This week, Laura and Kara welcome special guest Nate Dufort to discuss one of his favorite animated series - Gravity Falls! Nate is a writer, producer, director, and voice actor who splits his time between Detroit and Chicago.
Nate is the Founder and Executive Producer of Soundsington Media, a children's podcast company focusing on quality audio programming for young audiences and the young at heart. His podcasts REACH: A Space Podcast for Kids, My Neighbors Are Dead, and Unspookable have been featured on Linkedin, NPR, CBC Radio, The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, Time Out New York, WIRED, Fast Company, The A.V. Club, Vulture, the front pages of NPR One, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.
Tune in for a truly fascinating (and mysterious?) episode!
This week, Laura and Kara welcome special guest Nate Dufort to discuss one of his favorite animated series - Gravity Falls! Nate is a writer, producer, director, and voice actor who splits his time between Detroit and Chicago.
Nate is the Founder and Executive Producer of Soundsington Media, a children's podcast company focusing on quality audio programming for young audiences and the young at heart. His podcasts REACH: A Space Podcast for Kids, My Neighbors Are Dead, and Unspookable have been featured on Linkedin, NPR, CBC Radio, The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, Time Out New York, WIRED, Fast Company, The A.V. Club, Vulture, the front pages of NPR One, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.
Tune in for a truly fascinating (and mysterious?) episode!
The views and opinions expressed by the should they watch it podcast are those of two moms who happen to be a registered play therapist and a voice actor for cartoons. So while they may feel their opinions come from a knowledgeable place, they are still in fact, just opinions. Should they watch it? A podcast that takes the task of reviewing your kid's favorite shows up your to do list? Hey there, and welcome to this should they watch a podcast? I'm Cara Edward. And
Laura Orr:I'm Laura Orr.
Kara Edwards:And we are so excited today. Our favorite episodes are always the one where we can have a very special guests which day we do.
Laura Orr:We do. Nate do. Ford is a podcast creator that works on children's media. His projects include reach a space podcast for kids and unspeakable. Welcome, Nate.
Nate Dufort:Well, thank you both so much for having me.
Kara Edwards:Oh, we're so happy that you're here with us and that you bring like, we were talking about this earlier, you, you do so much. Yes, you do. Like you are in this world. And you know, so much and do so much and have such interesting stories about all these amazing things you do.
Laura Orr:And right now, I would like to invite you to do one thing with us, which is seeing the theme of Gravity Falls, the show that you fit.
Kara Edwards:I feel this. This is a Laura thing, Nate, I'm gonna warn you like we have to sing the theme songs every time and
Laura Orr:I'm like you've embraced it.
Kara Edwards:I have it's grown on me. It's grown on me. But this was what do I mean, it's just music 123
Laura Orr:Go
Nate Dufort:that's a hard one to pull off. It's too good.
Kara Edwards:is actually really good. Thank you for catch here.
Laura Orr:I'm so excited to talk about this show that you picked. I'm wearing my maple sweater it is hitting all of the wires that are near me. So you guys are gonna hear a lot of moving around because it's just so puffy just like a real sweaters. But before we get into that, Nate, why don't you tell us because as Kara said, you have created some awesome content for young people. What drew you into creating content for younger audiences?
Nate Dufort:Well, I have a background as a comedy director, producer and actor at the famed Chicago comedy institution, the second city. And as I was leaving there, I was looking for ways to maintain my relationships with all of these talented actors and improvisers. And at the same time, my daughter was kind of entering middle grade age. So she wasn't really vibing with elementary entertainment anymore. And I saw that there was a lack of content in the audio space for middle graders. So we went to work on putting together some shows that would appeal to her. And then we scrapped it all when she came home from school one day and said, Dad, I want to do Bloody Mary in the bathroom mirror. And a light bulb just went off in my head, you know, thinking about the things that scared me. But we're also age appropriate when I was a kid or those things that stretched my own maturity. And that's something that we wanted to bring to our work while simultaneously looking at the socio political, you know, ecosphere? And how do we relay these these ideas in a way that is socially and educationally responsible for for middle graders. So from that, our show unspeakable was born. And then we started putting out some other shows since
Kara Edwards:Laura's eyes just lit up. Like I don't think I have ever seen them light up like you just started speaking a language that she is like, yeah,
Laura Orr:no, I love it. It's awesome. And I think you're spot on with this idea that kids love to be scared.
Kara Edwards:They do. I mean, Michaels already He's seven years old, and I'm not joking. My six and seven year olds were talking about Bloody Mary last week.
Nate Dufort:Oh, real amazing. Ability builder, right? Like if you can, if you can talk to kids, where they're at with their interests, then you get to sneak the education in. So what on that show in particular, while we're talking about the myth or urban legend, we simultaneously get to talk about the brain science of fear. We get to talk about the history of that myth, but we also get to talk about with that show something that's really interesting to me, which is the power dynamics and why these myths are perpetuated in the first place. And a lot of times you see, there is a misogyny ingrained into western culture and, you know, through using age appropriate language we can communicate things like that through our episodes about witches and why women that don't fit in Were don't want to procreate are often seen as outsiders within Western civilization.
