Monday 20 May 2013

The shows and characters that shaped me and how they shaped me.

So earlier today I was thinking what made me...Well, me? And later in the day I was watching some clips from cartoons I watched as a wee-lad and I came to this stunning realisation. These shaped me, they moulded me in loads of diffrent ways.

Through my brother shows like this came into my life which shows why I've always had a love for things that were far too mature for me and my fellow classmates (Ulysses will remember my fasination of The Shining when we were in year 3).

 The shows and characters are as followed.

Let's begin with the show Ren and Stimpy:
The Ren & Stimpy Show was an American cartoon which aired from August 11th 1991 to November 14th 1996. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Hoek, an emotionally unstable chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat. The show ran for five seasons on the network. The show has received critical acclaim and developed a cult following during and after its run, while some critics credit it for leading the way for satirical animated shows like Beavis and Butthead and South Park, and playing a significant role in television animation. Throughout its run, The Ren & Stimpy Show was controversia for its off-colour humour , sexua linnuendo , and violence, each of which contributed to the production staff's altercations with Nickelodeon's Standerds and practice department.

Just by knowing me and by reading the reasons why it was controversial you will know there is an immediate connection between me and the show. Let's look at the characters and see how they influanced me.

Ren

Ren is a violent, aggresive, selfish, cowardly, weak willed, unpleasent, obnoxious and very psychotic. He has a raspy, insane version of Peter Lorre's voice and will always go off and do something worryingly sociopathic and will make the audiance (purpously) uncomfertable. He gained wide public attention due to the fact that he was one of the first protagonists on a childs show to be boderline insane and very cruel.
 Although I wouldent really say I am a bad person many traits of Ren's I have picked-up (and did so knowingly) the fact that I will crush my friends hopes and dreams and insult them at any chance I get is inherited from the character of Ren. Infact I would say that my relationship with my friend Tomos is almost exactly like the relationship between Ren and Stimpy; Ren will always but Stimpy down and try and trick him into doing things for Rens amuesment but all in all Ren truely cares for Stimpy and Stimpy (although dim-witted) is one of the very few people who understand Ren.

Stimpy
Stimpy is a good natured, stupid, kind and fair cat. Although many of you are saying "what in gods good graces could Jacob possibly have gotten from this character!?" Well I shake my fist at you in rage for there are many things I have learnt from Stimpy. Although I would say that the Ren nuggets have fallen more into my personality than the Stimpy ones, there are a few factors that stand-out. The fact that no matter what is bothering them I will always do my best to help out a friend is the help is needed. I also learnt that people come in all diffrent shapes and sizes from Stimpy; he will frequently wear skirts and dresses (which is something that is frownd upon in my household...Well, frownd-upon is an understatement). He also gets pelted with insults constantly and shrugs them off, much like I do and most importantly, Stimpy taught me that all we can truely do in life is to enjoy ourselves and that it's okay to be stupid sometimes.


Moving Swiftly along to The Angry Beavers:

The series revolves around Daggett and Norbert Beaver, two young beaver brothers who have left their home to become bachelors in the forest near the fictional Wayouttatown, Oregon. The show premiered in the States on April 19, 1997. The first indicator to their insperation is the fact that the show is about two beavers living my dream, but more about the characters.


Daggett Doofues Beaver:

The youngest of the Beaver Brothers is Daggett, he is hyper-active and immature and has a habit of over-emphasized motions in a manic way and is a fan of name calling. He shares a typical love-hate relationship with his brother as most siblings do. Having said this he is a very hard worker and is quite skilled at construction. Now, this shows a diffrent side to me from Ren and Stimpy. Rather than "Good-Bad" this is "Hyper-Laid back". As many people have noticed I am a huge fan of things that are immature and just plain silly that causes people to roll their eyes, also if I have enough energy I will be increadably hyper-active either by dancing like a loonatic or jumping on my friends to annoy them. And although many people will disagree I am also a hard worker, but only on things I care about, much like Daggett who only works hard in construction.


Norbert Foster Beaver:
Norbert is Daggertt's laid back older brother. He is well-spoken and intelligent with a highly sarcastic tone in his voice and speech patterns. He will frequently maniplulate his brother but also shows great concern and love for him.
Now, some of you have already noticed the obvious things, I am rather laid-back with things that most people panic about (I like to think of myself as the voice of reason in high tention situations) and I dont mean to toot my own horn but I also consider myself rather intelligent and some of you learnt the hard way that I am also sarcastic. I also enjoy teaching my younger four to six year old sisters things they dont understand for my own amuesment but I do show deep concern and love for them.


