AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - The Criticism of Pandering, and Unoriginality

DonQuigleone · 2011-08-19, 21:48

I think the claim of Pandering comes in when the producers put more effort into satisfying the desires of core fans then into producing a coherent work with decent plotting etc.

So in Moé it's the insertion of beach episodes even though it has no place in the plot, just so that they can show the female leads in a scantily clad manner.

In Mecha it would be the continuous introduction of new mecha models every episode, and concentrating more on the arms race and the boys and their cool toys then on keeping the whole thing coherent (Gundam 00 is particularly guilty of this).

It's when the priorities of the producers grow too out of line with the "man on the street" casual viewer.

Another case where you could clearly level an accusation of "pandering" is if the thing is an overly blatant case of wish fulfillment. EG the way every Harem show features a dull stupid male lead with throngs of girls falling over themselves for him. Or the well known "Mary Sue".

Mary Sue's are reviled because they're pandering of the worst kind, they're pandering to the author himself, the author has grown so attached to the character that (s)he has made him/her amazing and beyong all moral reproach. It's particularly bad because Mary Sues are often stand ins for the author themselves. People also hate Mary Sues because deep down we hate people who are "perfect", and even more so if the bad author is talking about the character as if they are perfect, while the audience judging her by her own in-universe actions disagree. You can see this with Mecha fandom's general dislike of Kira "Jesus" Yamato.

We like people who are flawed, but are always trying to do the right thing. The only exception is in Heroic works, where you can more easily get away with it because the emphasis is on feats of daring do. But if you start focussing on their perfectness over their feats of daring do even Hero fans will begin to cry foul.

2011-08-19, 21:48	Link #60
DonQuigleone Knight Errant Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Dublin, Ireland Age: 35	I think the claim of Pandering comes in when the producers put more effort into satisfying the desires of core fans then into producing a coherent work with decent plotting etc. So in Moé it's the insertion of beach episodes even though it has no place in the plot, just so that they can show the female leads in a scantily clad manner. In Mecha it would be the continuous introduction of new mecha models every episode, and concentrating more on the arms race and the boys and their cool toys then on keeping the whole thing coherent (Gundam 00 is particularly guilty of this). It's when the priorities of the producers grow too out of line with the "man on the street" casual viewer. Another case where you could clearly level an accusation of "pandering" is if the thing is an overly blatant case of wish fulfillment. EG the way every Harem show features a dull stupid male lead with throngs of girls falling over themselves for him. Or the well known "Mary Sue". Mary Sue's are reviled because they're pandering of the worst kind, they're pandering to the author himself, the author has grown so attached to the character that (s)he has made him/her amazing and beyong all moral reproach. It's particularly bad because Mary Sues are often stand ins for the author themselves. People also hate Mary Sues because deep down we hate people who are "perfect", and even more so if the bad author is talking about the character as if they are perfect, while the audience judging her by her own in-universe actions disagree. You can see this with Mecha fandom's general dislike of Kira "Jesus" Yamato. We like people who are flawed, but are always trying to do the right thing. The only exception is in Heroic works, where you can more easily get away with it because the emphasis is on feats of daring do. But if you start focussing on their perfectness over their feats of daring do even Hero fans will begin to cry foul.