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He is going to be a happy, happy boy... until his parents find out. They will not be happy. Nor will the clerk who tried to warn them, was ignored, and now has to undergo their berations.
"This is clearly one of the year's best films. Every time an animated film is successful, you have to read all over again about how animation isn't "just for children" but "for the whole family," and "even for adults going on their own." No kidding!"
"Grownups — and this includes those of you who work as film critics — must stop watching children's movies and pronouncing them entertaining for adults as well."
In the United States and Europe, animation is widely seen as a frivolous medium suitable only for children's entertainment. Things that have helped this prejudice include the fact that animation is a great medium for light slapstick; the fact that the dominant production company in the early days, Walt Disney, was and has remained dedicated to "family-friendly" artwork, and the structure of the film industry of the 1930s and 1940s.
Back in the days when TV didn't yet rule the Earth and going to the theater was often an all-day event, most cartoons were shorts intended to be shown between screenings of the feature film and the B Movie. Viewers would come in somewhere in the screening cycle, watch through several hours of features, newsreels, cartoons and serials, then leave once the cycle got to "where I came in". As a result of this and the Hays Code (which regulated the content of films), everything on the screen had to appeal to all audiences equally, lest they go hang out in the lobby or even leave the theater. (Ironically, this also meant that most animated shorts — even by Disney — had quite a bit of Parental Bonus Material, something which has been largely missed by today's audiences. Only Pixar seems to get it right nowadays; Dreamworks Animation appear to be focused on providing Bitchy Variety Reporter Bonus Material.)
Thus, "serious" animation has had great difficulty getting a foothold in the United States, especially anything involving sex (violence is more acceptable, as long as you Never Say Die). Few serious animated works get produced at all, and those which are, are not given mass distribution. This has had a chilling effect on the animation field at large in previous years and on the morale of older fans. If it's animated, it's a Guilty Pleasure (Well, unless it's Batman The Animated Series, due to the fact it not only was serious, but actually was in line with the mythos).
This has slowly been reversed to some extent in recent years. After the success of The Simpsons and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, there was a backlash against this ghettoization, leading to more animated shows for adults and family audiences, but these shows were all comedies, since animation was still not regarded as a suitable medium for purely dramatic content. This trend eventually led, through a sort of Flanderization (perhaps ironically), to several animated Dead Baby Comedy series. But this way of coping is something of a double-edged sword. The results may be "mature" in the "film and TV classification board" sense, but whether or not they contain substance or even plot is another matter.
In this case, we can speak of a lack of maturity in adult cartoons made for American television: the rules are being broken and adult animation is slowly becoming more acceptable, but in an attempt to break the rules, the writers and animators are penning the grossest Dead Baby Comedies known to man. This is not new at all: the Dada movement was about breaking the Bourgeois Art Ghetto that was already taking over the European art, and their followers did so by creating something that was deliberately ugly and gross. This trend may be changing soon: as some recent animated shows like WITCH certainly seem to be targeted to pre-teens, but they also have a big adult component that also makes them serious, respectable works, free from the grossness of a Dead Baby Comedy. However, we are still a long way from seeing an American animated TV series that can match up with the films of sophisticated independent animators such as Emily Hubley.
The problem is somewhat smaller in Japan, as well as some of Western Europe, where cartoon stories are more likely to be seen as "stories" before "cartoons", and given a certain measure of respect. Although the Japanese public is more receptive to manga than to anime, both are seen as storytelling media that can carry any plot and premise. As a result, anime is used to tell any and every kind of story, from children’s adventure to adult drama. Also, in the Japanese case, the strong cultural bias against being a public figure, reinforced by the utterly rabid media paparazzi, results in a shortage of live actors, so animation is often used even in serious film despite the higher costs, as voice actors ( seiyuu) are easier to find. Not too mention on how Japan finds their animation to be substantially more "International Friendly" than their live action material. This unfortunately results in the misconception in other lands that anime is predominantly overly violent or sexual, and the branding of those that like it as either children or perverts even in Japan. (Check " figure moe zoku" if you think the grass is greener. Probably no one's ever called you a serial killer in waiting. Well, maybe Jack Thompson has.) The Animation Age Ghetto is more widespread in, but unfortunately not limited to, the United States. Cartoons are also actively squared into the "for kids" region in the rest of Europe, never getting an "adult" timeslot and suffering that worst of indignities: bowdlerisation.
