My main question is: where does one go from here? It seems like a difficult enough task to be so off the wall that you can keep the attention of a child these days, so how do we slow the craziness down?
Personally, the only cartoons I like to watch anymore that are technically meant for kids are things like The Misadventures of Flapjack, which I have heard through the grapevine that the show is now over or finishing. After its first season. The only reason I can think of would be that the show is too in-between innocent humor and adult humor, which was rumored to be the reason for a few other shows on Cartoon Network (ex. Invader Zim, which was more blatantly scary / borderline horrific sometimes).
What do you think? Are cartoons just following a trend that older generations find confounding, or is the average result these days cartoons that are destroying younger people's ability to focus? Or perhaps they will become super-multi-taskers?
This is too funny. In my house, until my 4 1/2 year old goes to bed, all that is on is kids cartoons. Cartoons today are definately not like they were when I was younger. I used to love to watch cartoons, now I just love to tune them out. Oh well, at least my son doesn't just sit and watch them, he actually plays while they are on.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that you bring this subject up. I do think that cartoons are following the trends set forth by their predicessors. If you do research and look at cartoons such as Loony Toons with characters such as bugs bunny and pepe le pew you will find that alot of the subject matter that these characters encountered were adult in nature. First you have the bunny that gets tangled up with mobsters, hunters, and even monsters. Then there is the sex-crazed skunk who would chase that poor cat all over. These cartoons were meant and geared toward an adult audience.
ReplyDeleteAs far as today is concerned. I believe that some producers steer certain cartoons toward adult subject material whether blatent or subtle to broden their possible viewing audience and to make more money. Take for example Sponge Bob. Here is a cartoon marketed and produced for children yet there are always adult inuendos. There are many adults that watch Sponge Bob on a regular basis.
To answer the next question regarding damaging children's attention span or bolstering it, I think that in today's society where the children are often the technological wizzes in the household, these cartoons provide them with attention grabbing stimulation that in my mind better prepares them for the chaos of adulthood.