Has "family friendly" lost its true meaning? (WARNING, LONG READ!)

[themistermanguy]

Family friendly as we know, is content that contains nothing offensive or vulgar, and is suitable for all ages. However, I feel these days, family friendly is losing its real meaning. Today family friendly seems to equal CG movies aimed at children. To me, something family friendly doesn't have to strictly target kids. The Flinstones was family friendly, but didn't strictly target children when it was on Prime-time (though the characters these days are marketed to kids). The Cosby Show was family friendly, but that show didn't pander to kids at all. There are some acceptions to this these days, such as Frozen, and Despicable Me which targeted not only children, but also equally targeted adults and even teenagers. Granted, I understand things aimed at kids can also be popular with adults (Do I even have to bring up Adventure Time and My Little Pony at this point?), but family friendly movies, TV shows, and games don't have to be primarily aimed at kids.

So what does this have to do with Nintendo? Well one of the reasons Nintendo gets labelled kiddy is because Nintendo prefers to have a clean, unoffensive image with its E rated content, even it Teen rated fare is pretty tame. The problem is that people associate that with kiddie fare, even though that's far from the truth. Take Samurai Jack, a heavily stylized Cartoon throwing back to the relitivley simple storytelling of old Samurai movies. Its kid friendly, enough to air on Kids' WB a few times but it never strictly aimed at children. In fact, Cartoon Network reported both kids AND adult ratings. And its adult ratings were heavily promoted throughout most of the shows' run. It was a show that was aimed just as much at kids as it was at adults.

Same with the Simpsons, it was a prime-time cartoon, slightly edgier than other attempts at the time. But there were often kids meal tie ins, toys, and video games aimed at kids. Those, in addition to Flinstones and Cosby show, true examples of family friendly content IMO. Speaking of Cartoon Network, I said before that I consider Nintendo to be the video game equivalent of 90s and early 2000s Cartoon Network. Did CN target children? of course, they were their biggest audience. But 6-11 wasn't the only demographic CN cared about. Toon Heads, Bob Clampet, Toonami, and O' Canada were on the network for a reason. Nintendo does sell several of its games to children, but they don't target that audience exclusively. There were Mario ads on MTV, FX, Nick @ Nite, Comedy Central, and TBS many times before, in addition to Nickelodeon.

To put it simply, Nintendo doesn't really have a true target demographic. They just provide clean, tame gaming experiences for anyone who wants to play video games. They will cater to a huge demographic if they need to, but they would rather target much broader audiences. So do you think family friendly has lost its real meaning?

 

[Dragonbums]

Well that's the thing though.

If you are able to make games that target all sorts of demogrpahics of all ages regardless of content then it is a "family friendly" game.

Family friendly includes everyone. From children, to adults, to even grandmas/pas.

The "Nintendo is for kids" aspect came about when hard core gamers too embarrassed to admit that they still like playing videogames to a general public that still saw them as "children's toys" wanted to distinguish themselves from Nintendo, and show that they play Sony and Microsoft consoles. Which are marketed towards a much more adult, and "mature" audience. Yeah, both consoles still (at the time) had their fair share of family friendly games. But they were not really in the forefront of their advertisement. Eventually as the public grew more and more accepting of videogames being a mainstay- Nintendo still advertising "family fun" while Sony and Microsoft ads are usually found on more adult oriented networks has resulted in Nintendo being labeled for kids, while the big boys and girls play on other systems.


Seriously, when was the last time you've seen the Playstation 4 and Xbox One really advertised on children networks like Nickelodeon or Cartoonnetwork?

 

[StriderShinryu]

I would say that family friendly in terms of truly being something appealing to everyone in the family has always been more of the exception than the rule. Or perhaps that's better stated as saying that while it's easy to pick out examples of truly family friendly entertainment, most things labelled as family friendly actually aren't. For every Cosby Show there are hundreds if not thousands of examples of tripe that is obviously not created for the entire family.

