Why is western animation just for kids movies?

[TheRiddler]

Yeah, pretty much exactly what it says at the top. I think that there's a lot that we could do with animation if it wasn't aggressively marketed to kids and kids alone.

Not that I have a problem with media for kids. Hell, I love some of the stuff that's been made for kids (Batman the Animated Series, Avatar the Last Airbender, The Lion King, nearly everything Pixar's done).

I just think that there's a lot that western animation could do if it didn't always have to pander to the 7 to 12 demographic. I mean, if we're lucky, we could be looking at drama as poignant as the first 10 minutes of Up (which I don't think would have worked as well in any other medium). If nothing else, think about the special effects that we could have in an animated movie. Tarantino-esque gore could be as exaggerated as we like. Horror could be more surreal and possibly legitimately scare us with a monster that changes form. We could make a noir movie with the artistic style of Frank Miller's Sin City books.

So, what do you guys think? Why hasn't western animation for a more mature audience caught on (Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy aside)? And what are some other ideas that would be cool if animation appealed to more mature audiences?

 

[Queen Michael]

I'd like to see a drama movie, one that's just like any other drama, except it's animated. That would be really great.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

There's actually tons of adult oriented western animation, just most of it isn't very good. Ever hear of Heavy Metal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Metal_(film)

 

[Ryleh]

I think there's plenty of shows like Bravest Warriors and Adventure time that cater to both kids and adults alike.

Also, don't forget Adult Swim. They've got gems like Metalocalypse and Super Jail.

 

[Queen Michael]

I think there's plenty of shows like Bravest Warriors and Adventure time that cater to both kids and adults alike.

True, but they still are made for kids -- they're just not made exclusively for kids. They're not made specifically for a mature grown-up audience, and some more animation like that would be nice.

 

[aba1]

The reason it is primarily geared at children is mostly to do with cultural a mind set. People started making kids cartoons and soon most cartoons were for kids, then people associated cartoons with kids and soon after that it became cartoons are for kids. It just sorta happened over time as progression in mind set towards the medium. It is changing though you see more adult cartoons all the time.

 

[EternallyBored]

Western views on animation are slowly changing with things like futurama, family guy, archer, South Park, and so on. Animation is at least being seen as a useful medium for adult comedy.

Western animation still has a lot of inertia to overcome, it has spent decades where the only animation out there has been either for kids or for family films (Disney movies). It's a stigma built by years of reinforcement, Eastern animation developed the way it did partially because they didn't have the special effects or budget to make live action to the extent Hollywood could, so they turned to animation as their alternative, another benefit being they didn't have to compete nearly as directly with the American live action juggernaut. The East almost has the opposite problem, without the ability to outdo Hollywood or the sheer prolific volume of Western live action entertainment, their own views on live action have suffered, they can't compete on the same level so Eastern live action sometimes ends up pigeonholed into niche cultural categories.

It's no coincidence that Western views on animation started to change as anime gained inroads into the West, it's slow but the perception of animation as "for kids" is not nearly as heavy as it was, even as recent as a decade ago. Decades of cultural inertia take time to overcome, you can't just make everyone take animation seriously in a couple years, trends like this will likely take years to develop, and in the West live action will still likely have the edge, because we have the system and supports in place to develop big budget adult live action entertainment far more easily than most other places in the world.

 

[Ryleh]

I think there's plenty of shows like Bravest Warriors and Adventure time that cater to both kids and adults alike.

True, but they still are made for kids -- they're just not made exclusively for kids. They're not made specifically for a mature grown-up audience, and some more animation like that would be nice.

I'd like to argue that although Adventure time is definitely marketed at kids, Bravest warriors is created for an older demographic, what with it only being available online. They certainly cross a few boundaries they wouldn't be able to get away with on TV, like calling a character Wankershim and talking about his "divine wanker shade".

But yeah, I agree, more Adult Swim type stuff or some kind of western animation with the depth of something like Evangelion would be amazing.

 

[Queen Michael]

They're not made specifically for a mature grown-up audience, and some more animation like that would be nice.

I'd like to argue that although Adventure time is definitely marketed at kids, Bravest warriors is created for an older demographic, what with it only being available online. They certainly cross a few boundaries they wouldn't be able to get away with on TV, like calling a character Wankershim and talking about his "divine wanker shade".

Thing is, what I want is animation geared towards a mature, grown-up audience, and while I admit I haven't seen Bravest Warriors, it doesn't seem likely that a show with jokes like "divine wanker shade" is trying to be mature. (Though it does sound like a hilarious show.)

 

[Yuuki]

Hey, but what about My Little Po--*gets fucking dogpiled by hatred* alright alright I suppose that one is very much still a children/family show

Sadly Western animation is like ~30 years behind Anime in terms of sheer variety, demographic and complexity. I don't think it's ever going to catch up simply because of Western mindset/culture around 2D animation. Not when you have programs like Game Of Thrones and Breaking Bad holding people's attention.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I can't think of anything past Adult Swim. And I don't even know what that consists of these days.

 

[Kinguendo]

Yeah, when you discount all the animation aimed at adults... I can see how you would think there isnt any.

 

[Username Redacted]

Yeah, when you discount all the animation aimed at adults... I can see how you would think there isnt any.

Pretty much this. That said from an animation perspective there is not enough rotoscoping in the world. I count 'Waking Life', 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Renaissance' among my favorite movies and a lot of that has to do with the art style.

 

[lord.jeff]

South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons, Boondocks, Venture brothers, Archer, Hellboy even off the top of my head I could go for awhile.

 

[Nazulu]

There has always been western animation for adults. Recently I've been trying to find it all. I remember the short Spawn animated series, The Maxx, and there were plenty of others that haven't been remembered well for some reason, but there has always been serious western animations. I'm trying to find this very violent animated movie I saw awhile ago. It's seems a lot of it has become hidden gems.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Yeah, when you discount all the animation aimed at adults... I can see how you would think there isnt any.

So true. I can't stand these threads because they seem to bring out the worst on both sides. Anime elitists bragging about how far ahead and progressive they are compared to Western stuff, and people bemoaning the "lack" of adult western animation.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons, Boondocks, Venture brothers, Archer, Hellboy even off the top of my head I could go for awhile.

Come on dude, Simpsons is for kids.

"But what about the joke with the..."? It's still for kids. I would venture to say the same thing about South Park and Family Guy. Just because it has a bunch of rude jokes and adult references doesn't mean it's not for kids, just like the shooting monsters and blood in DOOM doesn't make it not for kids.

 

[loc978]

The list of studios that make the stuff may be short, but stuff like the Boon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtYVpLAZmI]docks [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqZc6rY6Is], the Venture Brothers [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJdf9Y86_2s] and Archer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CI_Nye_5_0] are most definitely not made for kids. Also stuff from decades ago like Wizards [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujQ-nMc0WGE].

...pretty much all pitch-black comedies, though. Not gonna find much in the way of drama.