This Western "only kids watch cartoons" mentality is the driving force of much Bowdlerisation and Cut And Paste Translation during the English dubbing process for anime. In the last decade, the rising popularity of action-based anime has led to more attention in animation toward the older demographic, resulting in shows like Avatar The Last Airbender and programming blocks like Adult Swim (along with the above adult comedy animation).
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Western animation moving towards more serious stories is the Merchandise Driven nature of most modern TV cartoons. It is standard procedure for shows that skew toward older viewers than their intended demographic to be Screwed By The Network. This is due at least in part to the fact that older viewers, aside from a few dedicated collectors, don't usually buy the toys and other products for which, all pretensions of art and story aside, the cartoons were created as extended advertisements. This is, ironically enough, also one of the major reasons that more "adult" series are so successful in Japan, as older fans buy almost as much, if not more merchandise as the children. This is partly because of the wider range of products offered which appeal to the older set, such as artbooks, music and other items in addition to toys.
This may be a Cyclic Trope. A previous wave of "underground" or "adult" animated films (almost all of them comedies, such as The 2000 Year Old Man, Fritz the Cat, or the Lenny Bruce short Masked Man) welled up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but died down quickly. Only time will tell if the ghetto walls will come down for good this time. In Britain, the television company Channel 4 commissioned a veritable feast of adult animated shorts through the 80s and 90s, covering everything from comedy to drama to abstract filmmaking.
See also What Do You Mean, It's Not For Kids?, Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch, Public Medium Ignorance, and All Animation Is Disney.
Examples:
Western Animation
- Anybody else miss those GREAT AND INTELLIGENT cartoons MTV used to air? Stuff like Aeon Flux, Liquid Television, The Maxx and The Head?
- South Park is a potential subversion. On the one hand, it definitely helped convince the North American animation industry that Adult animation CAN be a mainstream success; on the other hand, they think that ONLY Adult Comedy animation can be a mainstream success.
- Not strictly an adult cartoon however, as many of the series' biggest fans probably began watching when they were (or even are now) in junior high.
- Periphery Demographic.
- The cartoon adaptation of Spawn can be considered a glimpse of what animation would be like if the ghetto never existed. Not only is it a remarkably high quality production, but one that states very clearly that it wants nothing to do with children. It has violence, death, gore, decapitation, torture, Nightmare Fuel, and much more, but it never deploys this in excess. It is Darker And Edgier, but it also takes itself very seriously. It has an engaging plot, good characterization, and probably the best voice acting ever seen in an animated production. Sadly, it was short-lived (only eighteen episodes produced); nothing like it has ever been seen again.
- Though how it happened is... let's just say sad, it's also amusingly ironic that the only animated shows on FOX that survive are comedies aimed at the older crowd.
- In Italy, if it's cartoon art, then it must be targeted to children. Bloody battles, dismemberment and sexual innuendo notwithstanding.
- Which is weird, considering how established the Italian market for adult comic books is.
- The case in Spain was, until recently, much like what the previous editor mentions about this thing in Italy. However, thanks to a very vocal community and a growing comic industry, this is happily starting to diminish - though there is still a ways to go before a teen watching a non-Simpsons cartoon doesn't get any funny looks.
- The censor board from France, before the 1990's, just automatically flagged animation for kids without even watching a single episode. To this day, we still don't know why.
- Invasion America, the only primetime animated drama produced in the United States, folded after one season without any plot resolution.
- This may be justified: When Batman The Animated Series was released, critics praised the mature storytelling and vibrant art style, saying it was "wasted on weekday afternoons." They thought it could easily grab the attention of a more adult audience. When Fox put this to the test, giving the show a prime-time slot, it flopped miserably.
- Quite frankly, with their particularly more restrained use of humour, strong continuity, and emotional depth, much of Bruce Timm's work, such as that of the Batman and Justice League franchises, could qualify for a prime-time slot. Unfortunately, most grown-ups aren't willing to watch a hand-drawn series based on spandex-wearing superhero exploits. As a result, the shows are watered down and shipped as children's entertainment.
- The Animatrix, a collection of animated shorts set in the universe of The Matrix, was aimed squarely at an adult audience. Many of the shorts were surreal to the point of psychedelia, and they had violence. The Animatrix has a higher Rotten Tomatoes score then the original Matrix. It sold poorly, but this was probably related to lack of publicity and oversaturation of the Trilogy more than any cultural bias about the role of animation.
- Then again, the cultural bias could've affected the publicity.
