#because grief/death in media (and in general) is something i just can't watch normally

[celestial-sapphicss]

why do i cause myself pain by rewatching MSP ep.10 2/4?

[raayllum]

@daceytheshebear TDP is very much a kids' show, and this post wasn't a "haha my show is so edgy and dark it's cool that I, an adult, like it actually," kind of thing. I was reading Greek myth from age 6 onwards and my early hyperfixations were historic, ritualistic human sacrifice and the Bubonic plague; kids very much can and do like darker things.

However, I think most people can agree it is, at the very least, made for older children (think 10+) as opposed to the bulk of children's media that can be enjoyed from 4+ (something like The Owl House). This is not a knock on anything made for younger audiences, either, btw. They are equally enjoyable and worthwhile; darker doesn't mean better or necessarily more mature, although complexity and nuance often lend themselves to stories that go beyond teaching moral lessons (if that's the operative of the piece of art, anyway, which it doesn't have to be). I still love things like Phineas and Ferb and the Dragons' tv series. This post was mostly about age demographic expectations vs the content's reality, and how that can differ, sometimes

This is also from someone who works with a variety of students at all ages (5-23), and has seen various people along this age range as the show's fans / I teach media literacy & humanity subjects. So your paragraph is kinda all the things I believe in and have dedicated myself to, career wise. Just so we're on the same page

Most kids' shows, especially nowadays but also in the past, explore darker themes. I'm part of the generation that grew up with Avatar: The Last Airbender and Transformers: Prime (a show that gets so fucked up an episode in which a main character has a suicide bomb strapped to their chest is decidedly lowkey). While these shows explore many heavy themes - war, genocide, imprisonment, aforementioned bombing, grief, abuse, etc. - their presentation is decidedly different in each of them.

For A:TLA, there is notably little on screen violence. Part of this is the genius of bending being a way to have fight scenes with little to no violence. Characters are rarely, if ever, burned in their fights with firebenders and when they do it's a big, shocking moment (i.e. Aang dying). We can also largely - with Zuko as an exception while he's an antagonist - always trust all the Main Characters to do the right thing. That's why episodes like The Southern Raiders, in which Katara confronts her mother's murderer, stand out because we don't have that moral certainty. ATLA also, unlike TDP, has very little to no body horror, meanwhile there were times I thought S3 of TDP pushed the Y7 envelope a little bit.

For Transformers: Prime, although it gets very dark at times, the bulk of the violence and darker scenes do not happen to humans, but to well, the Transformers. This is part of why they were able to do a lot of said violence from a network standpoint, because most networks have rules and heavier regulations over what can be done or shown with human or human-esque characters (this is part of the reason why PG rated cartoons like Infinity Train had to fight tooth and nail for their two on screen death scenes that happen to human/human-appearing characters).

Meanwhile, TDP has a lot of on screen violence, particularly as the show has gone on, almost exclusively of human or human-appearing people, including showing blood (which normally isn't allowed); it is intensely engaged with moral dilemmas and does not always solve them - main characters across both sides of the antag vs protag lines make complicated, scary choices that aren't necessarily 'the Right Thing to do' (which is also where the shift elementary school children's books to MG and further into YA typically occurs); and it has the aforementioned body horror in quite a few places. It's not that kids' shows can't go this far, it's that Most kids' shows - and I have watched many - Don't go this far and with this kind of serious, straight forward framing. I've yet to see another kids' show that has any protagonist or antagonist start a season splattered in blood, after all, and that's just a visual example.

Aang also almost gets put to death for his crimes in ATLA, but it's a one off episode plot line that's mostly framed as a joke, is quickly resolved, and the episode has a decidedly "and everyone was friends by the end" resolution. TDP's trial and death penalty episode ends with a verdict on explicit restorative justice, is always treated/taken seriously, ends with the accused crying out of relief/gratitude, and further ratchets up the surrounding politics.

Case in point: there have been periods of time, following S4 and S5 where TDP's rating was changed from Y7 to PG. It's back to Y7 (for now) in some regions, but it's been confirmed by both the creators and Netflix that S6 onwards will shoot higher than PG and be labelled TV-14 (specifically for self harm and other potential elements).

TDP is for kids - and indeed, many kids are going through things that means having on screen catharsis is very important (something I think Steven Universe handles super well) - and it will, eventually, have a happy ending.

But when people think Kids' Show, I don't think all of the above is really what necessarily comes to mind. There is a massive gap between the sort of the emotional heaviness and imagery that TDP chooses to consistently explore and the bullk of other tv shows for kids. That's what the post is about (and it was mostly a joke, anyway).

*hastily shoves the two torture scenes, multiple assassinations, a cannibalism motif that's increasingly not being just a motif, and political / moral intrigue plotlines off to the side* haha noo The Dragon Prince is for kids i swear—