So what is mean-spiritedness? From an outsiders perspective it's when the odds are well against a certain character when they don't need to be, characters get blamed for issues well out of their own control, they're treated poorly without reason, and this is often associated with flanderization. I understand why this is singled out, but my issue is where it's applied, often when the joke or point flies well above the reviewer's head. They can find some cockamamy meaning to a crappy episode of The Simpsons but they can't tell when something pokes fun at the living conditions of a white collar worker or when a boy gets slighted by his sisters they ignore the fact that, hey, maybe he had it coming. Then we have people who ignore whatever else may happen further down the line because one or two things were so traumatizing... just so traumatizing...
So I'm going to go over instances of mean-spiritedness in shows and movies I can name off the top of my head.
The Simpsons
Mean-spiritedness is often used as a desperate way to create conflict quickly, often sacrificing core personalities to do so. I take it the average writer has a one episode memory span.
I can't remember its name, but I know that one episode of The Simpsons where everyone hates Bart for screwing up at a baseball game. Now, even for other episodes like this, it was still stretched beyond reason. It feels like the writer came up with this episode to voice their hatred for Bart, and since this was a 21st century episode, any idea is a good idea for The Simpsons.
However, the town of Springfield knew when to quit and were willing to spend hours chucking the winning baseball at Bart until he caught it, and left him with the idea that he did it on his own. Okay, with so many misses and dismissals, Bart should've caught on, but I would've knocked this episode if they spat on Bart's body after he fell from the water tower.
If you want my opinion on an inexcusable mean-spirited moment in The Simpsons, I'd consider the b-plot for Moaning Lisa to be a certain level of vile.
WhoBob WhatPants
If you're curious about where I stand with the newer SpongeBob episode, well, new up until recently, I hate the ones I'm supposed to. I only disagree on House Fancy because Squidward came out on top at the end (but the fact they focus on the toenail scene proves my trauma theory.) Then again, we have that other SpongeBob episode where SpongeBob fashions his house after Squidward's and he slept happy, but that episode was far worse than House Fancy, at least with the latter he had a goal and achieved it.
This is another episode that reeks of a desperate reach for conflict. Out of nowhere, SpongeBob's friends call SpongeBob "idiot boy", and the provocation isn't out of nowhere, just the overall reaction. They really needed to give SpongeBob a reason to leave town, and the conflict is thrown away when he's given amnesia. So much for a dilemma of his friends realizing that they drove him away through their own fault. Not like what we had was anything of worth, the villain of the day was thwarted within minutes.
In my opinion, I think one of the more mean-spirited SpongeBob episodes has to be Hooky. To sum up without spoilers, mental trauma for the sake of pushing a moral. How is this okay?
Chicken Little
I'll make this brief. People hate Buck Cluck for some reason. I saw this movie a long time ago and I didn't pick up on anything. I think that because he furthered the embarrassment the main character faced at the start, people forgot all else. I'm calling underdog story on this, the best heroes are underestimated by everyone else.
Fairly Odd Parents
It's a Wishful Life is clearly the most infamous when it comes to mean-spirited FOP episodes. I made it through the few times I watched it. My personal gripe with this is that it goes for the most obvious subversion tactic and missed a good opportunity; a strong implication that Jorgen staged the whole thing to make Timmy realize that he doesn't need to do nice things just for recognition. I mean that moral was picked up, but there was a better way to lead them there.
If everyone was miserable without Timmy, then that would be more like an ego boost than anything else. Though if it were up to me, if anyone wished they didn't exist then the world would be shown as better off, and this episode would get a lot more flak. I still hate the preceding episode of this more, and I think the people who attack this episode take too many notes from Mr. Enter's earlier days.
Ed, Edd n' Eddy
This goes for a bulk of the series in my opinion, namely episodes that have the Kankers or Sarah in the main role. It sucks for me because of how predictable they are, the journey is meaningless, if I go on a perilous journey and all I find is a bag of rotten fish, I'd feel as though I went on a perilous journey just to get a bag of rotten fish. All I could say about the show in general, I hate the last season, I hate Edd even more, and I'm questioning if Eddy deserves half the flak he received on the daily.