Kara Edwards:This is so important. Yeah, these are such remarkably important topics. And now my eyes have lit lit up, because this is stuff that I, with my with my son especially i i tried to talk to him so much about, you know, how do we treat women? What do we see with the mistreatment of women or different types of people. And it's so important, and he loves science. So like, most of the books we're buying him are about like, you know, the these mysteries that you can see, but then why is it like that? How does it work? So, man, you really hit on something that is very necessary and, and I imagine very popular.
Nate Dufort:It is, and we have a lot of fun doing it. And we wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't fun. I mean, truly, that's what we try and lead with. And I think that's where a lot of our success, both critical. And with, you know, our middle grade listeners have come from
Laura Orr:Yeah, I really like this idea of discussing really important social issues through this lens of entertainment, because and I also think that that can be very intimidating for a lot of adults whose kids are watching this or learning about this, because it's really hard to talk to your kids about these kinds of things. Yeah. And so that question of how do we do that comes up a lot. Because there's this feeling of we need to teach her a lot, you know, if we teach her, we're teetering a line of teaching them things without trying to without over exposing them, for lack of a better word. Yep. And so I think a lot of parents have a fear of how much is too much, you know, what's the right amount of information that we need to be giving our kids at this time? And so using entertainment, I think is a really clever way of doing it.
Kara Edwards:Yeah, we always get excited when we find these shows that we're like, oh, we can use this. So I'm glad that you're doing that.
Nate Dufort:Well, I appreciate that so much. You know, we work hard. And I have to say like it is a learning process. Have we always nailed it? And are we consistent with that now? No, we we stumble as we learn. But the important thing is that we're protecting kids, and protecting parents expectations. So promoting intergenerational listening, and hoping to be the catalyst have those conversations that may not get started otherwise, because of parents reluctancy. Like I think you hit it on the head. And that's our goal. And it seems to be working. And we only hope to build off
Laura Orr:of that, that bridging that gap, I think between parent and child I think also happens a lot in your unspeakable podcast, even you know, because you're bringing up this opportunity to have these conversations. But also you're talking about certain stories that kids are telling each other today that may not have happened when we were kids growing up like I never heard of siren head and you have an episode about that. And so now now I know what are what are kids talking about these days? What are the stories are telling each other Oh, siren heads so now I'm feeling more connected to that generation as I get older and older and and it's way easier for me to feel disconnected from that generation.
Nate Dufort:Yeah, and it's super interesting because a lot of you know a lot of the creatures or the myths out there are things that are based on you know, some of the same things we grew up on but with the added invention of technology or how much further gaming has come and then the sharing of that across social media things like siren head can really take off in like the world of Roblox for example which my daughter is obsessed with so it's funny how many of the suggestions for the topics of that show comes specifically from Roblox now
Kara Edwards:so create and that's one that is so far because like I said my son just turned seven and he's begging for Roblox so far I've been saying no and yet he was just talking about siren had like two weeks ago and he here like even if you're not if they're not directly playing these games, I promise you they're hearing about it from their friends who are hearing about it from their bigger brothers and sisters and exactly right why these kids go for that it's fast like the stuff that you know, my my stepdaughter will start talking about something five seconds later Michaels talking about it. Next thing you know 10 of its friends no
Laura Orr:it's interesting how we go from being their leaders, you know, of these kids to almost having to keep up with them. I'm no question
Kara Edwards:no question.
Nate Dufort:The age range right when you look at middle grade from eight to 12, and we no longer are the arbiters of information. We are simply a source of information as they gain autonomy, and look for multiple sources of new influences. As of information start, you know, gently testing their boundaries with us questioning some of the things that we say it's a really, really exciting age, but also incredibly important to be as responsible as possible as a content creator, or as parents in what it is we're allowing, you know, children to engage with.
Kara Edwards:And this is something more and I've talked about so much on this podcast, and Laura was the first to see this and pointed out there is such a giant lack of content in that preteen range. Which is shocking, because there's so like, it's a very necessary, and there's a ready audience that would love to watch the shows. And we just watched sort of like Netflix, Disney, a bunch of these channels just cancelled, so many of their really good breaking stuff like raising Dion or the baby sitters club. And, oh, how disappointing is that I learning that? Yes. Oh, I did, too. I mean, we loved those shows. And so it's yes, there's a giant void in that space that does need to be filled, because these kids are going to find content. And it's nice to have stuff that you can go to that you can feel safe going to.
Nate Dufort:Exactly. And I don't want to jump to it too quickly. But that's part of why I wanted to look at Gravity Falls today, you know, it airing in 2012. I think it is influenced so many of the properties that we enjoy today, in pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable for middle grade audiences.
Laura Orr:Do you kind of well, why don't you just continue on you were touching on why you wanted to choose why you chose Gravity Falls? Why don't you tell us a little bit more about that?
