Children’s media has been many things throughout the years, but be it educational, entertainment, or just propaganda, most of these shows have similar qualities. The hook for children is usually the fantasy and magic within the world presented to them, the science fiction gadgets that allow characters to do cool things, and bright colorful characters of all shapes and sizes. These characteristics tend to be associated with childish themes, and a lot of kid’s shows fit the mold, sort of. However, animated shows do not necessarily equate to children’s TV.
If we were to look at shows with cool gadgets, by default I’d have to mention Inspector Gadget, but we can also think of others like Ben 10 Classic and Generator Rex. A mix of gadgets and magic are present in Xiaolin Showdown and The Secret Saturdays, along with shows that portrayed magical universes like Avatar: The Last Airbender and American Dragon: Jake Long. As an example of colorful TV shows, we could see The Backyardigans (Uniqua is the protagonist apparently and her species is a Uniqua, I wish I could make this up), Dragon Tales, and so many others. These are just a few examples of animated television shows that have a target demographic of children.
While animated television in general tends to share these elements and themes, the demographic isn’t necessarily always children. In many cases, the demographic actually becomes broader than intended. A good example of this is the reboot of My Little Pony, which caused the “Brony” phenomenon, where a whole new community, consisting mainly of middle-aged men, began enjoying the show even though it was primarily targeted toward kids. On the other hand, some animated shows are not suited for children at all (which can be dangerous for children that wander YouTube unsupervised). For example, Happy Tree Friends is a “cutesy” animated show with gore and violence. Japanese animation, or anime, is also a good example of this. Some of them feature mature topics and possible triggers, or simply consist of fan service.
However, a good example of animation that appeals to people of all ages is Avatar: the Last Airbender. While the show revolves around a captivating lore and features cool magical elements with silly characters and humor, it also portrays legendary character arcs (Azula and Zuko, here) and addresses deeper topics that are worth revisiting by older audiences. With the show now being more accessible to people with Netflix accounts, there’s been a new wave of fans coming in, most of them being young adults.
There are a lot more animated series that are being released now that, while targeted toward children, are also attractive to older audiences, but this doesn’t mean that the audience is inherently childish. The rise in popularity of these shows has shaken up how the medium is used, telling diverse stories and giving us much needed representation that wasn’t as common when the young adults of today were growing up.
For some reason, there’s a general consensus that once we grow up, magic and wonder are automatically regarded as “kid’s stuff,” as if imagination should be something to be discouraged. There’s shame in liking things of that nature, and while that atmosphere is slowly changing, as it should, some people still hold onto this odd stigma. Animated television should be normalized as entertainment for everyone, and not exclusively for children. I could go on and on about more wonderful animated shows, but I’d rather encourage you to look for something that suits you and your own tastes. You could also revisit some of the shows you watched as a kid; they might be just as good as you remember them (or they might be pretty bad, and you can just laugh at how ridiculous they were). Happy viewing!