Stand-outs for me are Your Ed Here, where Kevin blackmails Eddy when he finds out the latter's middle name, and frankly, what did Eddy do to deserve this? Please remind me, I don't want to get back into that episode. Smile for the Ed is equally wretched and frankly I find myself hating Kevin as much as Edd. Then there's the big one, Sorry, Wrong Ed, and I'm on the up and up with this. Everything that could be said about this episode has been said, and I question how good of a friend Edd is, especially given what he does later on down the road.
You can find plenty of Ed, Edd n' Eddy episodes on the Terrible TV Shows Wiki, and while I don't condone it given my philosophy on reviewing, it's cathartic coming from a former fan of the show.
Hey Arnold!
Arnold Betrays Iggy, okay it got the hate it deserved. There was no point to it, it practically (okay did) taint Iggy, certainly the weakest Hey Arnold! episode that doesn't involve Rhonda in the leading role.
Stressed Eric
Check out my review of that show for a better idea on what I think of it. To sum it up, my biggest gripe with the show is its predictability. But other than that, the characters are well realized. Eric does what he could to put up with his stressful life, the Perfects are insights to a better life, but they're mostly oblivious to the lessers, Eric's boss has his priorities straight and Eric's ex-wife is a bit of a cow, and you'd believe that he'd be better off without her.
Hospital is definitely one of the weaker episodes, but you can always go lower. It's really just a stab at the short-comings of life, inferiority complexes and how people can crumble under pressure.
The Loud House
The Loud House is one of the more polarizing when it comes to episodes perceive as mean-spirited, so much so that we had someone rewrite episodes on the wiki, and he got driven off. Hey, he tried to pass off a Dick Figures OC as something unique, good riddance.
Fair warning, I'm going to go through a couple of episodes here.
Of the more obvious episodes that people hate, we have Brawl in the Family, where apparently Lincoln is the cause of the sisters' misery. Wanna know the actual cause? Bad writing, leading to a bad episode. I get why people hate this, but the fact that people took it so far to the point of writing fan fiction is fascinating to me.
It's a Loud Loud Loud Loud House also got hated, I haven't seen it but I imagine the sisters were mean to Lincoln. I skimmed through a summary because I didn't feel like watching it, and by the end of it... the sisters learned their lesson, and they learned the benefits of working together, even splitting the spoils of what they worked hard to achieve in the plot. How dare people make mistakes and just so happen to take it out on Lincoln? Maybe some mental trauma would be enough to please these clods.
The Green House got hated as well, and I actually saw this one. It's an environment episode, and I guess the worst thing about it was that Lincoln had to give up his fun because the sisters wouldn't do the same. Personally, I hate any episode with an environmental theme, so I'd probably hate this episode by default. I do see what they were trying to do, they wanted to show that if Lincoln wanted everyone to be more respectful of the environment that he'd have to honor what he preached. Also, he had to use manipulation though cute polar bears to get his sisters on board.
No Such Luck, here're three words to inspire madness. Lynn believes Lincoln is bad luck and forces him out after a number of coincidental screw ups during her games. Lincoln wasn't bad luck, but didn't try to convince her so he could avoid going to most games (going by summary memory.) and after this, Lynn became a hated character. I disagree with the sentiment, Lynn screws up like everyone in this world, and it reflect camaraderie between her and Lincoln, where not every relationship is sunshine and farts (that aren't in the form of dutch ovens). I don't ship them (frankly Loudcest sucks.)
Lincoln Loud, Girl Guru is a personal choice for me, or at the very least something that should've got some flak. Lincoln essentially fought a losing battle throughout the episode, the girls laugh at him at first when he shares his plight, nothing ends that happily for him at the end. This episode cemented the fact that Lincoln at times gets what's coming to him, because he practically asks for it. He went into this thinking he knew how girls thought just because he had ten sisters, when there're more personalities than what they amount to.
In Conclusion
At best, mean-spiritedness comes about due to poor writing, or desperate reaches for conflict. It's a bit overblown, as if most people never encountered mean people that often, but from a professional standpoint I'm aware of how poor it can translate into most shows.
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