The animated dramedy Braceface (2001-2004, seen right) was fairly representative of its time. It did a very surprising return on linear Canadian Television after over a decade of dormance by the likes of many Corus kids specialties outlets in 2022. Télétoon put it back for the Quebec's audience for three years, by ended its run at Christmas Eve while in the English-Canada, Nickelodeon have stopped to shown it the past fall by be seen in very unpleasant hours, like at 4am! How a today's Alpha or so, the nostalgic twenty-something would wanna watch this show in the dark when everyone does asleep?
Back in the day, there was one part why this show gains lots of popularity to fans and non-fans: It was showed on very watchable hours, able to delivers topical things that concerns teenagers of this time, having the fictional high-school with the name of real-life women pionneer filmmaker Mary Pickford and was able to carrying quality times to families aside to the most serious cartoon fan. This is a show we would possibly never seen it in any capability without does up with cynicism in the writing. Melissa Clark and company have to be proud that the Canada-China co-production do living at long by even be establishing in a few comics-book issues, as late in the game, by 2006.
Any kids or teens who have growth in this bittersweet 00s decade have certainly love or hate this show. In all the 78 episodes, the writing crew was able to tackle things like vegetarianism, first periods, first jobs, thievery, alcoholism to minors, the superficial world of stardom, school election, parenting control, smoking, discrimination, puberty, homosexuality, etc. All that was done in the most effective way at possible, thought some naysayers would keep to argue that the show is dated and that they exagerated a lot the perils of adolescence. This is lazy criticism. Because around 98% of stuffs featuring characters at teenagers never seems real to the audience they supposed to cattering for. But not Braceface!
Besides that the Spitz are Jews, (It was revealed in the Christmas episode, Angels Among Us) it offereing a true sense of diversity in the characters that are not just mere white-Christian/Catholic ones. Like Maria Wong by have Chinese and Taiwan descendants, but thankfully, she is not the bland Chinese caricature we have seen in cartoons productions for too long. She is describe at Sharon's BFF. Bar none. Remember when in Grey Matters, when she met an Arabic young men and when Sharon's grandfather howled all the wrong stereotypes and cliches of his race? This is not meant for denigrate the newcommers characters by be one-off appearences, but to giving nuances. The show known how nuances do work, and it do worked at its earnest in possibly the most straight-forward episode yet, Triangles.
The biggest flaw with that are many. Like Brock (Maria's boyfriend?) is seen like a pervert macho and getting all the crap to him (Not that great when you are a black Afro-American boy). The voice-actors and especially, actresses, have to do all their best for such lame and murky dialogues. The overbearing off-screen Sharon narration that was just a steal from others movies and shows that doing up this same faux-intellectual trap at that time. It don't help that even in the most provocative moments, there is always someone, or something that sours all the whole "serious" scene. Nina, even by shown some strong characterizations while speaking to Sharon's psychiatrist mother in The Doctor is In or team-up with her rival for rescue a missing dog in Lorenza, is still seen as the generic popular high-school girl when Sharon, Connor and Maria are seen like underdogs. This is easy to know why in 2025, nobody would seen it again to how nostalgia is a mortal disease for any animated productions all around.
You can't make a "classic" by your head or by your pseudo-intellect. The true milestones of animation, such as Steamboat Willie, The Old Mill, Red Hot Riding Hood, The Cat Concerto, Duck Amuck, Magical Maestro, What's Opera, Doc? or the early Hanna-Barbera TV shows were already tested before we were born. The animated series arrived in 2001, few weeks before the 9/11 NYC shootings. Revisiting it almost a quarter-century later just conclude that the 00s era was very bitter for the creative and animation world. We do have survived on this, but now, everything turning backwards by the belly's culture.
Nobody wanna revisiting a decade that was saccharine like the 00s were. Sure, the Girl Power attitude exists again for some people, but for a large population, who are overwhelmed by the saturation of a genre in decline, more inclusion of feminine characters at heroines remains like a compromise. This is much what corporations have in mind for please horny boys as opposed to the girls audience they having to attracted first.
The very unnecessary newer season of Totally Spies! last year or the visual novel launch of Les Mondes Perdus meant that in the end, consumers don't care. They want more female characters in their lives than known how they would pay every month their grocery bills or their property. Perhaps that it's time to stop investing in the fantasy for the real one. But sadly, some creators-corporates never learn from the past. Like, who ever would cares that Unicorn Academy (As generic it looks to be) could exists?
At this day, Braceface is somehow a thing from the past. If it weren't for its Cancon content, the animated series would never seen the light of the day anymore. Hopefully that Clark and company getting some royalties for have reran for three years this thing.
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