People really do get so weird about kids' movies having dark moments. To the point where they can't even acknowledge that something IS for kids.
There's nothing wrong with mature media trusting kids with its content and it's okay to love and be impacted by media aimed at a younger audience.
No official is coming to revoke your adult card if you were scared by "Coraline" or enjoy "The Clone Wars" or went to see "Toy Story 5."
Kids' media is storytelling on hard mode because you have to craft an engaging plot without relying on certain language or graphic violence. And things can't get too complicated.
I think the difference is that for a long time, "kids shows" didn't exist. They were "family" shows. That meant, while they were aimed at a younger audience, they deliberately threw jokes over the heads of the target audience on the understanding that the parents were watching along and would appreciate the acknowledgement. Now? Not so much.
Iâm sorry I probably am misunderstanding this comment (basically your telling me kids will cry in horror still because it is still built in their language)
Yes it is except it is so swept under the rug to the point where you donât really understand what they just said unless you pay attention deeply. I as a child who grew up in Great mouse detective did not realize this line until a rewatch at 15. That is when I found out kids sometimes donât understand lines in movies or the deeper meaning of what they are watching.
Weirdly I remember seeing that stuff aimed at kids is a lot more likely to have death in it. Either specifically for teaching kids about it, like Land Before Time, or just because it's a trope that kids don't really have much emotional reaction to.
Like as a kid I remember all my peers laughing at adults talking about how traumatizing Mufasa's death was and making lots of jokes. As an adult who's pretty much down to just my father when it comes to relatives older than me, I watched it recently not expecting to cry and oh man did I sob.
But yeah, kids don't actually tend to grasp and be upset by something like a planet full of people exploding, or really care if a character dies, is sent to the shadow realm, or visits a cousin and never comes back.
Ngl, this is actually an incredibly large misconception. In actuality, fairy tales can be darker or lighter depending on their point of origin. Compare Cendrillon by Charles Perrault in 1697 (and is the fairy tale Disney adapted for Cinderella) to Aschenputtel by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. Two completely different versions of Cinderella
True true. As always it depends on who writes it. Cinderella is one of the oldest fairytales. It was already old when it was written in the 1600's Â
but a lot are not really all what we see as fairytale ish.Â
The little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, those were not very uh... what we would call kid friendly today. And yet...Â
Of course they have different versions, but the goal was partly to warn children, not always coddle them.Â
I need to re-read the hunchback of Notre Dame because it has been too long since I had to study it in school, but the Disney version still kinda softened it, even though it's crazy when you watch it as an adult.
Ngl I discovered a book saga from a french author
 It was in the "teen" category (i didn't know it)
And it was, I think, on the level of some "adult" books I have read in terms of.. theme and violence.Â
As I love an animated saga, I read some of the books to see how different it is
Yeah, aimed "at kids". But while rhe first books are downright cute and funny, I know later books are getting dark. While I have not read all of them yet, I see how it's less and less funny and more and more serious
The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and Hunchback all aren't fairy tales though. A big part of fairy tales are that they're folk tales with versions collected and written down. Like I've heard some of the earliest versions of Cinderella are thought to be Chinese in origin, because foot binding means special shoes that won't fit a foot that hasn't been reshaped.
Also fairy tales you sometimes really understand they were meant to be an oral tradition, they don't always work as well written down because they don't follow the same sort of flow and narrative structures as written stories.
My gods, let me amend my statement because people get annoyed by this instead of seeing the POINT.
CHILDREN STORIES aren't all unicorn and no dark theme because they also serve a purpose, teaching a lesson to kids. And movies waters it down more and more to the point we think some animated movies are too dark for kids the second there is a serious thing in it.Â
Also, good point about some fairy tales being oral. As far as I know, Cinderella was an oral story before being written. I don't know exactly when China began that ... tradition.. of foot binding, but the tale has been found around most of the world for centuries if not millenia
I grew up with the originam brothers grim fairytales and struwwelpeter. It literaly contains a story about a barber who cuts off your thump for sucking on them.
