Now a decade old, I have finally seen Gravity Falls, having seen the show around the Internet throughout the years but never really caring to give it any attention. I'm not really sure why, perhaps it just did not appeal to me much at the time, and perhaps even its style of art and animation somewhat threw me off slightly with its more 'CalArts' drawing style which has grown to be quite disliked over the years with production quality decreasing and creativity seemingly also decreasing.
Recently having access to Disney's ever-growing library of content kept within their evil lair of archives through Disney+, Gravity Falls finally managed to find itself in front of my eyes, this time with an ability to actually be viewed. Seriously, I have said this a few times now over many posts, but cable and streaming services in the United Kingdom are truly shallow! Because of this, I began to watch it.
I have to say, as someone that does not watch many cartoons or anime, Gravity Falls was a cozy experience, and one that I was not expecting at all. It seems to be a refreshing experience in an area of animation that has certainly lost its way over recent years. It is a show that comes and goes rather quickly, but with many unique stories and concepts that ultimately serve as some cartoon version of something such as The X Files in parts.
Gravity Falls
From the start, I had no idea where Gravity Falls was going to go. Despite seeing it referenced throughout the years on the Internet, my knowledge of its characters and narrative was nonexistent. I had never seen any trailers or seen clips from the show, nor had I really seen much discussion outside of general references from existing fans.
As it went on, I found that it somewhat resembled the style of The X Files, in which each episode featured a different strange event or monster that needed investigating. Though, in the case of Gravity Falls, these strange experiences would be investigated by two children that are staying in the area with their uncle, who happens to own a shack dedicated to strange events and profiting from the location's general interest from those who pass through. Similar to that of how Area 51 in Nevada is treated amongst tourists.
Though, each of these episodes has an ending that is relatively tame. One that has a fortunate resolution where the characters come out on top, but also provides a slight piece of context to something much larger. Which is slowly where the show's narrative takes us: a much larger conspiracy at hand that is behind all of these strange events that keep taking place in the area. One that involves all of them in one way or another, and ultimately leads to a prophecy.
I can understand why the show went this way, particularly given it needed to find a way to wrap things up after the first season had its fun introducing character strengths and weaknesses through the many strange events and obstacles they faced. Things start to speed up around the second season, and the show takes a completely different turn as certain figures appear to have bigger plans for the location, and an agenda that could result in the end of the world itself.
What works nicely alongside the show's mysterious narrative is certainly its contrast in art style, where the colour palette has careful attention to detail and results in a very gentle, calm autumn-eque atmosphere. It adds to the msytery of this location which is otherwise rather beautiful, a place that you'd certainly not think would be home to such mystery. Particularly as different episodes' themes would result in more unique introduction sequences or endings; of which the ending to each episode contains a piece of the puzzle that allows you to slowly understand what's happening if you pay enough attention. That alone was a mystery and aspect of immersion into this world of rather interesting and considerate lore.
These colours helped take me away from the more negative opinion I had of this general style of art, which takes simplicity at its core when creating characters, using similar facial structures in the eyes and mouth. It does often mean that characters tend to look quite similar to each other, with only a few things that really help make them stand out: hair colour or style, eye colour or style, or perhaps height and voice. Ignoring some of the character designs and looking into the environment, it's actually rather beautiful.
Growth and change
This is not where the show really shines, however. It is through its ability to display the concepts of growth and accepting change in life during youth. Where challenges of unknown difficulty may arise at any moment and must be faced carefully, to come out a better person as a result. It tells us of the ways in which we should pay attention to those close by us, establishing strong connections with friends and family. Our gradual build-up through mysterious events ultimately leads us to a story of two children on the brink of reaching into the teenage years, with fears of what comes next as they entire highscool. As they face the fears of being apart from each other despite having spent their entire lives to that point together. I really liked this aspect of the show, where it extends beyond its narrative and themes and takes its characters seriously, to portray actual meaning and growth through it all.
I could even refer to the anime Cowboy Bebop in having a very similar structure of storytelling and character growth, only to take itself in a completely different direction within the last few episodes. It takes a lot of creativity and inspiration to pursue this properly, leading to something effective that works and allows your audience themselves to learn from it.
I don't think there are all that many cartoons quite like this anymore, where they quickly come and go while telling a story, one that reaches into themes of youth, adulthood, and growth. I can certainly understand why Gravity Falls ended up gaining such a large following, one that is still active today.