- Star Trek The Animated Series was a continuation of the old live-action Star Trek, complete with Gene Roddenberry at the helm and the cast providing voicework (except Walter Koenig). Still, it was toned down to be friendlier to kids. It aired in the 1970s on Saturday morning — anything not kid-friendly in those slots was literally forbidden back then.
- Despite the fact that the Teen Titans source material was directed toward teenagers, hence the title, when the comic was adapted into an animated series, numerous aspects were either severely watered down or removed altogether to make it suitable for a solely juvenile audience. The quote from above comes from response to criticism that the series as a whole expressed an overly childish nature.
- That's because Sam Register was in charge. Now, if it was Bruce W. Timm, then it would be different...
- Yet that certainly didn't diminish the Nightmare Fuel it occasionally presented. See: Slade.
- The struggle between doing a quality show and watering it down lent a schizoid flavor to the show. You would, for instance, have the angsty and adult Raven plot arc, and in the middle there would be an episode featuring that Bat-Mite ripoff.
- A similar occurrence took place to a much greater extent, especially in the later seasons, of Static Shock. The Milestone Comic on which it is based can be best described as an Amazing Spider-Man with a black hero, twice as much angst, and 10 times more contemporary content (sex, gay-bashing and visual gang warfare were but a few of the series's recurring focal points). While the beginning of the animated series is close enough to its source material, it became more and more child-oriented as time went on. Where Did They Get Lasers was in full effect by the middle of the series even though real guns were seen and used in the series' premiere.
- There is another example of a non-laser gun when a bullied kid steals his father's gun with the intention to kill his tormentor; he ends up being knocked to the ground by some students with the gun going off and hitting his friend Richie in the leg. Richie doesn't bleed, but you can tell he is in serious pain. Later on, we find out he could've died if the bullet struck any higher.
- That kid was then sent to a juvenile detention center for counseling at the end of that episode. It ended with a special message from the main character delivered to the audience.
- The producers of Spider Man The Animated Series had a list of requirements to keep the show politically correct. Some were animated staples such as laser guns and not mentioning "death", "die", etc.; but some were utterly ridiculous ("Caution that when Spider-Man lands on the roof, he doesn't harm any pigeons.").
- Subversion: the UK — specifically, Channel 4 — has produced a hefty amount of adult animation for TV, with far more variety than America's contributions.
- It could be argued that the dark underbelly of the Furry Fandom runs smack into this, as animation is where you're most likely to find Anthropomorphic characters. A common complaint heard is "you're ruining our childhood," implying that cartoon animals are just for kids.
- That's not what it implies at all.
- From what I have seen, the "you're ruining our childhood!" complaints are usually levelled against fanart using characters from cartoon shows or animated movies that are aimed at children and putting them into sexually explicit situations, not some random anthropomorphic foxes or whatever getting it on. Also, it doesn't only apply to anthropomorphic animals, but any character that officially is "wholesome"/acceptable for children twisted that way.
- Something Awful has "ruined my childhood" via their more disturbing art contests based on making kid's shows have a darker twist to them than EVER accidently seeing Yakko with a penis. The punk kid from Zits murdering everyone in a school shooting? Awesome! As long as there is no penis.
- Two awards for cartoons at the Emmys: one for programs up to 30 minutes, and one for programs 30 minutes or longer. Neither was even seen at the 2007 Emmys (though the fact that the creators of South Park thought them getting an Emmy was ridiculous and probably wouldn't have shown up might be a reason not to show their win).
- Family Guy for 2009 did not even nominate themselves for the Emmys' Best Animated Program. They submitted directly to Best Comedy... and are nominated. They did not win (we all know the Emmys are in the effing can for 30 Rock every year), but they were nominated in a "live action" category in the Primetime Emmys, which is impressive.
- Gargoyles, which was made by Disney of all people, still managed to have serious and mature themes, as well as strong continuity.
- Dreamworks Animation features, particularly the Shrek franchise and Kung Fu Panda, may be offering a way to help bridge this animation gap. While none of those movies is exactly adult animation — they have a lot of kid-friendly moments — neither are they standard kiddie-fare. They offer mostly good alternatives to the Disneyfied products they compete with. Perhaps this will be a major step in finally breaking down the walls of the ghetto, as future films may become less aimed toward children and more critically accepted and honored.
- Does anyone else wonder how the hell Channel 4 (UK) ever got away with airing Family Guy at 6 p.m. after questions were asked in the house after they started to broadcast South Park post-watershed?
