Gargoyles

The first surprising thing about Gargoyles is the fact that it is a product of the Walt Disney studio.  With its dark atmosphere, adult characters that undergo development within the series, extended stories covering several episodes and motifs referring to Shakespeare’s dramas, this animated action series is an entirely unique project in the Disney portfolio. We can see the impetus for its creation in an effort to compete with Warner’s animation division, which had enjoyed massive success with its Batman (1992) television series. Whereas Batman was based on an established character and universe and built on the broad popularity of the masked hero brought to life by Tim Burton, Gargoyles introduced viewers to a completely original world that blended elements of fantasy and sci-fi, and where complexly defined characters with ambiguous motivations stood in the foreground, though Disney’s typical comedic characters were also present to lighten the mood. Even though today Gargoyles, like Batman, cannot conceal its age, which is apparent in the slower pace and the characteristically simpler animation, it still seems modern and current in its progressive themes. A noteworthy aspect of the series is that it gave priority to motifs involving gender and minorities. The central protagonists, a group of gargoyles who, in line with myths, come alive at night and guard their home castle against raiders while the human residents sleep, are profiled from the start as a minority in contrast to the humans, who are mostly afraid of them. Their status as outcasts is further enhanced when enemy soldiers slaughter most of the petrified gargoyles during the day, and a small group of survivors awaken under the influence of a curse centuries later in the New York of the future. The main positive human character is detective Elisa Maza, a strong woman of African- and Native-American descent who plays an active role in the narrative. Though the basic concept is similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in Gargoyles (in line with the targeting of the series at a slightly older age group) the characters are more highly developed, the central characters are profiled as adults and, along with their need to conceal themselves, their rootlessness and exclusion from society serve as the basis for the series’ dramatic peripeteias. (21/09/2013)