Nate Dufort:Absolutely. So this show for me, it, it checks a lot of boxes from early influences and things I watched at that age. You know, I was in middle school, I believe when Twin Peaks was on the air, and I probably shouldn't have been watching it. But that is also exactly why it had such an enormous influence on me. And, you know, I like to think of Gravity Falls as it's somewhere between what the Simpsons does, with how many jokes are per page. And what Twin Peaks does in bringing the paranormal there. The most important thing though, is it has an animation style that pulls in younger audiences, but never then talks down to them. So it instantly builds credibility with kids, while simultaneously having jokes, not just at that rapid pace. But that answer to the expectations or level of comedy that an adult would have as well as a kid, it can be super simple. It can ride high and low comedy at the exact same time. But these are the twins in this show are 12 years of age, and have one foot in childhood, one foot in teenager dumb and experience all of the awkward experiences that we all go through at that age. And there are no punches pulled in a lot of that. And it's something that I really appreciated watching with, with my daughter at the time, because it made her feel like she wasn't alone. And we found ourselves laughing at some of the exact same jokes and realize it became a place where we could build our relationship off of some of the content fed. And then as you were saying earlier, you know, kids do gravitate towards scary things. It tickles a part of the brain. So offering just enough of that weekly, while simultaneously having a larger mystery that if you're not paying attention, you will miss things. So it has that classic almost X Files Monster of the Week episode while also answering to a larger conspiracy as the series goes on.
Laura Orr:It's a very smart show.
Kara Edwards:It's a very, very smart show. I mean, the writers the Creator, is Alex Hirsch. He was also the voice of several of the characters and he's a well seasoned voice actor. He does a great job. But yeah, there is a lot I couldn't believe the amount of thought that went into this show. Yeah, I'll
Nate Dufort:just say, you know, what was so impressive about the writing staff was how they were building this conspiracy as people, some of them just out of school, you know, building writing with this level of depth, where you'd have callbacks three or four episodes later, and some things that were just like, Oh, do you remember we did that last episode that makes a great jumping off point for, you know, bringing the mythology of the show back together. So this combination of, you know, forethought pre plan Learning and kind of flying by the seat of your pants that allows it to be so funny at the same time. Truly a brilliant room of writers.
Laura Orr:Yeah, I like that about how you can at least in season one jump in anywhere, there are some parts of the story that you need to be aware of season two, I think definitely is something you should jump in at the beginning and ride the entire way through because I think they do focus a lot more on storyline, whereas season one is a monster of the week type format with again, a couple of things that you do need to, to know if you continue. But I love that people who do watch it the entire way through get to enjoy the throwbacks to the previous episodes, as you said, that made it really special to watch and really fun to watch for me, because it was like, Oh, I remember that I remember who spray painted that explosion that looks like a muffin. And now that I end that I'm seeing in, you know, in season two that was discussed in like one of the first episodes of season one. And so I appreciate that, because I feel like the the writers are thinking of the people watching the show and wanting to kind of say, hey, remember this, you know, we're going to enjoy this together.
Nate Dufort:Exactly. And then the themes for me, you know, family is something that's incredibly important to me. And we see lots of different versions of that in Gravity Falls, you know, the importance of biological family, certainly, and that almost every conflict is solved through love, patience, cooperation, that's huge. And while that's not lacking from other media, something that I truly love about Gravity Falls are the themes related to found or chosen family as well. You know, the premise of two kids going away for a full summer and that the entire series only happens over the course of that summer is also relatively unique for a show, but the family that they find the bonds that they build, through relating and experiences, but then also through sharing danger and trauma with the mystery of the woods is really important to me. And then again, just the paranormal and supernatural aspects and themes of this truly great world building a lot of it, you know, pre existing the show and then finding their own unique spins on things that have been around for hundreds in some cases. 1000s of years.
Laura Orr:What examples are you thinking when you say that when you think of the things that have been around for so long?
Nate Dufort:Well, certainly the things like the Sasquatch or Bigfoot that's out in the woods. The idea of gnomes, you know, taken from Northern and Eastern European culture as we look at elves are the people that are what's the word I'm looking for? Mischievous, mischievous is the word I'm looking for. So looking at some of those creatures, but then as we get deeper into the mythology, seeing that there is an eye in the sky, or almost a godlike presence, certainly, that's something that exists, you know, back even before written history with us is, who do we credit, you know, the creation of universes to and the question of, does evil exist? And, you know, I think that these are things that while lighter, in written for, you know, the intended audience certainly exist within Gravity Falls.
Kara Edwards:You know, this was something that was interesting for me. And this is something that we always answered on the podcast and I'm kind of skipping ahead but we always asked like, Who is this intended for? And that was something that I was trying to explain it to my husband last night and I was saying it's it's like it's like a show that you feel like should be on Adult Swim except for its it doesn't have content that would that would put it into that category. But it's also it works for younger children. My son was so into this show. Yeah, he was hooked from minute one. loved loved loved the show. So it absolutely speaks to a younger audience. And yet as you're watching it, it also speaks to the adults like though the age on this is enormous. This one like it kind of visually looks Adult Swim ish. And there's something about it and maybe it's just because they there is great humor, like there were the copying episode where a dipper is copying himself over and over to get himself good tuition. It's so funny. My son to this day keeps walking around in any chance he gets to like, I'll be like, Michael, hurry up, put your shoes on. We got to go to school and he'll be like Like I always make sure to use like, do you get it? Do you know where that's from? I'm like, yeah.