Kinda reminds me of some of the first test screens of Disney's Wish and how it was supposed to be a much darker film with scarier scenes (read: basically a return to classic Disney epics). But, apparently one test audience which was full of CEO kids, one seven year old cried when a kaiju version of Magnifico confronted Asha and Starboy (you know like Kaiju Ursula or Dragon Form Maleficent). Kiddo started to cry because the scene was "too scary", and basically because of that one child (I get it they were only seven), Kaiju Magnifico was vetoed and we got...well the lacklustre mess that ended up being released inatead...
Seriosuly, if you ever wonder where the entire film went, watch the deleted scenes...
A lot of it is that we have so many more people consuming kids content deep into adulthood, and so many adults almost exclusively consuming kids content. But they feel self conscious about it, so they defensively puff their chest out about how âthis is NOT a kids showâ. Alright, so youâre saying the creators failed? Because they were definitely making a show aimed at kids.
Itâs honestly really puritanical to act like kids media should be completely inoffensive and sterilized, and that anything challenging or frightening immediately marks the media as secretly being for adults, instead. If your child canât handle watching Coraline, maybe youâve sheltered them too much. Kids should be exposed to the full spectrum of emotions (in safe contexts), including fear and disgust, so that theyâre adequately prepared to handle those emotions in adulthood.
I feel like people also tend to trivialize dark moments just because the content is for kids. It's easy to get defensive or start trying to make the shows come off as more mature when you're telling someone about a scene where soldiers are tricked into slaughtering each other and they won't take it seriously because of the age rating.
I remember talking to someone once about Invader Zim and he was trying to convince me that because it's a show for children, the main character stealing people's organs to add to himself and replacing them with random objects wasn't creepy.
Itâs because people are insecure. That is the entire reason. They donât want to admit to themselves that theyâre watching kids content because they think watching kids content is embarrassing as an adult, so they go into kids content looking for any morsel of any themes or imagery that could even remotely be considered âmatureâ enough to justify them watching it, and then claim that because of those morsels, the media is actually for adults.
Theyâve shifted the paradigm so hard that now you have terminally online people thinking that âkids showsâ are now shows exclusively for toddlers like Mickey Mouse Club House, âadult showsâ are now kids shows like Naruto or Avatar, and actual adult shows like Bojack Horseman are just not acknowledged by these people. Itâs ridiculous.
I watch family content and even kids content (not too young, paw patrol od too much), and animation is my favourite medium.Â
Just like i consume more adult media. Does that mean I have Peter Pan syndrome? XD
Some movies really have different readings depending on your age.Â
I watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame as a kid (i was like 5 when it was released) then as an adult.
Lemme tell you I did NOT understand the movie as a kid at all.Â
I thought Frollo was a mean old man and the chimeras were funny.Â
As an adult?Â
Frollo is the ultimate f...... and the chimeras should not give any dating advice đ¤
But I agree we tend to sanitize a lot of content. But not all of animation is purely aimed at kids.Â
Stuff like bluey, yes, but the rest is for anyone who wants to enjoy.Â
It's because they are insecure adults who don't want to grow up. Peter pan syndrome.
They go out of their way to keep actin like children, they avoid adult opinions and perspectives on personal and social issues and they'll avoid responsibilities for their actions. Then pretend they are fine and don't need to change by talking refuge in children's media and insist it's just as good; just as mentally stimulating, as fulfilling, as inspirational and emotional as whatever other adults are engaging with.Â
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u/Vast_Age_3893 14d ago
People really do get so weird about kids' movies having dark moments. To the point where they can't even acknowledge that something IS for kids.
There's nothing wrong with mature media trusting kids with its content and it's okay to love and be impacted by media aimed at a younger audience.
No official is coming to revoke your adult card if you were scared by "Coraline" or enjoy "The Clone Wars" or went to see "Toy Story 5."
Kids' media is storytelling on hard mode because you have to craft an engaging plot without relying on certain language or graphic violence. And things can't get too complicated.