That said, I do generally agree that Nintendo makes games that are appropriate for all ages, child to adult. No one else has Nintendo's ability to consistently make games that are just plain "fun" and mechanically solid. But the problem there is they do lose a lot in terms of specificity. By making games for everyone, you can also say that they are making games for no one. As someone who has been gaming for a very long time, I like my experiences more nuanced. I like games that try to do new things and take real chances. Going back to The Cosby Show example, you could say that after watching The Cosby Show for 25+ years I can appreciate the comfort it provides but that doesn't stop it from being samey and boring. Some like to label this as being somehow embarrassed about playing games or needing blood and gore to satisfy but that's painting with far too wide a brush. Sure there are some to whom that applies, but there are just as many if not more who have legitimately developed tastes for much more than the comfort food that Nintendo provides.

 

[briankoontz]

"Family friendly" is a demographic marketing term more often than a statement of straightforward linguistics. Media that attempts to be "family friendly" is trying to appeal to parents with in-home children. So, roughly, parents with one or more children between ages 2 and 18. Adventure Time is an ideal example of "family friendly", since it appeals both to children and their parents, and they can watch the show together.

 

[Zhukov]

No, "family friendly" doesn't have to strictly target kids, but it does tend to aim to be be completely non-offensive, non-challenging, non-scary, non-confronting and non-confusing for a child audience.

Which tends to come down to the same thing as 'not really for adults'.

I often wonder if children are underestimated in this regard. I remember as a kid really not liking when things were made overly "kid friendly". Like in Disney movies how there would always be an oh-so-whacky comic relief character or how any violence would be sanitised or made into slapstick.

 

[tehwes]

I would disagree with the idea that today's "family-friendly" equals "CG movies targeted at children". Specifically, the part that they're just targeted at children. When I think family-friendly I think of The Incredibles or Shrek, which have things the kids can laugh at but also things the adults can laugh at (or ponder). They're truly family-friendly because they have something for everyone.

Sure, there's films/games that are more kid-focused than others, but having a certain aesthetic doesn't mean there's nothing for the adults to enjoy. For example, Rayman Origins has a cutesy look/sound but was a blast to play with my little sister, and was in fact quite challenging at times.

So I would categorize them separately as "kids" vs "family-friendly".

 

[TheIceQueen]

Four paragraphs isn't really that long of a read. That's barely a Therumancer post.

OT: I think you've lost your own sense of what family friendly is. For example, Cartoon Network isn't the same as what it once was. None of the other cartoon networks (lower case) are. They were family friendly upon a time when television truly dominated every portion of the family life. With the rise of the raging internet machine, though, such family life is becoming more fragmented. Everyone's finding their own piece of the pie and taking it. The TV doesn't dominate the family life as it once did. Still powerful, but no longer what it once was, and now a lot of networks are finding out that they have to better prioritize and cater to the audience they really want to hold.

As far as Nintendo goes, they're a certainly a bit interesting. It's not that they don't have a demographic, but rather that the demographics they once appealed to have changed and Nintendo often doesn't know how to appeal to their still fiercely loyal crowd that grew up with them, but is now all grown up.

 

[Roxor]

I would say that for something to be family friendly, it has to be able to be enjoyed by the whole family. That is, it must be enjoyable for both kids AND adults. If either group is left out, it's failed as family entertainment and become kid-focussed or adult-focussed entertainment instead.

One thing I would say is a good example of family friendly entertainment is Doctor Who. Complicated enough to give the adults something to think about, tame enough that the kids can watch it from behind the lounge. And yes, kids watching Doctor Who from behind the lounge is a long-running thing with regards to the show.

 

[Casual Shinji]

'Family friendly' has always centered around kids. It basically stands for 'the kids can come too'. It constitutes families that have children, not families in general. I mean, my family is seven strong and at 31 I'm the youngest.

I often wonder if children are underestimated in this regard. I remember as a kid really not liking when things were made overly "kid friendly". Like in Disney movies how there would always be an oh-so-whacky comic relief character or how any violence would be sanitised or made into slapstick.

I don't know, I think Disney always finds a proper balance with its movies. It's generally meant to make you feel good, but there's a good amount of darker stuff in there too. There's way more overly kid friendly movies out there, like Blank Check or Police Academy 7. *shudder* Where the amount of patronization just makes you wanna take a shower.

