ages of 6 to 16. 

Now take the fact TV is only 40% of what they do online – and you got what I call mass disinfo on the part of the new Main Three Kids Networks. Lets just say it out loud:

They no longer write stories for the other 25 million. Most of them are have multiple backgrounds (still mostly white parentage).

They no longer write stories dealing with adults – since they are considered either too scary or too sick or try to be too cool for them. One of the reasons most animated series continue to fail, even on PBS kids – is that the majority of these series do not have adults as the center-focus of said show – WordGirl being an example of disappointment - and the success of Miss Hooper (before her issues) being the example of successful work. You look UP to greatness not look at level – not out of fear, but out of respect. Its the way it has worked in humanity, so why did it change in the last 15 years… It scares the shit out of me.

They no longer write or no longer produce series with a fantasy basis – they dont want to because they know what it means.

They no longer write about the goodness of men (not of mankind but of men)

They produce a lot of work about females, but none of it is girl promoting, only self-destructing and narcissistic. 

They no longer have trust in the outside product if not coming from France or Italy. 

Hollywood and New York are in a tug of war on who can KEEP the brain trust from leaving this country.

They are still stuck in 1970’s issues that have totally not worked. 

Their advertisements outside of 4Kids, Toonami and early Adult Swim have been HORRIBLE, and its no wonder why they ask production is so low.

After the success of Adult Swim – the animation industry started a split – they couldn’t do dramatic work with animation because that will never put buts in the seats, so comedy is the only way to do this – and they have succeed in droves. 

The writers who want to write for animation are in live action, doing work that should be animated, and the writers who write for animation and kids shows want to do live action mature work and is doing mature ideology for animation and kids work.

This means that until the main three figures out a way out of the focus group – and into the true mainstream – and find a franchise that doesn’t offend or at best – is treated with some dignity in all corners, we will continue to have this split. It will reach a point where that there will be two industries, one where you need to pay for better work, the other where its just a cut board cutout…

Both wont survive. There got to be a better third way. The internet isn’t it because the government is planning to get rid of that soon. DVD are on the way out. If Blu-Ray is the future of this business they need to treated as such. 

But what Im thinking is something more concrete. But will it happen in a bad economic situation?

All these questions…

Will there be enough answers in time?