April 2, 2015

Subjective

Have you ever tried to describe the inherent awesomeness of a thing to someone only to discover in its telling that the awesomeness of the thing in question is entirely subjective and does not translate well and doesn't stand the test of time?
If the above sentence made little sense to you, I give you, as an example: the Wonder Twins. My sister and I were avid fans of this Saturday morning cartoon, but explaining it to a non-fan: "...they were superheros and the boy twin could become water in any state and shape, so he would go, 'form of an iceberg' and then the girl twin would..." Do you see where I'm going with this? Halfway through the explanation, you're thinking to yourself, "Did I seriously LIKE this show?"

The same is true for the original Spiderman TV cartoon for which we would literally drop everything at 3:30 weekday afternoons, when the local station played it in reruns. (Although even back then, part of the appeal of Spidey was its cheesiness that was recognizable even to naive 13-year-olds. Still, try selling the kids of today on "so cheesy it's cool.")
I do try to recall these when I'm inclined to make fun of Punkinhead's Sailor Moon. It doesn't help. But I try.

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