Gravity Falls premiered June 15, 2012 and ended February 15, 2016. Ten years ago this week. Shocking – I know – 2012 was ten years ago. Gravity Falls was fundamental to my middle school and high school self.
It’s no secret that I love cartoons and that fandom culture is a major part of my life. Gravity Falls directly contributed to my discovery of this. Everything and everyone that came from the show I still keep up with. For context, the show started right before one of the most traumatic events in my entire life. I clung to it like a life preserver in the ocean. Being one of my major sources of joy, Gravity Falls meant everything to 12 year old me and still inspires nearly 22 year old me.
I saw so much of myself in the Pines twins and their world, I was immediately invested. The concept is simple enough, twin kids Dipper and Mable Pines are sent to live in the mysterious small town of Gravity Falls in the middle of nowhere with their Great Uncle Stan for the summer. But it’s so much more. With themes of trust & betrayal, authority & rebellion, and exploring growing up the show never talked down to its audience. If you’ve never watched, and I’m not kidding, do so asap. Even if you don’t enjoy cartoons. It’s two seasons of perfection.
Gravity Falls skirted censorship with an expertise almost unseen in this generation of cartoons. The crew never backed down and the show shined because of it. They would submit episodes with rule breaking scenes, let the censors demand they be changed, and change them to what they actually wanted. Basically making the outlandish appear tame and playing the censors to get what they knew the show needed. This was a kids show that managed to be both hilarious and dramatic in a way most ‘adult’ shows can’t balance. Disney higher ups hated them for it and the crew loved pushing the line. The only real loss the crew had was that Disney’s censors succeeded in forcing the removal of everything LGBTQ+ from the show. However, the crew was good at sneaking it in anyways. (Side characters in implied relationships, quick double meaning lines, etc.) That the fandom immediately picked up on.
Being in the fandom was and is spectacular. The lifelong friends I made from a pocket of nerds on the internet obsessed with a Disney cartoon still amazes me. The creativity unmatched: fanfics, fanart, AUs, voiced projects, cosplays, etc. – all still, actively, being created a decade later shows the passion of the fans. This world starches such a particular itch that’s hard to find in most media. As a writer myself, I mean it when I say I can’t sing the praises of the intricacies of Gravity Falls enough. This show had actual hidden codes and an entire secret puzzle with an ARG that was solved by a global team of fans. What other show on television can say the same? This show is a mystery anyone can enjoy diving in.
LeAnne McPherson
Reporter