Next; Rocko's Modern Life:

The show aired for four seasons between 1993 and 1996 on Nickelodeon. Rocko's Modern Life is based around the sureal, parodic adventures of an anthropormorphic, Australian-immigrant wallaby named Rocko, and his new life in the city of O-Town. The show explores his American life as well as the lives of his friends: the gluttonous steer Heffer, the neurotic turtle Fillburt, and Rocko's faithful dog, Spunky. The show is laden with adult humor, including double entrendres, innuendo, and starical social commentary.

Rocko:
 

Rocko is a wallaby who emigrated from Australia to the United States, he is the main character and the protagonist of the show. He is 18 years old. He is a sensible, moral, and somewhat timid character who enjoys the simple pleasures in life, such as doing his laundry or feeding his dog, Spunky. He is neat, compassionate, and self-conscious. He wears a blue shirt with purple triangles on it that he has become quite attached to. He doesn't wear any pants. Rocko usually works at "Kind of a Lot o' Comics". His hobbies include recreational jackhammering and pining for the love of his life, Melba Toast. Due to Rocko's benevolence and non-confrontational personality, his kindness is often taken for weakness. He is often taken advantage of by the other characters. Rocko would prefer to live a quiet life, but his reckless friends often throw him into turbulent situations. His most common catchphrase is "______-Day is a very dangerous day", even once saying "Open mic night is a very dangerous night." He is often mistaken for a kangaroo, a platypus, and occasionally a beaver, weasel or even a dog. Rocko has no family name because the writers could not think of a family name that they liked. Although many of you may think Rocko didnt take such a major part of my personality that just shows how well you know me, my closest friends have seen the Rocko inside me (mainly Ulysses who takes the piss out of the Rocko inside me). WARNING JACOB IS ABOUT TO GET DEEP: Although I am not infact an immagrant I do feel a lot of what Rocko feels when he comes to America, an isolation from others and a need to fit in. Although I am not timid on the surface, in new social groups I am increadably quiet and it does take a while to get me to come out of my shell. I would consider myself a rather sensible and actually (although I do enjoy the odd controversial joke) moral being. I also make a point in my life that I enjoy the little things and have been noted to take much happiness in trivial things like finding my batman pyjamas. Also (although again it is under the shell of my hard being) I am a huge non-confritational, although I'm not bothered if I get in an arguement I do make it a thing to avoid it in the first place. On top of that the reason I have adapted a hard outer shell is because I did suffer from the kindness-weakness thing in my earlier years and was walked over by others. And much like Rocko my older friends would put me in situations in which I did not wish to be involved in, for example; throwing slates or pouring urine on others. I would of much perfered a quiter life much like I have now.



Aaahh!!! Real Monsters:
 

 Aaahh!!! Real Monsters was a very underground show about adolescent monsters in training, developed  for Nickelodeon The show ran for four seasons on Nickelodeon's main United States cable channel and was rerun on Nicktoons until 2006. The series is currently being released on DVD.
The show focuses on three young monsters — Ickis, Oblina and Krumm — who attend an institute for monsters under a city dump and learn to frighten humans. Many of the episodes revolve around them making it to the surface in order to perform "scares" as class assignments.
The reason the show wasnt well known is probably because of the fact that A) It was on at like 8 so I usually had to go to bed straight afterward while other children were already asleep and B) Most parents probably didnt want their children to watch a show about a little fat man who holds his own eyes, a purple goblin and a long scary umbrella bitch.



Ickis:




Ickis is the main protagonist of the series. His method of scaring humans is the ability to grow bigger. However, due to Ickis' large ears, he is often confused with a bunny rabbit. Ickis also tends to be on the nervous side and often has a lack of self-confidence, partly from trying to live up to the legacy of his father who was the academy's like honour student.

The worst thing about being a monster that might be considered "cute" by humans is that it comes as a disadvantage when you're trying to scare people! Ickis knows this all too well, but he's been working on perfecting his scare strategies even before he began attending the Gromble's school. Ickis has big shoes to fill, as his dad Slickis is a legendary monster who is famous for his scares. This definitely puts the pressure on Ickis, but his best friends Krumm and Oblina always help him out of the many jams he gets himself into.
The reason I chose these cartoons in this order is because it starts with things that everyone can see (Ren and Stimpy and The Angry Beavers) but later goes into the more personal things like this and Rocko's modern life.
Much like Ickis I find it hard to be taken seriously as a comedian or a film-maker due to the fact that I am young (much like Ickis finding it hard to get into the scaring buisness because people find him cute.) Also Ickis must live up to his fathers reputation in the academy, I also constantly get reminded about how much stage work my brother did in school and how I need to live up to him and how well my sister did academically. So I also have pretty big shoes to fill, this causes both me and Ickis to have a major infuriority complex.



Many of you will notices the flaw that "Oh these show makers chose those characteristic because everyones like that." And you're probaly right....Still it's healthy to think.

And so I leave you with this; Think about what shaped you into the person you are and I suggest you blog it. Peace out.





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