Laura Orr:Yeah, this definitely did not feel like I think what you were like to what you were saying here like a Disney show? No, I think I know what you mean, because I was getting Cartoon Network also like early 90s Nickelodeon, right? Yeah, this show just because it's just not something that you see now as much.
Kara Edwards:You don't know. That's sort of it. And I think that's what made it fun and neat. So much of what you're talking about, it just rings so true with how I was feeling watching it with like this. This is a great avenue to bond with your kids like we, we loved watching this one together. And I also liked that it doesn't feel there's so I'll go ahead and say there's two seasons season one is 21 episodes, or 20. episodes, season two is 21 episodes around 23 minutes apiece, you can find it on Disney plus, this is not a life commitment. Yeah, like I appreciate it like this. This was a show that you can get in enjoy. It's honestly a show you can rewatch because we didn't catch on until well in to it that there's all these like hidden codes and Krista grams and hidden messages throughout the show. We're I guess we're a family that we're not intelligent enough to catch any of this stuff. So we saw the cryptograms at the end of the closing credits, and we we did go and figure one of them out together. And then it was like, That's too much work next episode. So we're not the family that's gonna go break all the codes and find the messages. But Michael may at some point, my son may want to go back at some point and be like, No, I want to find those because it just, there's so many layers to the show like when we say it's well thought out, it is well thought out.
Laura Orr:Do you think it's it accomplished everything that it meant to accomplish in two seasons? Or do you wish it had kept going?
Kara Edwards:Alex Hirsch was very specific about this. He had a concept that he wanted finished in two seasons. And even though Disney came back to him and was like, well, we'll renew you, we'll keep it going. He was like, Nope, I had one story to tell. He has left it open for the future to come back and do maybe a different series or movies or I saw something on Disney that they have like Gravity Falls shorts now. So there's he's left open the possibility of coming back and doing more. But he said for this storyline for what this is, it was never meant to be more than two seasons.
Nate Dufort:And that's so great, because his brain is truly a gift to animation. So I'm happy to see him go on and work on other projects, but also how he's kept up the mythology through the years his Twitter feed is, you know, for a Gravity Falls fan, it's still full of so much joy and love for the series. Even when he shares the struggles of working with Disney in that and talking about, you know, their their sensors internally and the things that they couldn't say and what they were changed to and how often it made for better jokes when they had to come back sometimes making fun of the censors. And that's not something that I really take lightly because I do feel like he was forwarding Disney Television Animation at the time, the introduction of two characters who are very quietly homosexual on Gravity Falls, who we couldn't be more overt, then opened the door for you know, very openly queer relationships and shows like The owl house on Disney. So I feel like he was doing a lot of the hard work for creators down the road with that stuff. And he's happy now that the relationship with Disney's in the rear view to share some of those struggles, but also a lot of the great comedy that came from him.
Kara Edwards:No question and that's again, we were talking about he's he's such a multi talented guy cuz that's when I was originally looking at the cast of the show who's who we have Kristen Skoll is maple pines. I want to talk about maple here in a second because I was so in love with maple. This may be my favorite cartoon character in history. We have my crush Jason Ritter as Dipper. I am so in love with Jason Ritter. Everything he does I like him more.
Nate Dufort:He's amazing.
Kara Edwards:If you follow him on Twitter at all, he is the most loving husband and family man I think I have ever seen. He just He is so proud of his family. He's so proud of his wife. I love the stuff he does. I loved him and raising Dion and he's great. I immediately had to look it up. When I was watching, it's like okay who is Dipper because he he played the character so perfectly subtly like it was. It was such a subtle performance this is not a big in your face lead character. And he was you could tell it was really thought about like he's he plays the awkward really well and yet he can be the hero when he needs to be. But I think the biggest surprise for me as I mentioned earlier was Alex Hirsch, as he is Grunkle Stan, he is Susi is other characters throughout the show. It's like yeah, man when you can pull off two characters having a conversation. Yeah, that as someone who has had to do that in my career, and I say that like a complaint and it is not it is such a gift when you get that opportunity. It is very challenging to create characters within a series that you would never know or the same voice actor.
Laura Orr:I also had a really exciting moment when I realized that Wendy was played by Linda Cardinal. She Oh yeah, she is like, she's like the queen of like nerd Genre TV and movies. She's in grandma's boy. She's in Scooby Doo. She does such a good job and I was super stoked to see her on here. And there's a ton of really fun cameos you have Jennifer Coolidge, you have Will Forte as the biker. So Oh, and you also have Nick Offerman who is it's fun. It's fun to hear their voices and
Nate Dufort:I mean, it's an all star cast. Yeah. JK Simmons who's become you know, voice over king in his own right just so many amazing performances. Getting back to Kristin shawl she says that Mabel is one of her favorite characters she's ever played and one of the characters closest to her. Which is also just so heartwarming to hear it's they really assembled a perfect cast.
Laura Orr:That a really cries me at all. It doesn't she plays the finest character she's also in. Well, gosh, what is it Flight of the Conchords? Yes, your character is just like so wacky. And so when I found out it was her I wasn't surprised at all.
