why don't smart main characters exist in western animaton anymore ?
and I don't mean sci-fi smart like jimmy neutron or ricken morty
I mean believably intelligent, someone whose intellect is justified someone who can predict his ennemi's next move based on his surroundings and make up a strategy to ocunter it, someone who posesses a vast amount of information on different areas, someone who can think quickly to overcome a predicament and chose the right solution
someone like Basil of Baker Street he is shown to be observant, and he also has culture from this, he can make deductions
example: when he first met Dawson, he deduced that he was an army doctor who came back from afghasnistan
how ?
first, he observed: he saw a thread on dawson's sleeve second he uses his knowledge: he knows that that thread is a unique species of catgut found in afghan provinces, and it was stitched in a way only doctors do third, he concludes: he deduces that therefore that person is an army doctor
This is an example of a smart character, not someone who just spawns mathematical gibberish and makes a time machine in a few minutes
I think a huge difference is the type of intellectual the show is striving to use Most want the “big genius” type who serves several purposes. They explain why all this abnormal shit and adventures can happen (usually by building shit), they provide “humor” by being unaware of shit or speaking complicated language everyone is lost on. And perhaps key is they don’t have social skills. This is what comedies want from nerds or so-called intellectuals, and that’s the type of person that fits those show’s needs GMT is a detective film, do Basil’s intelligence is used different. He has social skills (with a few abnormalities) and actually uses his brain in situations. He can think and act quick, use hints to get a bigger picture, and is really well-rounded in subjects. This fits in to the mystery and action they want to apply and not comedic elements The issue is more that there isn’t enough mystery/detective cartoons (and the ones that exist focus on comedy way more, hence their awkwardness that can lead to Basil’s sense of intelligence)
Sebastian Gray
Smart characters take more effort to write. It's easier to just say the character is smart instead of showing it.
Intelligent characters are hard to write unless the writer is also intelligent. Otherwise he becomes a cartoonish genius that seems overpowered.
William Gutierrez
Exactly this. The best critique I ever read of the BBC's Sherlock is that he's written as a smart character the way dumb people think smart people are.
Liam Thompson
What about Sir Lionel Frost? He isn't Basil levels of save the day almost singlehandedly, but he is daring resourceful and quick witted throughout the entire movie.
If you’re referring to the cap I’m thinking of, it has an amazing quote on the subject. I’m paraphrasing, but it’s basically >a smart character written by a dumb person may as well be using magic, and fills the same narrative position as a wizard
Luke Price
Well shit, I need to update threads before I reply
Anthony Morales
Aye, that's the one.
Ian Clark
It’s worth remembering that normies hate smart people. Hate them. Smart people blow grade curves and solve problems normies can’t even recognize. Smart people don’t apologize for outthinking normies and have little patience waiting for them to (never) catch up.
Normies do not want to watch an authentically smart character. They want to see them as absent-minded, or autistic, or sexless nerds, anything that will make the normies feel less intimidated. That’s true even for Basil - he’s frustrated when the dog prefers the kid to him, he fucks up and gets himself captured easily, he frets and moans about it until Dawson accidentally prompts him to try an escape attempt. Basil is not a popular character, either, he’s pretty niche. No Disney Afternoon show. No DTV sequel. No live action remake. Mouse Holmes would be a slam dunk for any of these, but no one wants that.
In conclusion, normies suck.
Oliver Wood
This. Faggot nerds want someone to relate to with their own imperfections
Oliver Mitchell
They do, just in other media. Shit like new Sherlock and Hannibal are popular shows.
Logan Watson
A lot of those characters just wind up going into books.
A problem is that “smart” characters dumb writers make are unflappable geniuses who are either perfect in all things or wwooooops! So awkward and adorkable once they’re out of their element uwu
I know people with PhDs who make mistakes time to time in their own field, or get surprised by something. That’s a good way to show intelligence without being a sue/stu/stew. A character is an expert, something unexpected occurs in their field happens or they make a mistake, there’s a setback or new problem because of it, they display the ability to learn or improvise on the fly. Some people get close to this! But then drop the ball by having an epiphany come from hearing another character say some random word that RADICALIZES their thinking.
Nicholas Flores
Hmm
Charles Reyes
nice pasta
Robert Torres
Basil’s faults and confidence issues actually makes him a character. Even someone like him shouldn’t be perfect Not nearly anything to laugh at
Caleb Thomas
These threads always feel like a round about way for r/iamverysmart posters to humble brag.