Animation finally isn't "just for kids" anymore—even for shows that ARE "just for kids"

[robotech_master]

I just kind of looked up and noticed it, but it seems to me like over the last twenty years we've been through a bit of a sea change in the world of animation.

When I graduated from high school, as I did about twenty years ago (my 20th class reunion is next year, in fact), most cartoons were strictly for kids. (I seemed to have come of age in a culture gap between the sixties, when cartoons like The Jetsons or The Flintstones were made to be appreciated by the whole family, and now when it's come full circle again.)

There were some great exceptions, like Robotech of course, but it still came as a little bit of a surprise to me when I got my hands on Robotech Art 1 and learned about anime—cartoons that were not only not just for kids, but in some cases weren't meant for kids at all.

Then I came to college and got in on rec.arts.anime.misc, started snagging fansubs, and my education began. I got in on what I suppose was the trailing end of college anime counterculture—by the time I graduated, the anime enthusiasts who'd graduated college earlier were dragging it kicking and screaming into the mainstream (and boy didn't the fans of my era put up a fuss about that!) and titles like Sailor Moon were becoming well-known and popular.

But for all of that, most American cartoons still seemed to be strictly kid stuff. There were some great exceptions, like the Paul Dini Warner Brothers stuff, but it seems like only in the last few years that American show producers have realized they can throw jokes in for adults without turning off kids, and so the numbers have exploded. The Power Puff Girls. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Spongebob Squarepants.

And now, even My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. That's really a major accomplishment: making a 22-minute toy commercial for little girls enthralling enough to appeal to adult males and develop a huge fan following on the Internet among people old enough to have daughters who are into the show. Some of the fanfics out there are just amazing.

So what I realize now is, it's now cool to be an adult who likes cartoons. Even cartoons about cute pastel-colored SD horses.

Comments

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

The Fluttershy one has all sorts of problems with the physics, though. Conflicting assumptions, using force instead of momentum, etc. Also, a 275 kg pony with the physical dimensions he calculated would be made of iron or something.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

I rather prefer his favorite assumption as explanation: she's made of dark matter.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

No, that was Applejack. The 275kg figure was from the Fluttershy/Butterfly one.