Eddie Bowley
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Jetsons Update!
🕑 Added 2024-05-10 10:28:36 +0000 UTCI've been working away at the script, mainly trying to wrangle all the information I've gather across 75 episodes and four movies into one cohesive piece. One stumbling block I had was what the thesis or structure of this will be. A lot of what I have are observations but nothing to tie it all together. I know I wanted to view The Jetsons as a window to the future and what that means but that's almost too broad of a scope. I needed more to hook onto, like "the future of [blank] according to The Jetsons". But what is that blank? Transport? Jobs? Family? None of those seem to excite me though.
I considered making it more than just The Jetsons. After all, it's less beloved than say The Flintstones or Scooby Doo. So what if it was the view of the future according to multiple shows, like comparing it to Futurama for example (of which I have also seen every episode). But it fell back to my [blank] problem of what aspect am I comparing. Do I compare the structures of law, employment, religion etc. - all the aspects that make a society - and show how each does that? That feels a bit too bloated and would lose some of the observations I've gathered such as, what is on the ground level of The Jetsons etc.
What about "A History Of Flying Cars" and include the Jetsons along with other shows that use flying cars? Again, I'd lose all those observations and they'd be irrelevant to such a topic.
So instead of trying to involve other shows in the discussion, what can I focus on in The Jetsons. The reason it's known but not as beloved as other Hanna Barbera properties is interesting. It's largely a flop, with the show cancelled, the movie bombed. They really tried to make The Jetsons a big deal and it just never stuck. Likewise with the multiple attempts at reboots over the years. I'm sure they'll make something eventually, but it's different given the ironically dated nature of The Jetsons. This is one of the most fascinating aspects of The Jetsons, the attempts and fails of the show, which is now only largely remember as a joke as evident by their cameos in Harvey Birdman and Jellystone.
That's when I had the idea that ticks every box. A fun narrative structure for the video, allowing me to discuss my observations while also reflecting on the shows failures to capture a mainstream audience. I will have a future version of myself come "back in time" and argue with the "present" version of myself that the future is a terrible place and we have to stop The Jetsons from ever happening. Then I can dip into a bunch of stuff I found, the class divide created by the tall towers, the total absence of black people in the future, how women are all just housewives and secretaries and are terrible drivers etc.
And why now? Why this year? That's the fun part! To cut a long story to only a slightly shorter story, it's established in promotional material that The Jetsons is set in 2062, 100 years after the show's premiere in 1962. George is presumed to be 40, therefore would be born in 2022 and there were viral tweets and articles announcing this is the case. But they all didn't do what I did - I watched every episode. And I found one where George announces he's 38. So he's not going to be born in 2022 - he'll be born in 2024 - THIS YEAR. And WE CAN STOP HIM!
With this structure in mind, I can chug on with the script and so far this has been tons of fun to assemble together! I hope the finished product will be just as fun!