Kara Edwards:And you can hear like when a when a person aligns with their character, it really comes through because that gives them the freedom to make bold choices in their performances, which she absolutely does. Mabel is truly I think one of the most lovable female characters.
Laura Orr:what you love about her hair, I
Kara Edwards:love everything about her. I love her. She is fearless. She is so confident in herself and so comfortable in her own skin. And she is not for a 12 year old little girl when you are hitting that part of your life where you're awkward and you're worried about what everybody thinks about you and you're insecure and you your body's changing. Everything's changing. You start realizing you have crushes on boys, but you don't know how to handle that. This girl has it all together. And I think she's such a great role model for that age of young girl like I would love my stepdaughter to be watching this because she doesn't care. If somebody thinks it's weird. Like, I want that pig and I don't care if you think that's weird, and I'm gonna do this thing and I don't really care. And she she verbalizes it Yeah, so perfectly. I wish I was honestly I was sucked into the show. So I wasn't writing down quotes. I wish I had cuz she's got the most amazing quotes. They gave her so much to work with. And Kristen brought it.
Laura Orr:Yeah, she's super confident and she stands up to Pacifica who is stereotypically, you know, queen, the Bully, bully up very intimidating person. And Mabel handles that situation very gracefully, and she doesn't let it impact her self esteem. And I think that is a very inspiring character and she kids, she
Kara Edwards:builds up the people around her. Yeah, she never hesitates to jump in and be like Dipper, quit worrying about it be your best self be the hero step up. Yeah, God this like the
Laura Orr:timing of watching. This was fun for me too, because the conflicts that the two of them had with deeper, more turning towards growing up while she is not as enthusiastic about her she's not running towards it almost like he is that it's timely that it's happening now because it reminded me so much of Stranger Things with will and Mike Yeah, totally. And I know it's a common theme in this age. But I every time when I was watching them fight I was like, I feel like I'm watching well in my care just as siblings instead of, you know, friends, best friend, whereas there might one might have a crush on the other right. We'll see in season five. I
Kara Edwards:don't know. No, they haven't great. I love their relationship.
Laura Orr:Yeah, I love it too. So we kind of answered the question of whether or not Got it fluffier educational, I think on its face your parents, if they're not sitting and watching this with their kids probably will see it as more of a fluffy show the messages that the show is trying to relay I think you need to have more attention or pay more attention to, to see it. I don't know, what do you all think?
Nate Dufort:Yeah, I completely agree, I feel like it is very, very entertaining on the surface. And while I wouldn't call the show educational material, even just some of the themes are supporting so many of the things that you've been talking about, you know, cooperation, in some cases, self sacrifice, and then those, you know, supporting those familial bonds. So I think the themes are very educational, or at least great modeling of behavior. And then throughout, you know, the interests that the twins have, and their commitment to those, you know, staying bold, committing to being weird, or having weird interests, and just committing to the things that you like, regardless of, you know, outside perspectives, or potential judgment, I think are, you know, maybe in a educational and a secondary way.
Laura Orr:Yeah, it's social emotional way. And that's, and that's so hard for this age where peers are becoming so much more important to them. It would be easier just to fit in and do what everyone's doing around you. And so again, why Maple is again. In the end, everyone is wearing a puffy sweater with their own little logo on it. So people you know, people are seeing that and embracing it and loving it, too. And we were
Kara Edwards:we were talking about this before the podcast and Dan, I'm gonna let you take this but the character of Mabel is based on Alex Hirsch's twin sister Ariel,
Nate Dufort:that is exactly right. So the entire story of going away with a fan a weird family member is based on the Hirsch siblings twins on their childhood. And you know, Mabel was based on Ariel Hirsch. Now a therapist in Los Angeles, who at the time was someone who was relatively fearless was the louder of the twins and fat transferred over to her dress as well you know, there's some pretty famous photos of her in a you know, troll big hair troll sweater, all kinds of colors that you can see oh, that's a direct translation to the character of maple based on her. And supposedly the Hearst twins relationship is very much like that of Dipper and Mabel as well. So it's this great love story to you know, this family tradition of summers away. But you know, the power of two twin siblings.
Kara Edwards:And you know, Alex Hirsch really did draw so heavily upon his own life when he was creating this because the Mystery Shack is based on the Oregon Vortex I've never been there personally. It's a tourist trap that Alex Hirsch encountered while visiting Oregon during his college years. If you search for the Gravity Falls location on Google Maps, it's actually going to take you to the Oregon Vortex What's this whole thing came from his life experiences that put the show together. That's why I think you went in with such a clear vision that he was able to get down on paper. And he knew this is two seasons. I know what it's going to be.
