Why Do We Think Animation is For Kids?

Image Courtesy: Donna Biroczky/Dangerous Cupcake Lifestyle

Many, if not all of us grew up with a television at home that was often used by all the members of the family. Prior to cable, network TV channels would tailor their morning and daytime programming to children, while the more adult shows were reserved for the evening. Once cable arrived, the prospect of new, specifically tailored channels for both adults and children became feasible. The types of channels were not just split into children and adults but for different interests, niches, genders, and phases of adolescents.

As children, our brains are still maturing, and our attention spans are short and valuable as we take in the information from the world around us, as it allows for a way to create visually flashy stories cheaply and efficiently. This approach was not unusual for TV, as studios like Disney and Warner Bros., released short, animated films of Superman and Mickey Mouse in theaters that were pioneering works in their field but remained as cartoons for kids in the public eye.

Image Courtesy: Warner Bros. Entertainment

At the 2023 BAFTA awards, acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro took to the stage to accept the award for Best Animated Film for his recent, stop-motion animated, socially conscious rendition of Pinocchio set in 1940’s fascist Italy. In his acceptance speech, del Toro proclaimed, “Animation is not a genre for kids. It's a medium for art, it's a medium for film, and I think animation should stay in the conversation." Del Toro’s championing of animation as a “medium” and “not a genre for kids” is refreshing in the current Hollywood landscape where millions of people will pile into their local cineplexes to see the newest “live-action” film that is ultimately 90% CGI while ignoring animated projects of the same or higher quality since there are no live-action actors.

Take 2018’s beloved Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for example. The film has 97% critics score and a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and was the first non-Pixar/Disney animated film to win Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards in seven years. It’s also considered by many to be not just the best Spider-Man movie, but one of the best films in the superhero genre. However, just from looking at the box office numbers, you wouldn’t really know it.

The film did well, there is no disputing that, making $384 million on a $90 million budget, with two sequels on the way, one set to release in June of this year. But that seemingly whopping number of $384 million is dwarfed next to other Spider-Man films, especially compared to Spider-Man: Far from Home, which came out just a year later in 2019, that grossed $1.132 billion at the box office on a $160 million budget and while it got generally positive reviews, it was not considered anywhere near the quality of Spider-Verse. Beyond one being “live action” and one being “animated,” there isn’t really much reason for one film to gross more than the other. In fact, Spider-Verse had six Spider-Men from different dimensions as the focus of the film, which made the film have a larger scale and was a pioneering work in animation.

Obviously, this attitude towards animation comes from the way studios market their animated projects. Over three-quarters of fictional programming for children is animated in both the United States and Canada, and Spider-Man is a character that is primarily for children, but “adult animation” is not some obscure niche. Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty have become staples of pop culture, airing on late nights on FOX or adult swim with plenty of swear words and raunchy humor to differentiate themselves from their less “mature” counterparts.

I think the reason those shows aren’t considered prestige television comedy on the level of Seinfeld or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, is partly due to its animated nature but also because lots of preteens find themselves gravitated towards these “adult” shows precisely because of their edgy nature combined with the flashy visuals that come with animation. I think “adult” animated shows go out of their way to be as outlandish and ridiculous as they can be to take advantage of the fact that it is animation and a lot more can be done with the medium than in live action, especially on a television budget. But ironically, that is what is holding them back from “prestige status”.

I agree with del Toro’s sentiments wholeheartedly and appreciate the opportunity he took when accepting his award to reiterate the validity of animation as an art form that isn’t exclusive to kids, but the attitude has been ingrained in the general public for nearly a century and will be difficult to overcome but hopefully it is something that will change in the future.

Strike Out,

Writer: Matias Civita

Editor: Racquel Gluckstern

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