- And what about Beavis and Butthead or Daria? Those cartoons aired on Noggin, which was advertised as a children's channel. The morning was for preschool-aged kids; the evening was for teenagers. Those had better have been on in the evening!
- When the new FOX animated series Sit Down Shut Up was first pitched, it was pitched as a live-action show. Executives rejected it because the characters were "too broad". Rather than attempt to fix this, the creators merely said "we'll just make it a cartoon, lol", because good characterization is obviously not important in animation. Naturally, it got green-lit, but proceeded to bomb.
- Sounds more like "animation genre ghetto" than "animation age ghetto".
- Sky One used to air Family Guy and Baby Blues as part of their Saturday Morning line-up, along with kids stuff in the early part of the decade. They, uh, did not last long.
- Though in the latter's case, it should be noted that the comic strip was family-friendly. Adaptation Decay at work.
- Fox used to air The Ripping Friends on Saturday morning. It was basically The Ren And Stimpy Show on steroids. (It is created by John Kricfalusi...). The show was dirty, filthy, and hilarious. Cancellation and a spot on Adult Swim at 11:00 PM ensue. Guess they figured adults would appreciate all the poop and booger jokes more.
Comic Books
- In an extreme example, there have been cases where comic book specialty stores which had separate adult sections have been prosecuted for corrupting minors, even though children weren't allowed into those areas of the store. The basis of the case is that if it is cartoon art, then it must be for children.
- Not just prosecuted, convicted. As recently as 2000, in that case, with the appeals lasting through 2003 (and failing). Oh, and even Scott McCloud came in to testify on behalf of the defense... didn't help.
- Oh, and by "convicted," we don't just mean "forced to pay a fine and stop doing it." Some of the defendants in "obscene comic book" cases have been forced to (1) undergo psychological counseling, (2) undergo "journalistic ethics" courses, (3) avoid contact with minors, and/or (4) be subject to unannounced raids of their houses to check to see if they're in possession of or in the process of creating "obscenity". First Amendment rights, anyone? Maybe it's time for you to go donate to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
- Partial example - Apparently some libraries put When The Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs in the children's section. It's a graphic novel in the same style as his books for children, but... it ends with the main characters dying horribly of radiation sickness.
Anime and Manga
Videogames
- Media hatred is Nigh Invulnerable. In Spain, it has recently concentrated into videogame hate... with similar arguments to the ones displayed in this trope. One would think they simply erased every mention of "cartoon" and replaced it with "videogame" in their declarations. Sigh.
- The entire justification by Micheal Atkinson for why Australia doesn't have an R rating available for videogames. Much to the quite vocal objections by the hundreds of thousands of gamers in Australia....
- Germany has even proposed legislation which would prosecute violence against 'human-like' characters as if they were real people, applicable to publishers and players alike.
Film
- In Finland, while the channels that air The Simpsons treat it like an adult show and subtitle it, The Simpsons Movie was rated +7 and dubbed. The visual contents were left intact. Yeah, the film has Bart drunk and animals tearing Marge's clothes, but it must be for kids.
- Then again, most film theatres screened the original version of the film with subtitles, though there were some screenings for the dubbed one. An article in NYT also featured an interview of Homer's Finnish voice actor calling the dubbed version a travesty.
- Many of Ralph Bakshi's films were poorly received because of this, such as Fire And Ice. Others, such as Cool World, became the victims of Executive Meddling. Meanwhile, The Lord Of The Rings... just wasn't very good... But, since it is a cartoon, it was some people's first introduction to the general story.
- One major complaint that was made when the Watchmen film came out was that it was far too graphic for a superhero movie, despite being rated R and the original comic also being directed at adults. Even the trailer made it clear that this was not Satuday Morning Watchmen. People saw the masks and the capes and automatically assumed it was a kid-friendly film, so they were quite surprised to see attempted rape, blood and gore, dark themes, and Dr. Manhattan's cerulean penis waving about.
- This was especially hilarious when one would see eight year-olds leaving a screening of the film with thousand-yard stares.
- The mere existence of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature speaks volumes of the prevalence of this trope: "If we stick all the cartoons in here, we can keep Best Picture clear for grown-ups." The category was introduced after Chicken Run—The Great Escape ON A FARM!—failed to gain a Best Picture nod. The only animated feature to earn a nomination for Best Picture prior to that was Beauty And The Beast. With the addition of the animated feature award, it's not likely to happen again. Officially, any film submitted for consideration for Best Animated Feature can be considered for Best Picture, too; but that's probably never going to happen... Then again, the same can be said about foreign language films and feature documentaries, since they have their own Oscars as well.
- The Screen Actors Guild might have had a say in this. Animated movies don't need to hire extras, and if they have flexible enough voice actors, then they don't even need a large main cast.
- Plus, you can switch voice actors halfway through production, and no one will be able to tell the diddly-ifference. Overall, there are a lot of reasons for actors to hate animation.
- One wonders about the headaches resulting at the Academy as films such as Beowulf and A Scanner Darkly get made more frequently, and a really good movie filled with only Serkis Folk is inevitable.
- So far, people have been treating Beowulf, A Scanner Darkly, and 300 as live-action films despite the sheer amount of animation in them. One can argue that A Scanner Darkly is a 100% rotoscoped film, but so far no one seems to have.
- On the other hand, the fact the Academy of Arts and Sciences was forced to acknowledge a need for Best Animated Film (when before Beauty And The Beast, they were never nominated at all) may be a good sign. One step at a time. Just getting the Academy to agree animation deserves recognition is monumental. Hopefully the rest will come with time.
- They did come under some heavy fire over rumors about them not allowing WALL-E a nomination of Best Picture.
- The Academy is taking fire from all places for choosing movies that only played in a few locations that, when you finally see them, aren't that good. Blockbuster movies can be well-crafted, too. WALL-E should have been nominated, though, based upon the sheer depth yet simplicity of the film. Fans have clearly identified no less than five completely different themes.
- As said by a talking cotton ball in a Don Hertzfeldt short, the intro for the theatrical touring festival The Animation Show:
Talking Cotton Ball 1: "An animated film is not just a random series of mindless, self-indulging, violent cartoon images meant only to be enjoyed by young children or people with mental handicaps, but is a serious, valid art medium all unto itself which the artist is free to explore the purity of the film medium, down to each and every single frame. The animated arts are—"
Talking Cotton Ball 2: *pointing* "Roboooooooots!"
- The animated movie Heavy Metal was ridiculously, obviously not for kids. Extremes of violence and sex were fairly common in the short, rock music-based vignettes that made up the original. In the flop sequel years later, the vignettes and much of the music were done away with, and most of the violence and sex were removed, toned down to something in the general vicinity of a PG-13 movie, maybe pushing R at best. It seems that even when making a sequel to a blatantly adult animated movie, you still need to make it not too adult.
- Maybe it would have been different if the original movie hadn't been perceived as being about nothing but violence and sex... and if it had had a better script...
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: "I'm a cartoon! My only purpose in life is to make people laugh!"
- This is the number one reason for Watership Down's reputation as Nightmare Fuel. Hey, it's just rabbits, right? Cute fluffy widdle bunnies. We can let our children watch it alone. WRONG.
- Plague Dogs (from the same team) has less of a problem because "plague" is in the title of the movie.
- One DVD of The Last Unicorn included commercials for shows targeted at young children (such as "The Wiggles"). Yes, it's a cartoon movie about a unicorn, but it's no My Little Pony. (...Then again, the older My Little Pony cartoons weren't 100% kid-friendly, either.)
- An odd example was a reviewer's quote on the Rotten Tomatoes entry for Princess Mononoke: "It's just right for the 9-year-old looking to while away a long afternoon in escapist storytelling." Which makes you wonder if he even watched the movie containing several decapitations, severed limbs, and zombie boars spewing blood before he wrote that.
- One of the reasons Akira was such a groundbreaking film was that it helped Anime break out of this, at least in the West. It was by no means the first mature anime, but it was the first to receive enough attention outside of Japan to help subvert this on a larger scale. These days, a lot of Western people view or even expect ''all'' anime as being on that end of the maturity scale, though.
- Still, Akira may be found on display in some stores at the 'Kids' segment, right next to SpongeBob SquarePants.
- If the stores are staffed by people with no clear grasp of the English language, then sure.
- Or if the stores are staffed with people who don't bother to read the back of any box that has a cartoony animee picture on the front.
- The Brave Little Toaster: a great movie, but it does have some powerful images if you let yourself think about them. Mortality, finding God, salvation, self-sacrifice, the soullessness of modern culture...
- The "Worthless" sequence in the junkyard still gives me the creeps.
- There's also a Musical Age Ghetto. Apparently, if half of the performance is songs, then it's automatically like Beauty And The Beast or Aladdin, and therefore for kids. Yeah. Sure. Tell that to these five.
- A recent New York Times article decried Pixar's Up for not pushing enough merchandise. Notwithstanding the bad research (they get the domestic box office numbers wrong and flat out ignored the worldwide totals, and then claim that Ratatouille and WALL-E were Pixar's least successful films financially when they made more money than the first Toy Story and A Bugs Life) and the criticism against Pete Docter for his remark that they "make the movies for themselves", the entire article is under the assumption that an animated film must have tie-in toys for the children.
- If the trailer for Battle for Terra is any indication, the film's intent is to take this trope, break it, stomp on it, and shatter it to pieces underfoot by way of bright and colorful Dinosaur-esque CG animation and a very serious storyline about humanity being on the verge of extinction and deciding to take a peaceful inhabited planet by way of hostile conquest. There will probably be some difficulty.
- Titan AE. Part of the reason that movie flopped was because the filmmakers didn't know whether to market it towards children or towards teenaged Sci-Fi fans.
- One of the very earliest animated films was Winsor McCay's The Sinking of the Lusitania. The kiddies must have flocked to it back in 1918.
Soviet Animation
- Sometimes avoided in Soviet Union animations: while many cartoons were aimed for children, there were numerous cartoons with much more mature themes like war, regret, death, tragedy, lies, ignorance, human feelings and so on. This is one of the kindest examples.
- That's what happens when Communism meets animation. Stalin's Disney, so to speak.
- Stalin was a film buff, but he wasn't interested in animation. It traditionally had seen much less regulation than the other media. Soviet toons had another problem — despite a significant number of adult-oriented ones, they were mostly shorts. Feature-length ones were almost nonexistent, and series were few and far between, being either a features broken into 10-15 min shorts, or just separate shorts about the same characters, which might be separated by years.
- Not necessarily a bad thing - you could make a strong case for shorts being the ideal format for animation, as they suffer less from the watering-down that tends to accompany longer formats.
Live Action TV
- Bottom's Up features an inversion of this trope. Richie joins Eddie, who is watching a film. Richie comments about the cute furry anthropomorphic animated critters on screen all with Species Surname "It isn't very sexy, is it." This is proof that Eddie accepts that cartoons aren't just for kids as he was expecting something closer to X-Rated from the title 'The Furry Honey-Pot Adventure'. The only clue Eddie gets that no sex scenes will begin is because the caption 'The End' appears on-screen.
- He was equally disappointed with his purchase of 'Big Jugs', which turned out just to be a history of pottery.
Eddie: Well this ones got to be a sure fire hit: 'Swedish Lesbians in Blackcurant Jam'!
Richie: Yabba-dabba-doo! No, Eddie it's 'Swedish LEGENDS in Blackcurant Jam MAKING'!
Eddie: Aww, come on, it's got to be dirty it says 'Swedish' on it!
Real Life
- This — not the expected copyright issues — is the basis for nearly any and all controversy over art exhibitions that depict subversions of classic cartoons, such as "Animatus" and "Splatter". With that in mind, see the very first line in this typical report on the latter.
- This one is even stranger: "unrelenting acts of blood and discomfort never previously witnessed on the Cartoon Network". Remember, this is after Metalocalypse, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and other graphic shows were already on Cartoon Network.
- It's a British newspaper's website writing about an exhibition in London; none of those shows showed on Cartoon Network here, so the statement makes sense.
unsorted
- In Brazil and most of Latin America the Animation Age Ghetto still goes very strong with nearly no sign of change. It's horrifying that the DVD of Dead Space: Downfall (a prequel to a video game that everyone knows isn't for kids) was in the Children section of a regional Blockbuster, with a severed arm in space just at eye height... to a five years old. Also noticed the same in other rental stores. Although the Brazilian rating system is very competent compared to most, being somewhat more strict but also more critic (the movie was correctly rated 18+ in a large black label, regardless of it being an animation, for "Murder, Mutilation and Cruelty", although forgetting foul language and moral issues as well, but I guess it didn't have the space), most stores and consumers outright ignore it exists, and the ones who does blindly goes with it as a religion, forgetting it is just an advice.
- This troper just recently (summer 2009) witnessed Happy Tree Friends DVD in a supermarket shelf alongside children's cartoons. He felt like curling on the floor laughing, and beating his head on the wall simultaneously.
- Bell Express Vu will categorize any animated series as "Children", regardless of its rating. End result, cartoons set in the future with automated suicide booths and vending machines labeled " Heroin - it's refreshing!" are labeled as "Children". (Side note: to even things out, The Comedy Central news programs are labeled "News").
- In an unusual case of this, Robert Crumb, practically the patron saint of adult-oriented underground cartooning (and oh lawdy not at all for kids!), is somewhat cynical about the wave of "artistic" comic books and (I'm paraphrasing here) thinks comics should stick to their more proletarian roots.
- A major issue a Plugged In Online review and various Media Watchdogs have with Avatar The Last Airbender is its seriousness and maturity for a cartoon. If cartoons really should be just for kids, this would be a bad thing. However, most of its demographic are of the age who believe the darker, the better. The co-creators have said several times since the beginning that the show was designed for kids, but at the same time were very confident that its particular writing would attract older audiences and wider demographics. Though certain parties argued otherwise, the end result is obvious.
- "He's supposedly the only one skilled in manipulating all of nature's basic elements. But he isn't. A rival shares his powers." I don't think that this reviewer actually watched the show.
- He also objects to its FOREIGN influences. How DARE you expose our youth to Buddhist/Taoist/Hindu influences! It frankly struck me as pretty discriminatory, like all kids should be allowed to see is 'wholesome Christian values' out of fear that they'll be tainted by anything else.
- Plugged In Online is owned by Focus on the Family, a fundamentalist Christian organization, so it's not entirely unexpected that they'd object to a show that would tend to glamorize Eastern spirituality.
- The Black Cauldron. Who knew that Disney intentionally made it to appeal to teenaged fans of fantasy novels in the 80s and that they were actually afraid that it would be rated "PG-13" or even "R". An "R" rated cartoon?! NEVER!!!!
- The Simpsons is revered for being an animated show enjoyed by both children and adults, but in the British "100 Greatest Kids' TV shows" poll on Channel 4 (which wasn't very democratic since the 100 shows were picked by the channel in the first place; the public were simply putting them in order, so to speak) the number 1 spot was taken by The Simpsons. The people on the show's constant pleas that it belonged there because it appealed to all ages really held no ground considering there are plenty of other shows that kids can also enjoy despite them being made for adults that didn't make the list. Once again it seems to be the old argument "It's animated, that means kids must like it!"
- WALL-E was a heartwarming romance that had adults tearing up over the utter power of the emotions the film evoked. With the possible exception of The Dark Knight, it was the best-reviewed film released in 2008. Of course, the Oscars are specifically rigged to exclude "cartoons" from even being considered for a Best Picture Oscar. The Dark Knight was similarly denied a Best Picture nomination (replace "cartoons" with "superhero movies" here), despite all sorts of critical acclaim (and being the second-highest-grossing film ever).
- Similarly, it seems that comedy is considered the first and foremost quality for an animated film according to the academy. As such, Wallace and Gromit beat Howl's Moving Castle for best animated film (thats not to say Wallace and Gromit was a funnier movie).
- But then, that's hardly an outrageous choice. I'd have picked Wallace and Gromit over Howl's Moving Castle too (although, out of the three nominees, I'd have gone for Corpse Bride - but that's another matter). Plenty of open-minded people in the animation community simply preferred Wererabbit to Howl. It's also hardly unheard of for a non-comedy film to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short.
- Yes, but when was the last time you saw a comedy win Best Picture?
- Live action comedies generally aren't so technically progressive as Pixar or Aardman films.
- Your Mileage May Vary with your last comment. La Maison en Petits Cubes won Best Animated Short in 2009, even beating Pixar's hilarious short Presto.
- Ironically enough, it may have been those two glaring omissions in the Best Picture category in the 2009 Oscars - and the crap everyone flung the Academy's way for said omissions - that resulted in the category gaining an extra five nomination slots for the 2010 show.
- Second to Dark Knight nothing. It was the best critically acclaimed wide release of the year according to Rotten Tomatoes (including limited releases, the best reviewed was Man On Wire)
- In the video section of a local department store, this troper saw a copy of the special edition of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (the version in which Tim Drake kills The Joker) in the children's section, on the same shelf as Bob the Builder and Dora the Explorer.
- I've seen worse...Batman: Gotham Knight and Superman Doomsday next to Disney movies at Target. Way to go, Target.
- What really makes the Ghetto concept so retarded is that older American cartoons like Tom and Jerry had fairly mature themes, such as stabbing and shooting, even going so far as use ketchup and making it look like blood.
- Don Bluth holds the philosophy that animation cam be both dark and lighthearted at the same time, and that children can handle more than most adults believe, just as long as you gave them a (relatively) happy ending; The Secret Of NIMH is probably the shining example of that philosophy. Needless to say, studio executives don't feel the same way, which is why Executive Meddling forced him to essentially abandon this philosophy not long after An American Tail; in fact, Bluth wanted to add darker elements to Rock A Doodle and The Pebble and the Penguin, but the studios wouldn't let him because they wanted the films to appeal more to kids.
- Petit Eva: Evangelion@School. With the madcap antics of the video, the source material must be for kids, right?
- Every movie in the DC Universe Animated line has a sticker on the case saying "The First-Ever Animated (insert subject of movie here) Movie Rated PG-13!", as if nobody would watch the movie otherwise (which, sadly, is probably the case). It technically isn't even true for Batman: Gotham Knight, since Return of the Joker was rated PG-13 eight years before.
- Partly subverted in Germany: While Naruto and other shows were edited till they can be shown at 4 pm, this trouper also remembers the time one had to sneak to the TV after dark because the Hellsing TV series was not aired before 22:45.
- While not exactly being a What Do You Mean Its Not For Kids like the rest of the examples given, The Adventures Of Tintin was commonly aired in a timeslot and on networks where children would see it, and the comics are commonly placed in the Children's Section of the library before some started to put them in the Graphic Novels section. (Which is kind of what they are anyways) They weren't exactly violent, gruesome, or sexy or anything but they contained a lot of stuff that children just wouldn't really understand, namely the political satire. Still though, kids would find appeal in Tintin cartoons and comics. How many cartoons are actually about drug smuggling?
- Invader Zim deserves a mention—-Nickelodeon specifically asks its creator to make it a show for older children, but wound up marketing it between SpongeBob SquarePants and The Fairly Oddparents. Predictably, it only lasted a season and a half. (Ironically, Nick later opted to whore it out in crossovers meant for said other shows' target demographics).
- It makes this troper kind of angry seeing Looney Tunes DVDs next to the cartoons meant for the littlest children because several cartoons had very adult themes that children wouldn't understand such as a murderer rampaging through town, depression, suicide, prejudice and not to mention the political and satire style of humor; there was also smoking, heavy Bloodless Carnage, and characters suffering from alcohol and gambling addictions themes that would never fly in today's Saturday Morning cartoons.
- The Triplets Of Belleville got a PG-13 rating, but, as this troper found out, as long as it's animated, even with full-frontal female nudity in the shape of an animated dancer with pendulous appendages and a fruit basket on her head, it's for kids.
- A ton of reports from fans of 9 have come in involving seeing young children at the theater for it. Those poor kids. Apparently PG-13 means nothing to a good amount of parents if it's not live action.
- It didn't help that the trailers shown before the film were for more family friendly movies.
- Likewise, as with Battle for Terra, the critics did not think much of it.
- This troper, when she casually mentioned wanting to see the movie to her roommates, got the response "So it's that kiddy movie?" You have no idea how much she wanted to bang her head into the hot stove she was heating up at the moment. Yes, a movie about post-apocalyptical Earth, involving steampunk-themed monsters and other various sources of Nightmare Fuel, is definitely a "kiddy" movie.
- This troper once watched End of Evangelion when he was 10...at 4 in the evening on a Sunday while mom was away. At the end, I felt like Shinji: weak, useless, and a mockery. I didn't talk to anyone for five days and when mom asked why, I said, "The world is ending soon. Why even bother talking to people?"
- To find their hidden food! If the world is ending, be the one with the non-perishables when it turns out life is still around. THEN THEY WILL PAY.
- According to this troper's theatre (which showed it a month and a half before the official release date for some reason), Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0 is PG. This is a movie with extreme groping, Shinji literally being ''boiled'' in his EVA while he screams constantly, and three onscreen nipples. No parent is gonna help with this one.
- Just read this. Poor old Urotsukidouji :(. You'd almost think Popcultural Osmosis regarding its content would have protected it from this kind of bullshit by now.
- This troper once saw a DVD for Witchblade in the Children's section of his entertainment store. You'd think a cover like this would only be eye-catching for an adolescent male over 13 years old. But no, apparently it belongs next to The Wizard Of Oz and Wind In The Willows.
- This troper saw the Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic DVD, complete with "For Mature Audiences" label on the front and "Adult 18" sticker on the back, in the children DVD section.
- Likewise, this troper saw the comic book under the Children's Novels section. The other graphic novels there were Ug and several copies of Ultimate Spiderman.
- The video for Streetlight Mainfesto's Would You Be Impressed. Has the band represented as animals too! So it must be for kids.
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