Mid-Term Post(Post 1.2)

From spectacles such as Up!, to anime’s that touch our hearts like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the best stories are often told through animation. They tell stories of super heroes, flying houses, princesses, and fairy tales; yet there is a preconception that these forms of entertainment are meant for children. Animation provides a medium to get across messages and themes that transcend the barriers of age. Whether you are a nine-year-old seeing a movie for the first time, or a parent taking his daughter to the theater, anybody can have a memorable experience if they are open to it. That being said, not everybody is. This begs the question, what is it about certain animations that make it appeal to a variety of age groups? and why is it that certain animations have stood the test of time and touch our hearts decades later?

                                              One of my favorite shows as a kid during the 90’s was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Humor is a great way to appeal to multiple ages, if done correctly. There is a certain subtly that needs to be used when trying to incorporate humor into an animation that can appeal to multiple age groups, one animation that comes to mind is Phineas and Ferb. What seems like a harmless children’s cartoon actually doubles as a clever satire on popular culture. A great example is the episode Tip of the Day where the main point of the episode is Phineas and Ferb spreading the word about the tip of the shoelace, which they discover is called an “aglet”. They then make a pop song about aglets, which doubles as a parody of modern music. At the same time the evil scientist has a video of him as a teenager that goes viral, again making fun of the internet age. Both instances in this episode provide humor on a child and adult level simultaneously.

As I grew up, my tastes changed. I started being less attracted to vivid colors and wild characters, and more towards stories and messages. Fortunately, this is something that the early 2000’s had in spades. Many shows came to mind when thinking about my love for early 21st century animation, Danny Phantom, Kids Next Door, Samurai Jack, Megas XLR, and my personal favorite, Fairly Oddparents. All these shows showed positive message that teenagers growing up in the early stages of the “Internet Age” could relate to. The animation that I watched as a young child up until I was about 16 or 17 was the most influential and memorable. I remember getting up on Saturday mornings to watch my favorite cartoons on the only TV in the house, making sure that everyone knew that it was my time to watch television. I would wake my mother and father up with my screams of excitement as my favorite characters triumphed over evil, or my cries of anger as the bad guys got away. To this day, I find myself having the same reactions as I did back then. It might be nostalgia, but I feel like animation has a way of connecting with people in a way that live-action cannot, and it keeps its appeal forever. I’m sure older generations feel the same way about Popeye or Mickey Mouse, it all depends on what animations you connected with.

 The youth empowering message of “Kids Next Door” is something I still feel more than a decade after the show’s premiere in 2002

Animation is a timeless art, that can affect a person in any stage of life. All you have to do is be open to the experience. You can never be to old for cartoons, in fact I feel like you love them more with age. As a college student, I find myself watching a significantly larger amount of animation than I did when I was a kid. I appreciate it more, the hard work that the artist put into a character or scene, the story that the writers spend years trying to create, and even the beautiful music that composers put together. No matter the age, animation is something that can, and should, be enjoyed by people of all ages.What animations still get you to laugh, cry, or touch your heart? What is it about them that causes you to feel like a child, and truly believe what you see before you is real? The biggest question is, does a person ever get too old to be a child?