Laura Orr:Wow, that makes me want one more reason to go to Oregon
Kara Edwards:I've no right? No, we do not at all the times so answering
Laura Orr:the question of whether or not parents will like it. I think a certain parent will like it. I could see certain parents not really connecting with it. I think some parents could find it to be supremely bizarre on its face that they might dismiss this as something that is solely for the child brain. But it's not that at all they're just there are so many jokes and references and messages like we said that are for an older audiences enjoyment as well. There was this the scene I don't know this the humor in some points was so subtle, but I know is going over Daphne's head even though she couldn't watch it for too long. It was too scary for her. But that Sue's Grandma I felt like she was a character that only got kind of started in season two and her delivery and some of her jokes are so brilliant that I was like, I just I'm like I know that my kid is sleeping on this woman. But when she said something along the lines of like, I'll see you. I want to see you in heaven to Seuss. And he's like, Well, what about grandpa? And she just kind of looks really calm and looks down a little bit and she's like, No, not there. Oh, my gosh, and I can see Daphne just like stare checking knocked out. Totally. And I'm like, Ah, like laughed out loud. So good
Kara Edwards:for me. i This is a show that that had to grow on me because when I very first started it, it wasn't capturing me Michael was in from minute one. Yeah. But and I remember I kept saying, Oh, this is very like adult swim and I was never really someone who watched a lot of Adult Swim. You know, Gravity Falls, it's the fans actually assume that this is residing in a parallel universe to Rick and Morty, which was on Adult Swim. And they have all these theories as to why this is the case. That'd be a fun crossover. That's fine. So I it took me a minute once, once I finally really sat down. And I want to say it was really that copier episode for me, was the one where we were both laughing so much. And my husband had just come home from work and he didn't even know the show. He's laughing. That was when I really saw like, the value and the show and really became a fan. Yeah. So I again, I think you nailed it, there are gonna be parents that you know, this might not be their cup of tea, but for the most part, this is definitely I mean, compared to so many things that we have reviewed on this podcast that I was like so checked out while watching right? This is not that show, this is one that you will be checked in and enjoying with your children.
Laura Orr:Well, that's why it's so this age of TF TV is so fun because they start to bring in themes that are more relatable to adults, whereas we've been sitting through toddler TV and Disney stuff for so long. Which is it can be enjoyable, but this feels more I don't know relatable in a way as a parent. I
Kara Edwards:don't know. Yeah,
Laura Orr:speaking of parents, I'm pretty cute. I'm really curious about the parent Mabel and dippers parents. They don't even make plans for these kids. 13th birthday
Kara Edwards:were the parents, I thought that many times and you know, this bothers me and show. At least they had supervision. We have a show that we reviewed where the child was literally on his own with no supervision whatsoever, like the animals took care of him. Yeah, drove me. I almost couldn't watch it because it drove me so nuts. Please, at least or some level, even if it's like not exactly who I would choose to watch my child for a summer. At least there is some sort of someone just like services taking care of them. They're not going to just go off a cliff. But But yeah, it might
Laura Orr:have gone off a couple of speaking. Stan saves the world, my friend. I mean, that was what was so fun. I don't know, like, even when I don't remember the hillbillies name but just learning like, he's bucket. Oh, yeah. Like he's, it's so easy to see him at first as a character that jumps in and make some jokes. He's somebody who lives in this town that we can all like laugh at. And it paints a picture of what this town is like. And then in season two, you learn he has this entire backstory that is he is a genius. And then he ends up moving into the mansion at the end that was taken away from Pacific as parents, it's just the the attention to detail of this show. It's if you if you have the time to watch it from beginning to end, I think you will be so pleased with the attention to detail and the the attention that they pay to each character that may add on their face seem like this side character or as some you know, just somebody who's I don't know enriching the setting, but and then you find out that there's so much more to them than that. And,
Kara Edwards:and also like the little details, like I said, this is when you can almost go back and rewatch because we were just sitting and eating dinner the other night Michael's like, I want to watch that show baby fights. And I'm like, Baby fight. He's like, Yeah, it sounds really funny it Can you can you find out where that's on? Like, can we watch that? And I'm like, I've never even heard of it. Come to find out. It's the show that Grunkle Stan is watching and one of the episodes that literally comes out is like next time on baby fights. And Michael's like, where do I get the baby fights? I definitely want to see
Laura Orr:I'm not gonna lie. I kind of did too. And then I was like, Oh, that is supremely illegal. But that's the only existing cartoons but that is I'm fascinated by that.
Kara Edwards:If we needed a follow up series. You've got a ready made audience ready for some baby
Laura Orr:fight? Apparently, I'm in. Okay, so should we move into potentially problematic things about
Kara Edwards:Yeah, need to Do you have anything on your list?
Nate Dufort:Well, obviously we, you know, we've touched on that this may not be for every child. And obviously people know their own children or younger viewers know themselves when it comes to scarier content. And there are things you know, I wasn't allowed to watch Scooby Doo in my household when I was in elementary school, you know, for some of those exact same reasons, probably also why I ended up loving horror so much at a later age. But, you know, if your limits are easily tested in regards to scares, there's definitely going to be a cut off with your child on that front. And certainly, you know, I mentioned earlier some of the themes of inclusion there. While that's something that I'm very pro, there are some people that are upset by that. So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. I'm beyond that, though. I'm hyper interested in hearing your TOS answer to the same question.
