More Pls - Blog Posts

Yo ho yo ho.

So well put. 🙌

I am still decompressing from the Arcane finale, and I will be for a very long time, but I just wanted to point out how important Arcane is as a show. Arcane is showing absolutely everyone just what happens when you put genuine care and attention into telling a story, and using the proper mediums to do so. In a media landscape that is saturated with lazy writing, endless parades of live-action remakes, bloated, uninspired CGI graphics, sexism, racism, misogyny, mindless, purposeless violence, hollow characters, weak or nonexistent character arcs, cliched backstories and tired tropes, Arcane has emerged as proof of what storytelling could be.

Arcane has already broken all of Netflix's records, both in the most-watched show on the platform, as well as the highest-rated, and that feels like all the proof we need of what audiences and individuals are starved for. It feels like a revelation of how all of our newfound media technology could and should be used. We don't want animation and CGI to be used just to recreate realism down to the fibers of a shirt or the individual hairs on someone's head. We want animation that is exploratory, revelatory, engaging - animation that shows us a new perspective, that breathes new life into the story it's telling - animation that tells a story in a way that no other form of media could. Beyond the animation, we want a story that means something. We want characters that have depth and nuance, that are morally fallible, even when they're trying to do what's right. We want heroes that are selfish and make mistakes, and we want villains that have a heart and an ocean's worth of depth behind all their villainy. We want stories that leave nothing behind, stories that care enough about the art of the telling that they follow every narrative thread, every character's journey, all the way to the end, bitter or otherwise. We want writers who fight for accurate and fulfilling representation.

And that's what Arcane has given us. I'm not exaggerating when I say I feel like this show has changed me as a person. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but I honestly think it's true. I am in total awe of what they've managed to do in just nine episodes. I am inspired and overwhelmed and hopeful that this is setting the precedent for what storytelling could look like in the future.