Flash animations and web comics

There was a time when my sources for cartoons were shows like Saturday Disney, and the Simpsons. As time went on I grew out of children's cartoons, leaving the ever reliable Simpsons at 6. But that too has been taken away from me, thankyou very much Channel 10. Similarly, i got my comic fixes from Factor X and the back part of the Courier Mail. That too, however, I have lost since moving out of my parents' newspaper delivered home. Alas, the Internet has come to the rescue for both of these predicaments.

While televised cartoons are readily (but not necessarily legally) available for free on the net, this is not the 'rescue' I'm referring to. I'm talking about Flash animation series and web comics. The Internet has offered us choice, catering for almost every type of humour. Different to television, we can choose exactly what episode of which show we would like to watch.

Web comics provide an extended functionality. With Web 2.0 comes social websites, forums, blogs, people's 'walls.. Any user generated and/or personalised page which allows for posts or comments. Now, if someone comes across a comic on the Internet which they may have enjoyed, or one that is otherwise worthy of telling another about, a person can simply copy and paste the image onto their webpage or friend's profile. If it is not copyable, a simple link will do. Previously, one probably would have has to show another the comic within the newspaper or magazine. Not terribly inconvenient, but the life or time frame of the availability of the comic may be limited. And the Internet is usually free!

Back to the Flash cartoons, not only are they so accessible and cater to individual desires, their context is often affected by its audience. This is where Jenkin's idea of expert vs. consumer logic and the handiness of the 24/7 nature of the Internet comes into play, as well as Axel's term, 'produsage'. Let me give you an example. Take the popular Homestar Runner website, particularly the Strong Bad Email Flash cartoon series. Each week a new episode is released, each one a response to a fan email, usually asking a hypothetical question to the Strong Bad character. The content of the episodes are essentially user defined. This produsage element to web comics allow them to remain 'fresh' and in touch with the audience and their opinions. In this respect perhaps I am better off without my six o'clock Simpsons.

References:

Denny's Menu - http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html (Accessed April 28 2008).

Flew, Terry. (2005). Virtual Cultures in Flew, Terry, New media : an introduction, Melbourne: OUP, pp.61-82.

Axel Bruns. (2008). Wikipedia: Representations of Knowledge in Axel Bruns, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage, New York: Peter Lang, pp.101-136.

Trendwatching.com. "Nouveau Niche." March 2005. http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/nouveau_niche.htm