Laura Orr:Well, I think to add to what you said about the scary imagery and story that are in some of the episodes, there's also just this bizarre imagery that I think if a kid has visual sensory sensitivities that it could also be overwhelming or Omote, overstimulating to them especially that three part finale where for sure to see Seifer Bill take over Gravity Falls and turn everything on its head. My daughter specifically has very bizarre dreams. It's definitely impacted by what she watches. And so if your kids or anything like that, you know, you might want to maybe watch it before you decide whether or not it's good for your kids to to see. Yeah, I'm Grunkle Stan, he's, uh, I love him green hair so entertaining to watch. He is a con. So just so you know, Fetty parents are well, you know, we're worried about that, I don't know to be aware of that he gets the kids to also partake in illegal activity, like counterfeiting money and stealing and things like that. Um,
Kara Edwards:I also found in a boy, I'm going to I'm like podcasts warning, I'm about to go really far out there with these problematic I don't actually find these as giant issues. It's just things that I noted while watching it. There's a lot of talk if you're not ready for your kids to be talking about crushes and dating and things like that. There's a lot of there's just seems to be a lot of characters that want to take Mabel as a wife. Yep. And that was kind of bothering me throughout this series is like, Okay, why? Why is it always going after Mabel and like trying to make her a queen or make her you know, this this female figures of possession of female that I wasn't a huge fan of
Laura Orr:and also just represent like doing things on her behalf. I noticed in a few episodes that happened where Dipper was. Like, for example, in Episode Four. Mabel agrees. First of all, she agrees to go on a date with Gideon because she doesn't want to hurt his feelings, which I think is something that we're trying to teach girls to to not do any more that I definitely remember. Remember not I remember doing that myself. And I don't think that's something that we're trying to continue
Kara Edwards:with our no question girls.
Laura Orr:But because she gets put in this situation, dip she has dip or go on her behalf and break up with Gideon for her. So there's also this I don't know the empower the getting him to do it for her. I felt like kind of had some implications there as well for me. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? No, I know exactly. Yeah. In in that same episode Gideon. He's trying. He's trying to get people to date him. And so he gets a reporter to do something for him in exchange for his reporters, crushes phone number. So also getting phone numbers from somebody else without that person's consent felt a little icky to me too. Yeah, this is just in one episode. And then Grunkle Stan goes in. In order to try to help Mabel get out of this situation. He ends up making a deal with Gideons family based on Maples relationship with Gideon. So that episode I think, has a lot of components related to a female's just I don't know how to say it like her place in this world of hair leaving her
Kara Edwards:ability to speak up for herself and say no, and yeah, I agree. There was little things in there that bothered me quite a bit. And also and I think I'm hypersensitive coming off of troll hunters, where there was a character that was an overweight character and they would not stop making fun jokes at this poor kid. And so as I was watching it, I kept wanting to be really mad about the short jokes over Gideon because it is like non stop short jokes but the more I watched it, I was like, I guess it's not like the short it's like maybe people with like Boo fonts are going to be maybe that's not as bad as I think. If you've got big error, I'd say away
Laura Orr:if you have a cherub type of look. You might might want to be careful. He is nine and so I think that he is going to be shorter than everyone and so the short jokes felt a little bit like
Kara Edwards:age appropriate. Yeah, that was like I felt like I was being hypersensitive on that one and more I watched it I was like, Yeah, you're that's you're just coming out.
Laura Orr:I definitely had to google that though. Because many and very well could have been for me, really entirely. They
Kara Edwards:never really established except for that the mama thing and oh, that's the other thing Gideons mom or mom,
Nate Dufort:oh, my goodness, how
Kara Edwards:do we get? How do I get into the show to rescue the poor mom from the her son,
Laura Orr:we need to we need to get her out of there. She's a mess. I begun these are just jumping off points. I think for conversation. These kinds of things exist in TV shows, especially, you know, the shows with this age range. And so as long as you're watching it, and just pointing it out, even you know, I kind of want to call it the bill child's law because he or we had a guest a couple of weeks ago. And he was talking about how his parents didn't really want him to watch him TV as a kid. And so they struck a deal where if he watched MTV, he had to write down all of the times there was violence and especially violence against women.
Kara Edwards:I think about that conversation so often. I've also wondered I'm like, Is Michael writing well enough that I can start making do it? Just seems like such a good so sidenote,
Laura Orr:Kara I did it with Daphne because she still wants to watch Masha and the Bear. Oh, I so it's a very problematic show, in my opinion. And so I told her that she could watch it if every time Masha AXA positionally. she could, she had to write a frowny face. And I'll tell you didn't worry. Oh, yeah, she was like, well, there she goes, Oh, she did it. Again. She's not being very nice. And so I think it's a really great strategy to use because it's, it's, it's allowing your kids to just be aware of it. And so I wouldn't count the show out because of these dumb things that we noticed. Because I think the pros outweigh the cons for sure. But it's just something to remember there was another episode that I did want to talk about, or in and also it kind of you see it in several episodes. It's just this theme of once you get to high school, everything really falls apart for you. Yeah. And it's just a very encouraging she's, she's it's this, the adolescence is portrayed as you know, maddening, relentless. It's, it's just this chaotic place to be. And I, I remember being scared enough as a kid to enter high school in that stage of my life. So the show itself is not that reassuring. So again, you know, if your kids watching this, you could just throw it in their conversations, kind of like she said, she goes, I thought High School was more like a musical. No. So maybe just saying, you know, I think it's kind of somewhere in between, it can be cool, but maybe funny. Just being aware and having these conversations with your kiddos is pretty funny scene and episode, but just something to
Kara Edwards:keep an eye on. Keep in the back of your mind. I mean, it's good going in to know about these things. No, these are things you can talk about. Point out every time that Mabels not treated fairly, and pointing out every time that she stands up and is unafraid to be herself. I think these are great things, especially to young girls to be to be talking about, but also to boys. Like I want to point this stuff out to Michael too, because I don't I don't want to raise a jerk.