RedLetterMedia said it best in that kids don't want to be the kids in a movie, they want to be the heroic adults. They want to be Indiana Jones or Luke Skywalker. They don't want to Short Round.

 

[duwenbasden]

>Family friendly as we know, is content that contains nothing offensive or vulgar, and is suitable for all ages.

No, family friendly means "Parents-Approved" and has nothing to do with kids. Hell, I grew up watching the 9pm prime time drama, you know, those filled with vulgar, wangst, and all kinds of debauchery. Are those "family friendly"? To me, yes, because we as a family watched them.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Family Friendly doesn't have a true meaning. It's a nebulous term that, at best, describes something in a very particular context. As the context changes, so too does the interpretation of the phrase.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I read the title and I KNEW this was going to be about Nintendo.

For all this moaning about how the company is somehow being wronged by gamers, I see way more support for Nintendo than actual critique.

Anyway.

Family friendly means mom and dad can calmly expose their kids to whatever without having to worry if they will be exposed to something they shouldn't. That's what it meant when I was a kid and as far as I can tell that's what it still means.

 

[Flammablezeus]

The Simpsons is a classic family-friendly show in my mind. That has plenty of "vulgar" references that fly right over kids heads. Anything can be offensive to somebody, so I'm not even going to touch on that.

 

[Jateca]

Family Friendly doesn't have a true meaning. It's a nebulous term that, at best, describes something in a very particular context. As the context changes, so too does the interpretation of the phrase.

Yeah, I'd agree with the nebulousness of the definition of family friendly. I think it's often used to market something aimed purely at young children to their parents as an automatic "This content has no raunch/grit" label.

For me it can mean that, whilst still having plenty of content to appeal to older people as well. Adventure games do a good line in those; like the old Lucasarts titles such as Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle. Amanita design have recently put out a few great games like Machinarium and Botanicula that seem perfect examples of being able to be enjoyed by people of all ages

 

[Lilani]

"Family friendly" vaguely means "entertaining for the whole family" to most people, however marketers and advertisers tend to use the term to mean "kid friendly" more than anything else. Dora the Explorer, while kid friendly, wouldn't qualify for this by most people's definition because while it is fun for kids around that 2-4 age range, it's not going to do much for most adults. But its advertisements will say it's "family friendly" because that's become industry shorthand for "kid friendly."

The reason this discrepancy exists is because advertisers want to be as inclusive as possible to make their product seem like it's for people as possible. So while most people will probably tell you that "family friendly" means FUN for the whole family, advertisements will use it to mean APPROPRIATE for the whole family. So Dora isn't fun for the whole family, but it is appropriate for the whole family, so that's why they use the term.

What most people would actually call "fun for the whole family" is Pixar movies, Dreamworks movies, Disney movies, etc. And all of those still exist, for sure.

So I wouldn't say it's LOST its definition, I just think marketers and consumers disagree on how the term should be used. But I think everybody at least understands what THEY mean by it, which I guess is the most important thing.

 

[Roxas1359]

Does Adult Swim count? I've seen PS4 adds there.

I've seen more Xbox One ads than PS4 on Cartoon Network. Not to mention that since Adult Swim starts at 8 pm nowadays, kids are more likely to see the ads. I've seen more PS4 commercials on Nickelodeon actually, in fact I saw one yesterday. On both networks I've not seen Wii U ads since about 2 weeks after Mario Kart 8 came out, but I've seen lots of 3DS ones. Only thing that plays constantly that still advertises Mario Kart 8 are the McDonalds toy commercials. Dammit Nintendo, don't fall back into old habits when it comes to advertising the 3DS more than the Wii U! >.<

OT: I'm gonna have to go with the way that Eclectic Dreck put it in that "family friendly" depends on the context and as such changes depending on person and subject material.

 

[themistermanguy]

Seriously, when was the last time you've seen the Playstation 4 and Xbox One really advertised on children networks like Nickelodeon or Cartoonnetwork?

Does Adult Swim count? I've seen PS4 adds there.

No, Adult Swim is a separate entity from CN proper.