Gravity Falls

            Disney has stepped up their game with their new original series Gravity Falls, a clever and funny show that had me, a twenty year old that has been uninterested in Disney shows for quite some time, chuckling. The show is dynamic while it is set in small, forest town Gravity Falls, Oregon, yet features gnomes, zombies, and vampires. Although I only watched one episode, for a children’s TV series, it was engaging and I would not be opposed to watching a few more episodes, or even a whole season in the future. Gravity Falls will definitely play and expand a kid’s imagination in a funny yet mysterious way. If it had me chuckling, I can only imagine that a child would find this show hilarious and appealing.

            The show features the two main characters, Dipper and Mabel, twin siblings that were sent off by their parents to Gravity Falls, Oregon, for the summer to stay with their wacky great Uncle Stan. Their great Uncle Stan runs a tourist attraction/gift shop in his home named the Mysterious Shack, where he utilizes all the made up stories about Gravity Falls in order to make money off of tourists (aka a tourist trap). Although he does not believe in half the things he says to the tourists, he manipulates and exaggerates his hometown stories solely as a money making scheme. 

            In the first episode, we find out that Mabel is boy crazy, and desperately wants to find a summer romance. Although I would consider this show innovative and different, Mabel’s character is very stereotypical, especially for Disney, which is a bit frustrating and off-putting. Of course the pre-teen girl is boy obsessed and dependent on a man, which just reinforces how sexist most Disney shows are. However, Mabel’s humor does partly make up for it.

The first couple of minutes of the show, Mabel is intensely seeking out a date, but when she finally gets one and “spills the beans” to Dipper, she actually tips over a can of beans as she saying it, which I found clever and comical. Her jokes throughout the entire episode are mainly what had me laughing, which I appreciated. At the end of the episode, their great Uncle Stan lets Mabel and Dipper pick out souvenirs from his gift shop, in which Dipper picks out a hat and Mabel picks a grappling gun. Both the uncle and Dipper were a bit surprised by her choice, but Mabel remains hilarious as she grapples everything in sight after, including their bedroom light, that obviously breaks when Dipper asks her to turn off the light to go to bed.

            While Mabel consistently goes on dates with her new boyfriend, Dipper spends his time reading a book that he randomly stumbled upon in the woods. The book is handwritten by a person who once lived in Gravity Falls, telling all the secrets about the town. Mabel, already a bit hesitant and pessimistic about spending the summer here, is quite interested in the book as it contains information about the zombies, gnomes, vampires, and other strange creatures of the town. Dipper continues to read and reference the book, which starts to freak him out later on in the episode when he starts to question whether people are actually human or not.

            Overall, the show was cute and captivating, so I can’t imagine the appropriate audience not enjoying this show like I did. A lot of the times it is hard to hook a viewer after the first episode, but chances are if you don’t the viewer won’t keep watching. Like I said, even though I only watched one episode, in my free time I’d be interested to go back a watch a few more.  The last line of the episode also engages the audience, making me want to watch the next episode. “Our uncle told us there was nothing strange about this town, but who knows what other secrets are waiting to be unlocked.”