|
Okay....
First Alvin and the Chipmunks started as a recording group in the late '50's.
They became a cartoon in the early '60's--reflecting the current times--and making music, by the way.
The cartoon didn't last long, but the singing did....
Twenty years later, the gang showed up again on television--once again reflecting contemporary times. Doing covers of popular songs, and so forth.
Then there's the animated movie...
That cartoon was canceled after a long time on the air--but we still remember the songs....
And now, Alvin and the Chipmunks are being put into the movies in CGI form....
Bad? Good? Who knows? In each visual incarnation, they've reflected the world around them. And, it seems once again, they're doing just that.
|
I wouldn't say the naughts are exactly characterized by rap, though. Maybe the '90s, but that ship sailed, well, at the end of the '90s.
It's inaccurate to say Alvin and company reflected contemporary pop culture because they filtered heavily to keep things wholesome and inoffensive. When they came back in the 80s, were they doing covers of Duran Duran or KISS? Did the Chipmunks ever sing Money for Nothing?
They're not even trying to preserve the spirit of the original concept, they're just exploiting the name recognition factor of a time-honored piece of nostalgia. It's the same as the Dukes of Hazzard, Charlie's Angels, Bewitched, and so on and so forth. They went straight for the hip-hop angle solely for the shock value, whether it was appropriate for the original concept or not. It's the Chipmunks in name only, there to make a few quick bucks from the few curious, foolish souls who will pay to see just how badly their childhood has been shat upon.
Jam it back in, in the dark.
85242
35212
Monkey King