I used to start every discussion I had on this topic with the disclaimer that my opinions were formed entirely from an introspective viewpoint, meaning that self-analysis was my primary means of gathering information and testing theories. After a year of college and seeing my views manifest themselves in a number of people, I no longer feel awkward claiming that I am objectively right, but I still approach these subjects in much the same manner as before I came to college, so the disclaimer still occasionally stands, as it most certainly does with this post. Your millage may vary, but at least you have suitable grounds now to claim I'm crazy if you want to.
If you've ever given me the opportunity to talk your ear off about my views on game design or just media in general, you'll know that I'm really big on the idea of "art as communication," the idea being (among other things) that we have this irrational and wonderful way of approaching stories in the same way that we approach real life. One of the best ways we can examine what happens when people communicate with us is by deconstructing what happens when fictional people communicate with us.
So let's examine Gravity Falls and see what that looks like.
I'll start basic. Good media is good because it makes you believe something different about the world than you normally would. The reason we engage with media is because we want to believe that the real world acts in a certain way.
As example, one of the reasons variable reward systems are so stinking engaging and dangerous (aside from the actual addictive chemicals that they're releasing into your brain), is that they bring you into a world where you have an extremely linear sense of progression that directly correlates positive results from your efforts. Yeah, you don't get food every time you pull the lever, but you don't get food every time you pull the lever in life either. If you do pull the lever though, you will eventually get food without fail, and the food gets progressively better and shinier and more purple with stats of +10 dexterity. The randomness just makes the whole thing even more realistic and engaging.
"Media as Communication" is one of my axioms of media (ooh, now I can reference posts that don't even exist yet!), meaning that this is what I base nearly every one of my other conclusions on in some way, and if you don't agree with it, well... you're wrong. Or I need to refactor a large portion of my views.
And Gravity Falls is a really good example of this: it's a safe show that features largely likeable characters and a continuous sense of wonder with the underlining theme that reason and logic in the face of uncertainty, superstition, and danger can bring us to a deeper understanding of the world around us without destroying or debasing the things that are actually valuable.
Of course, there's more to it than that, both with Gravity Falls and variable reward systems, because any piece of media worth its salt is going to be portraying a huge variety of extremely nuanced worldviews that each viewer is going to be dynamically picking and choosing from on a whim. It's complicated, and the sooner that's said the better. But... we don't need to understand everything about these systems to draw out some overarching themes.
Gravity Falls embraces cynicism, skepticism, and sarcasm in a way that most modern children's shows don't (ask me why I like My Little Pony so much if you want to hear about a radically different approach), although shows like Adventure Time are a pretty solid comparison. There are two important components of this.
One: These shows preserve a deeply moral and idyllic core throughout their cynicism. Adventure Time actually ends up being a better example of this; a show that mocks its characters as it holds them up on pedestals. The main characters honestly care about each other, and there's a sense that beneath our completely warped views of reality something poignant might be going on. So you get episodes where the Ice King dresses up like a horse and spies on people in an effort to learn "how to be happy", and when characters completely ignore him and berate him for the efforts, there's an overarching sense we're glossing over something that could be a somewhat deep topic in and of itself.
Two: These shows use cynicism to invoke a sense of perspective and scale. By mocking cliches, tropes, and itself, Gravity Falls allows us to put our problems into more realistic contexts. Enforcing a sense of the ridiculous is one of the most effective ways of telling the viewer "seriously, it's going to be ok," that I can think of. Not the only way, but a pretty darn good one.
These points work in tandem. Take the second away and the result is creepy and depressing. Take the first away and you're left with shows like Family Guy. The best media focuses every mechanic and every individual piece on invoking some type of reaction from it's user, and because of that, you can usually tell good media by how people react to and build loyalties around it. Catch people at their least composed states and ask them what they like; it's not hard to see how this process works.
You can have lots of different worldviews and ideas in your media, just like you can have lots of different flavors in your gourmet dinner. And like a dinner, your audience might not like every single part; but they need to find at least one gem of a flavor that resonates with them and solidifies the entire meal. So the best design works all of it's mechanics together to create a sense of unity and theme throughout the work, as is the case with Gravity Falls.
One of the central themes of Gravity Falls is the sense the sense of underlying complexity and intrigue that runs through everything. The world is full of secrets, and those secrets are discoverable and explorable. It's rather brilliantly pulled off, and the reason is that nearly every aspect of the entire work points back to that goal.
I just above mentioned that the combination of cynicism and optimism created an idealistic yet realistic worldview for the series, but it also works into the central theme of layered complexity. Characters are simplistic, critical, and one dimensional on the surface, and progressively gain depth as they get closer to Dipper (the main character) and he discovers more about their personality. The familiarity between the main cast and any side character is directly indicative of how much depth that character will have. Dipper's viewpoint is what we see, and that other characters might be fully realized individuals is hidden behind the mask that is his perception of them.
But that's all very dismissible and opinion-oriented, so instead listen to the music and take a look at the artwork. The music starts out with easily recognizable themes, and progressively layers them on top of each other to create a much more eerie and exciting experience. Complete with flickering shadows, random cameos of monsters, and embedded messages that viewers are encouraged to decode each week.
I could go on about this for a long time; in fact the original idea for this post was to talk some of the show's flaws, of which it has in abundance, and in particular with the episode Irrational Treasure. But, as you can see, I never got around to that.
So instead what you have is a slightly more opinionated post than usual, and if you are a Gravity Falls fan you'll probably find yourself disagreeing with at least some of it. However, the main point you should take from this, other than my views on media, is that when you communicate what you are communicating matters, which sounds really stupid and obvious, but is actually really easy to forget. What is it that you want the other party to walk away with, and how can you get all of the parts to line up and work towards that end goal? Not all communication, thankfully, works the same way that media does, and not all techniques or goals apply equally across all situations. But, you should figure out which ones do apply to the situations you're in, and apply them.
Eh, actually, the main point of this post was that I wanted to gush about Gravity Falls. But the rest of it still stands.
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