Elite is far funnier than expected

I don't care much for Balkan comedies, however, as I mentioned in my post regarding my top 10 favorite Croatian tv shows, there were examples of them geniuenly being funny. And, thankfully, this quirky little Serbian webseries shows off exactly that. I, honestly, never heard of this show before and, if I simply heard about the premise I would have possibly written it off as yet another Balkan attempt to follow trends in TV. We had our fair share of action series, crime dramas and sitcoms before, so, screw it, why not add an animated webseries with a bizzare but creative concept on there too? And, sure, it might certainly fall into that category and be a little generic at times, but, this show works on so many levels that I can't even begin to describe.

So what exactly is Elite (originally titled Elita) anyways?

Well, given the fact that it doesn't seem to be accesisble to non-Balkan viewers I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to give a brief synopsis of it.

We follow the lives of the Croatian born ethnic Serb scientist Nikola Tesla, language reformer Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (Vuk Staephanovitsz Karadzhitsz) and author Ivo Andrić (Evo Andritsz) as they live in a small crappy household owned by poet Desanka Maksimović (Daesanka Maksimovitsz) in modern Belgrade. It's a goofy as all Hell and an even downright stupid concept, but, susprisingly, it works out incredibly well.

But why does it suceed in places where other Serbian comedies and most Balkan comedies failed for me? Well, let's take a look, starting with...

(1) The Writing

Comedy, along with horror, is one of the hardest genres to pull off writing-wise because humor, just like fear is subjective. Not everyone will find the same things funny and, personally, when it comes to Balkan comedies, it fails flat on it's face for me (alteast when it comes to movies and shows, I can generally burst my gut laughing at some Balkan comedic novels and comics). The problem is, we have an abundance of sitcoms around these here parts (I can name atleast five off the top of my head, but I won't was the precious time of my readers with this nonsense), so I'm forced to endure these painful reptative jokes over and over again.

As I had mentioned in my list of favorite Croatian shows I posted a while back, however, there were two other exceptions to this rule, those being Croatian sitcoms Biba's World and Mrkomir the First, both of which had incredibly witty, clever and delightfully timely comedic writing, elevated by a great cast of actors who played an equally memorable slew of characters.

So, what made Elite so funny to me in the first place?

Well, because it's incredibly smartly written.

Now, I can't blame you for giving up on the show upon hearing it being described as a Serbian adult animated sitcom because I probably wouldn't desire to touch anything described this way, even if I was in a hazmat suit and me holding it would determine the future of the human race, not only because of my previously described distain for the majority of Balkan sitcoms, but most adult animated comedies lately have had me wanting to give my eyes a warm soaking bleach bath and my ears the double Van Gogh treatment.

However, like many viewers prior to myself, I turned out to be incredibly wrong and I'm super glad I did.

Like most viewers, I was surprised at how well this show manages to take elements from all over Serbian history and adapt them to a modern cultural and sociopolitical setting, satyrizing things like expensive bills, the Balkan soccer fan culture, reality TV etc. Some episodes don't even satyrize anything that big and even they're cleverly written enough that I didn't sense a strong urge to pound my skull in with Mjollnir.

Some viewers took offence to the show for, quote on quote, mocking great Serbain historical figures, however, as somebody who, despite not being from Serbia himself, has read up a decent amount of works regarding Serbian history I wouldn't call the portrayal of these figures mocking, but rahter moreso satyrizing the absurdities of both past and present in an educational fashion, similarly to the way the Horrible Histories (which were big staples of my childhood as a matter of fact) books and TV adaptation do, however, in this case, it's intended for a more mature audience.

(2) The Animation

Now, I'm not a particularly good artist nor do I have any experance within the field of animation, so I'm not sure how valid my input is on this topic, but, I personally really enjoyed the animation of the show. Sure, it's not on the same level as stuff like Watership Down (1978) or Prince of Egypt (1998), but, it's not aiming for that to begin with. Just like the core premise of the show itself, it's simple, but achieves what it sets out to.

Even if we take out the fact that the show is literally made by a couple of dudes for no other reason than having fun and that flash animation is chepaer and quicker to produce than other types of the medium, it could be a deliberate stylistic choice, made to ewoke the aesthetic of 1930s flash animated shorts (as is suggested by the opening theme atleast) or even old newspaper comic strips which were incredibly popular amongst all nations in the former Yugoslavia and probably still have nostalgic value for a decent chunk of the populus.

At first it might seem a bit awkward to look at, but, like another webseries animated in this style I saw recently entitled SCP: The Ofshoot (don't worry, a review of that one will come as well... Eventually) which might feel a bit stiff and awkward, but, it certianly works and gives the end product a sense of identity amongst a sea of similar looking and feeling animated properties lately.

I also really enjoyed how various side characters who show up throught the show's run are depicted in it's artstyle. It perfectly combines the way they're portrayed in stories or artworks with a contemporary dissheveled look and feel the would have if they lived in 21st century Belgrade.

Not to mention that ther's a ton of really cool visual gags and easter eggs the viewers familiar with Serbian history will notice if they pay attention.

(3) The Performances

And, finally, let's talk a bit about the art of voice acting.

Unlike with animation, I actually do have some mild experiance in this field. Sure, it was mostly for jokes and/or pranks, but, my friends said that I'm pretty good at it, so that oughta count I suppose.

As it should be in any animated property that wants to be good, the voice cast matches the characters and brings out intended emotions, however, in this case it's for the comedic, rahter than the usually dramatic effect.

Each voice matches the character they're portraying to a T. Now, given that I, unfortunately, am not a time traveler, I've never met any of these figures face to face, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the large majority of them sounding identical to this (alteast in the age range they're shown to be in the show.

The cast (mostly consisting of the show's two creators) is very charismatic and does a great job of making every joke work, even the simplest and most braindead ones (which are, thankfully, rare). They try their hardest to bring these characters (or should I say, versions, I'm not sure) to life and you can clearly see not only the effort, but also passion they have for the craft in every spoken word.

So, in the end, would I reccomend the show?

I think the affirmative answer to that question is inevitable. I went into this show expecting absolute idiocy, but got an incredibly smartly written satyre poking fun at both the past and the present, featuring all of the hallmarks of an animated cult classic in the making. If you're a fan of history, comedies, animation (especially the ever growing and expanding genre of indie web animation) or all three, then what are you waiting for? Give this one a watch and you'll love it.

(Sidenote: I do find it kinda funny that I ended my review of The Raven with a picture of the lead reading a newspaper and I'm doing the same thing here)

Trailers: