Cartoons Are(n’t Just) For Kids

42: stop yucking my yum, ya grumpy geezers!

Apr 15, 2024

Spoilers for Steven Universe & Avatar: The Last Airbender & Inside Out

Everyone was asking if I’d seen the new Wonka movie and saying I would really like it. I thought, “What does that say about Wonka? Is it a good movie?” I mean, I was obsessed with the original as a child, but many people who were saying this to me didn’t know that. Why was everyone assuming I would love this movie?

…I just watched Wonka.

I loved it.

And no, Wonka isn’t a cartoon, which is the topic of this post, but it is a whimsical fairytale story involving music and requiring the viewer to use their imagination to connect to the child they once were. Suspending my disbelief is not difficult for me to do; however, it seems to be rather difficult for some people to let themselves be silly long enough to understand and enjoy movies like this one.

I can’t watch horror movies because they frighten me to the point of being deeply shaken, but I also do not enjoy the sensations involved in feeling afraid at all. Someone I’ll nickname Kettlebell said he didn’t even want to give Wonka a chance. Is it hard for someone like Kettlebell to want to watch a movie like Wonka because he doesn’t feel comfortable feeling… silly? Does singing make him uncomfortable? Or did he simply find it annoying due to the lack of seriousness? I guess we’re all allowed to turn off the TV if we want to, but I’m always a little bummed when something as fun as Wonka is shut off within minutes of it beginning because it’s already been judged too harshly as too kid-ish. Wonka, though not cartoon, was created with children in mind and I think this very fact can be the sole turnoff for some non-believers. Wonka is not even the best example of this as there is more darkness and intensity in this movie than there would be in, say, an episode of Bluey, but it seems there is a correlation specifically between kids entertainment and a disrespect of art that is halfway or fully in this category.

Sure, there are cartoons for kids that have no substance or value (I’m looking at you Cocomelon— shoo!) and there are cartoons made for adults that are a branch of comedy that usually goes to a pretty grotesque place visually (no hate— they have their time and place. My favorite is Big Mouth.), but I am talking about cartoons of substance. Animated features directed at family audiences that are meant to be truly enjoyed by the whole family. How inclusive! How welcoming! How safe.

Cinderella not fitting in this was a crime. But I think I got most of my fave movies in here

Many of my favorite shows and movies are animated and I often feel looked down upon because of it. IN THIS ESSAY I WILL lol, but seriously, I just want to shine a light on meaningful moments in family entertainment— specifically animated shows and movies. My hope is that those that are like me and love animated features can feel validation and a sort of camaraderie surrounding these heartfelt stories. I also hope that those who dislike animated features or those who haven’t given them a chance can understand a new perspective and maybe spark their interest in a new genre of entertainment. Optimistic Gabby is at it again!

Disney Movies

It’s impossible to be in my life without knowing about my love for all things Disney. Disney’s stories as told in through movies, music, and the theme park attractions and characters are integral to who I am. I grew up with old Disney (Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Aristocats…) and continued watching Disney throughout my teens (Tangled, Toy Story 3, Inside Out…) and into my adulthood (Frozen 2, Encanto, Turning Red…). I definitely hear the tone people use when they refer to my Disney Adult status as “cute” when they’re trying to be nice and “confusing” or “immature” if they don’t care about how they’re coming across to me.

I’m definitely going to be diving deeper into my love of specific Disney movies in my Disney Movie Review series, but I gotta mention an important scene in Inside Out (that I will continue to share forever because it’s so important and beautiful):

Our homegirl Riley is going through a big life change: moving to a new state and leaving everything she ever knew. Her emotions (represented as their own characters within Riley’s mind) are understandably shaken up and are not functioning in the ways they once did. With Fear, Anger, and Disgust taking the reigns, Riley is about to run away and take a bus back to the state she grew up in. Once Joy lets go of the control she desperately wants to have over the situation and let’s Sadness take over, Sadness saves Riley by changing her mind and leading her back home to seek solace from her parents, who she has not been honest with the entire movie.

Not only does this movie show the importance of allowing ourselves to feel all of our emotions, but it models how parents should support their children and meet them where they’re at emotionally. The memory of her parents being there for her becomes a new core memory that rebuilds a bigger and better island of personality for Riley. In the end, we know Riley growing up means that her memories are not easily categorized into one emotion or another. Life is more complex than that.

Why is this an important movie for adults to watch? Even though my generation is helping lead the way in de-stigmatizing therapy and mental health, there are many people that need to learn the lessons this movie teaches. There are many people whose parents were not safe people to share their emotions with, who didn’t have proper channels to learn to process their emotions. When my mother saw this movie for the first time, the character Sadness made her uncomfortable and she was not the only person who told me that. Many adults were confused why Sadness was necessary to Riley’s journey and, to me— as a former teacher and someone who is passionate about mental health awareness— this shows a huge need for social/emotional education and I am so thankful for companies like Disney making movies that tell stories that NEED to be told. And I loved it so much, I saw it 6 times in theaters.

Nickelodeon

I had to mention since I can’t be the only one watching the terribly sad documentary dismantling the abusive sets of our favorite Nickelodeon shows…. I am hopeful that people speaking out about their childhood experiences can protect child actors in the future. Thankfully, not all Nickelodeon shows were touched by the abusive directors in question (Ned’s Declassified thankfully, according to their podcast).

Nickelodeon also hosted a ton of cartoons directed at children of many ages, from Dora to Rugrats to SpongeBob. While some shows had a certain lesson to teach kids, others were mostly made to comedically entertain. A show that stood apart from the others in more ways than one was Avatar: The Last Airbender. This show was made animated in a Japanese style called anime which is usually directed towards adults as well as children, but the story itself also had themes directed at adults as well as children.

As a middle-schooler, my sister and I LOVED this show and watched it constantly. The full DVD collection of all seasons was one of my first purchases with my own money and I took them everywhere with me for my sister and I to watch on a mobile DVD player.

Avatar: The Last Airbender introduces audiences to a world where some people are born with the ability to control one of the elements— “bending” air, water, earth, or fire (with bending styles based on real martial art forms). The avatar is the one person alive that can bend all the elements and is meant to bring peace to the world. The story revolves around a group of children and teenagers, but the themes involved in the story are more mature. We see betrayal, death, war, and separated families, and we see how the characters are affected by the decisions of their parents in the world war they are living through.

The scene I included is a favorite amongst fans and definitely hits harder once you’ve seen the entire arc for Zuko’s character, but this scene shows us Zuko and Iroh. Zuko was banished by his Fire Lord father and his Uncle Iroh volunteers to assist him on his quest to find and capture the Avatar to regain his honor. Throughout the journey, Iroh looks after Zuko like a father— the kind of father Zuko never had and the kind of father Iroh was to his son until he was killed. In this scene, Zuko returns from a separation from his uncle after particularly hurtful words were said, Zuko isn’t sure his uncle will welcome him back into his life, but this is only because he was not shown forgiveness or love by his own father.

Why would adults want to watch this cartoon? The story throughout the 3 seasons of the beloved Nickelodeon show becomes more and more intense as the characters grow, mature, and train. What begins with giggles and penguin sledding ends in a truly satisfying end where good wins and evil crashes and burns. If one can let themselves enjoy the silliness as the writers introduce us to the motivations and patterns within characters, they can experience another great story that rivals any other adult live-action show. (And I’m talking about the original, where Katara is a badass, determined mama-bear figure, not the remake version where Katara is shy and expressionless.)

Cartoon Network

Growing up, Cartoon Network seemed to have the most edgy and scary content. It was a network unafraid of taking risks on cartoons that pushed the limits either in content or in visual hi-jinx. So, when I was in college and a mutual friend pushed Zach and I to watch Steven Universe, I doubted it every step of the way. I was paying attention, but wasn’t fully present and trusting of the process. With 50 episodes (though 11 minutes long) in the first season, it was hard to believe the show would go to the heights it did when it started off SO silly, with a protagonist SO innocent and friendly, and a world as colorful and confusing as it was.

Steven Universe is a show meant to be watched in full, in order. Even though the beginning of the show makes the viewer think nothing the protagonist does matters and we will continue to watch crazy things happen without much information, we are quite suddenly launched into a more serious type of story, one that grows our protagonist immensely. Each character has growing to do, but you want to root for them and you want to see them find a way. While being a very sci-fi show about literal aliens, the story takes the audience on a journey where we’re shown the true beauty of being human.

The show also breaks ground for LGBTQ+ representation in children’s programming. Even though the gems are technically genderless, they do all use she/her pronouns. Our main protagonist Steven, a half-gem half-human boy, has always sensed a tension between Pearl and his dad Greg and finds out through this song that Pearl had been in love with Steven’s mom Rose, but Rose chose Greg over Pearl. Rose had passed over 13 years earlier, but Pearl is still in love with her and can’t figure out why she can’t move on. Though she isn’t human, the clip below showcases Pearl singing about the very human experience of heartbreak and loss.

Why would an adult benefit from watching this show? Well, it is an adventure, with plenty of comedic moments but the show also has an almost equal amount of tear-jerking moments, both heartbreaking and heartfelt. Steven Universe wouldn’t hit the home-run it does without the complex and fleshed out relationships between characters. There is a big overarching theme of healing generational trauma, with an overall focus on the parent-child relationship, which we could all use some focus on. I also fell in love with the art style and am completely fascinated by the lore of the gem kind.

Netflix

Since Oakley’s so into cars, we try to watch more car shows nowadays for his sake. We are definitely not against screen time since Zach and I are such big fans of watching shows and movies. But there are way too many kids shows out there that are overstimulating and undeveloped— only created to distract children. So, when we were introduced to Go! Go! Cory Carson, we definitely thought it would be another bright, colorful attention-trap, but thankfully it is not.

The show teaches lessons through heartwarming and innocently comedic ways, with smooth and shiny animation that is comforting to watch. Each episode features Cory, his mom, his dad, and his little sister Chrissy. The show features many different personified vehicles living in a vehicle-only town. The world looks like ours but is creatively swapped out for car alternatives. The shower is a car wash, potty accidents are oil spills, and all movie theaters are drive-ins. This show does a great job of taking us on adventures with Cory, where a car child’s misunderstandings become adorably avoidable problems that result in life lessons.

One episode caught Zach completely off-guard one morning. This episode was “Grandpa’s Treasure.” Thankfully, the entire episode was available on Netflix’s Youtube page (interesting sentence) and is available below for your viewing pleasure. In the episode, Cory and Chrissy are excited for Grandpa’s birthday— a day they go on a special treasure hunt to honor their grandpa’s memory. After visiting many of grandpa’s favorite places and seeing where he grew up in town, the kids finally find the treasure: a photo of Grandpa with his grandkids. (Spoiler alert: We’re crying!) The end of the episode has a dedication to all of our grandparents.

For those who may not know, Zach lost both of his paternal grandparents within months of each other back in college and it was really hard not to have them at our wedding or to have them meet Oakley and be a part of our lives today. This episode randomly came on one morning while watching through the series and he was wrecked. They even have a scene under the dock at the beach, where Zach’s family coincidentally spread his grandma’s ashes. It’s hard not to look at the show from my own perspective in having older parents myself. I am thankful my parents get the opportunity to be grandparents.

Even though Cory episodes like this one are few and far between (3 seasons in, at least), I still see so much value in a show like this for adults to watch with their kids. Cory, Chrissy, and their friends exemplify real kid problems in a perspective that parents watching may have forgotten. Cory’s parents do a great job of regulating their own emotions so they can be there for their children’s emotions. I’m not claiming adults need to watch this without their kids, but I am recommending it as a show the whole family can enjoy. Cory does a great job being what it needs to be: a healthy, happy kids show, but that doesn’t make it a bad show at all.

Disney+

Bluey is a relatively new kids show (first airing on ABC Kids in 2018, according to Bluey Wiki), but we didn’t wait to have our son before Zach and I were watching Bluey by ourselves. Readily available on Disney+, we excitedly consumed what many of my (at the time) fellow teachers and students’ parents were raving about. Bluey is now one of my favorite shows— no asterisk. I am so happy there is a show that my entire family enjoys watching. It is now without a doubt Oakley’s favorite show and Zach and I will always watch along with him.

From the beginning, we saw that Bluey was different than other kids shows. The show takes you on an emotional journey, giving you an intimate look into the Heeler family home and their mostly healthy parent-child dynamic. Many parenting sites recommend Bluey to parents because of the amazing example of play. The central theme of the show is connecting with your kids and talking through some of life’s harder experiences like bullying, comparison, healing from trauma, and processing hard experiences— like having a preterm baby sibling. In the below clip, Bluey and her sister Bingo get to see their Aunt Brandy for the first time in years. We find out it’s because Aunt Brandy has struggled with infertility and seeing Chili’s kids was difficult for her.

Why should an adult watch this show? Well, if you’re a parent, I believe this show should be required viewing. There are just too many positive examples of pretend play with your kids. But even if you’re childless and/or doing inner-child work in therapy, this show is really helpful in finding more positive ways to talk to yourself. There are many times a character helps out a friend in a time of emotional hardship, sharing tools and practices that have helped them in the past.

Today, an all-new episode of Bluey was released on Disney+ and it was a 28-minute emotional rollercoaster! Without giving too much away, we follow the family through a time of big transition and see all of the members of the Heeler family coming to terms with the changes. There also happens to be a wedding they need to save. I would definitely watch some other episodes before jumping in to this one (specifically Double Babysitter, Onesies, and Christmas Swim) but it is definitely my new best example of why Bluey is more than a great kids show. It’s just a plain great show— with amazing writing, a unique soundtrack, and extremely relatable characters!

This episode had me and Zach CRYING. OUR. EYES. OUT.

Available for iOS and Android

Parenting & Reparenting

This weekend, we had the pleasure and honor of hosting the soon-to-be husband and wife, some of our longest-time friends, Violet and Tree. (I will be a bridesmaid on the special day and Zach will be the officiant! YAY!) It was so good to talk to our out-of-town friends in person for the first time in forever! And they got some good time with Oakley as well. While hanging out this morning before they left, Tree asked me what my favorite part of being a mother was. In short, I shared that being a parent has been one of the most healing experiences of my life. Loving Oakley teaches me how to better love myself. I have given myself more grace, gotten more motivated, and accomplished more because of him. And one of the things I am realizing is how much I want a positive community surrounding Oakley and therefore surrounding me.

I have been poked fun at for liking animated features and shows directed toward children, but they bring me so much joy! These shows are meaningful to me, they’re fun, they make me cry happy and sad tears, and they are teaching kids important social/emotional lessons they may not be getting from anywhere else. I love cartoons. And video games. And happy endings. And rainbows. And I still deserve respect. And people who make me feel bad for it? They shouldn’t be considered friends.

I want my son to be better prepared than me. I want Oakley to know his worth without needing a stamp of approval from others. I want him to be confident in who he is and who he wants to be. I’ll tell him he’s brave, intelligent, kind, emotional, beautiful, and capable because words build worlds. And he will become all of those things because he believes he already is.

Now, when’s the next season of Bluey starting??