Jerry is the partner of Amid Amidi of Cartoonbrew. Two animation historians and critics who've made a reputation for themselves by mixing animation news, animation content, animation history, with overblown sensationalism and vitriol.
So what's wrong with this picture?
If you guessed that Jerry Beck isn't flipping someone off at a public forum, then you guessed right.
That's what happened the last time I saw him at a union debate at the Animation Guild in Burbank sponosored by Women In Animation last year on October 21.
You can catch video of the event here...
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2650
Ironically, this coming October 21, one year after this infamous debate, TCM will be dedicating a day for broadcasting classic animated films and good ol Jerry will be there with Robert Osborne as a co-host.
While I think it's a great thing to be honoring animation this way, and something long overdo, my feelings are mixed with the disappointment I've come to expect from people such as Jerry.
My experiences with this man have been nothing short of surreal. They go way back to the earliest days of this site. An animation personality who literally considers AN to be the enemy. If not AN them me personally. Someone who was an important part of our community for years here on AnimationNation and never once supported us in any endeavor or event. Someone who was so offended by a topic I started on the old forums that he became rabid. My great offense being that I questioned why we take orders from people who don't draw.
Time after time I tried to be friends with this guy. At parties, at industry events whenever I ran into him. Time after time it was like talking to a lampshade.
Now a year to the day after the union debate I have to watch this individual represent animation on TCM if I'm to enjoy the films they'll be airing.
The films are all on YouTube anyway so it won't make a difference if I spend the day doing something else like enjoying the outdoors instead.
I don't know what's wrong with the animation community. I question why a blind eye is turned to the meanness and maliciousness that oftentimes comes from people who represent our community in some way. People who aren't artists. Why do we turn on our own when this group is challenged or when artists try to make things better? Why is hostility and hatred embraced but efforts to reform our industry on behalf of artists are shunned by the very community that would benefit from these efforts?
The more time passes, the more I learn that not everything that meets the eye is what it seems when it comes to this business. The more I value the redemptive blessings of creating. The more I learn to distance myself from the negativity and bad experiences I've had with people like Jerry Beck.
I'm glad the TCM event is happening even though it's tainted for me by what I've described. Maybe in the future they'll consider getting some animation artists on there as well. I think the public will find just as much fascination and interest in them as with critics and historians.