Laura Orr:Yeah. So never, you know, I'd like to give Dipper some credit because I feel like he's also a really great character and role model. He has his struggles, but he handles rejection really well, which is something that I think in previous generations is not something that has been encouraged among boys, you know, keep going and getting him and he treats. He treats people with respect. And he's also very smart and brave and he makes space for Mabel. Yeah, it's very respectful. Yeah. And their their dynamic is great. And so she stands out, because she's so bright and vibrant. And it's so it's easy to look at her I think, but I think that Dipper has a lot to offer as well.
Kara Edwards:And there's another great episode that's about it. For especially for young boys because I I'm raising a child that's all about like, fighting and battles, and I think most a lot of boys at this age are. And there's this great we watched it together and laughed about it a lot where he brings a video game character to life because he's gonna get beat up by Wendy's boyfriend. And so he he's, he's scared at first then he gets braver when he has someone behind him. But then that now goes awry, and he has to find his courage and, and then they realize violence really isn't the answer. And it was just to me, I was like, that's a great episode for a kid like mine. Yeah. Well, does anyone have anything else that they need to say about Gravity Falls? Or do we all just agree? This is a great one. Yeah, we didn't even answer we didn't even answer the question. They watch it.
Laura Orr:I don't even think we talked about the premise.
Kara Edwards:Just watch it. It's worth it. I wouldn't even know this is a premise. I was looking at them like this one so hard to describe to begin with, with these two kids that go off to Grunkle Stan's house to stay in where their parents and where is this place? And who is monster?
Laura Orr:I think Nate, you said I think I liked what you said when you said it was kind of like a combination of The X Files and was the other peak. Oh, twin twinks and The
Nate Dufort:Simpsons and yeah, with the X Files monster the week. Yeah, I mean, it really is to me pulling together like the worlds have those you know, scarier television series with the funniest of animation.
Laura Orr:Did you say you watch this once a year with your daughter?
Nate Dufort:Yeah, the funny thing is I think she's finally aged out of it while I'm still holding this as you know, an annual love I think I'll do it with or without her this year. Oh, and
Kara Edwards:how old is she?
Nate Dufort:She just turned 13. Okay, yep,
Laura Orr:she'll be back. She'll
Kara Edwards:be back. This will be something as adults that yeah, is
Laura Orr:make it like a Thanksgiving thing. I bet she'd sit down after dinner and watch it or something.
Nate Dufort:Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure.
Laura Orr:I love it.
Kara Edwards:Nate, thank you so much for joining us. I just love all of your insight on this and why this was a special show for you
Nate Dufort:your course and I love listening to you to you know as you love the show, but also dissecting it because that's the most important part of media literacy, right like even the things we love are going to be challenging so with your combined brains I could sit here and truly just listen to you talk all day.
Kara Edwards:Oh wow. Thank you Wow, thank you
Laura Orr:we came to you yeah,
Kara Edwards:we kept looking at each other like this is so good
Laura Orr:No bogged down no watch it again with his with your voice in my head is what I want to do. Yeah, invite us to your watching annual watching party. Yeah. We got to do something we got to do sweaters. Where can people find you Nate if they want to learn more about your projects and about and the things that are coming up for you.
Nate Dufort:Right now it sounds Hinton media has two shows. You can follow us on Twitter or look up our individual shows reach a space podcast for kids that talks about ethical space exploration and unspeakable which dissects myths and urban legends through science history and power dynamics. wherever you get podcasts awesome.
Kara Edwards:I'm so it like we just sit here and Laura and I just keep smiling at each other
Laura Orr:like we're gonna listen to Mike I will tell you care of Michael will love both of those.
Kara Edwards:I just I'm so excited. I truly cannot I'm already like, Okay, can we start listening today when we when I pick him up from school? Cuz this is so far up his alley where you're gonna have two new fans immediately.
Nate Dufort:I love it and appreciate the invite so much. It was great talking with you both today.
Kara Edwards:Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you and everyone next week. We're doing what are we with spirit
Laura Orr:right? Oh yeah,
Kara Edwards:we are diving into such a fan favorite. Next week and I'm excited to talk about this one because this is a show that might be after my cowgirl heart.
Laura Orr:Same I cannot wait to talk about this one with you guys get it this is this is one that is been just be levied in our home for years. So it'll be a fun I'm sure people can guess.
Kara Edwards:What do we get to say what it's going to be a mystery Tune in next week. Definitely
Laura Orr:don't watch it. Thanks, everyone for listening and we'll see you again soon. Bye. Subscribe and follow us on Instagram.