#cellspex's review of soul and the criticism surrounding that movie actually put a lot of it into words

[arosnowflake]

Like I think something a lot of adults fail to realize is that a) they are not the target audience for children’s media, and b) what this means, exactly. 

When engaging in criticism for children’s media, a refrain I often hear from adults is either ‘it’s for kids, of course I’m not going to enjoy it’ or ‘even if it’s for kids, I should still be able to enjoy it!’ and I feel like both of those statements are right and wrong in different ways.

The first is wrong because it’s a statement dismissive of the quality that children’s media can - and, frankly, should - have. It assumes that all children’s media must be dumbed down mindless entertainment that could never have any real value. This is, of course, not true. Children’s media can and does have real value and is perfectly capable of examining complex themes, stories, and characters. 

At the same time, I feel like people often have the wrong expectations for what those stories, themes, and characters should be. Children, like teenagers, like adults, are a target demographic. Stories usually appeal to us if they, in some way, connect to our real lives; in other words, if we can find them relatable. What is relatable to an adult is different than what is relatable to a teenager, which is of course different than what is relatable to a child. In different stages of your life, you have experienced and are experiencing different things. Therefore, you need stories that deal with different things. 

In that way, ‘it’s for kids, of course I’m not going to enjoy it’ is a very valid statement to make. Adults unlikely to enjoy a story about going to kindergarten and leaving your parents behind for the first time, just as children of kindergarten age are unlikely to enjoy a story about leaving an unfulfilling job to chase your passion. Children’s stories often center around themes they can immediately relate to, such as family, elementary school, friendship, and growing up. Adult stories often center around more abstract themes, such as society and feeling unfulfilled in your life, or themes more applicable to adults, such as jobs and romantic relationships. Although there is, of course, some overlap in themes (such as family), those themes are approached very differently depending on whether the target audience is children or adults. As such, adults disliking children’s media is perfectly understandable: it was not made for them, and they are less likely to relate to its themes and messages. 

This is also the reason why ‘even if it’s for kids, I should still be able to enjoy it!’ can be misused. Something I’ve often seen (particularly from young adults in fandom) is the assumption that if a piece of children’s media doesn’t appeal to adults, it is automatically bad. The quote “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” (by CS Lewis) often gets applied here. I don’t disagree with that quote, but the way it’s often employed makes my eye twitch. 

A children’s story’s primary function is not to appeal to adults. In fact, it does not have to keep adults in mind at all. It’s not made for adults, and it doesn’t need to incorporate themes or stories that adults will find interesting in order to be good. Just because a children’s story decided to stick to themes most children will be familiar with (such as family and coming of age) rather than expanding on its potential for other, more mature themes (such as imperialism or psychological trauma) does not mean that it is a bad story. If you are watching or reading children’s media and find yourself routinely frustrated by what you perceive as shallow stories, you may want to consider that you have outgrown children’s media, and need to move up to YA or adult.

This does not mean that children’s media cannot tackle more abstract and typically mature themes (such as, again, imperialism or psychological trauma) and as a matter of fact, I love it when it does! I think it’s important to discuss heavier topics with children, and even if they will not immediately understand it’s implications, it may give them a better foundation to understand those themes when they grow up. In addition, in the West specifically, I think we tend to shelter our children a bit too much, and shy away from topics we consider to be ‘too heavy’ for children, when in fact those topics are very applicable to children as well and need to be discussed with them (such as trauma or mental health issues). It also doesn’t mean that I think it should be illegal to analyze children’s media from the perspective of adult topics and how they are handled in the story, even if this was not the story’s priority; once again, I think this can, in fact, often be a useful thing to do, since unfortunate implications in a story about heavier topics (like imperialism) can often be profoundly damaging.

What I mean is that, when analyzing children’s media, you need to keep in mind that you are not the target audience. Criticizing media for not being what you want it to be be is not usually conductive, and this goes double when you are not the target audience. 

Children’s media is not required to discuss topics that adults can relate to in order to be good. Its not required to tell stories that adults will enjoy. Its target audience is children, not adults, and their stories should be enjoyable for children first and adults second. Furthermore, themes that appeal primarily to children are just as capable of being complex and interesting as ‘adult’ themes, and are just as worthy of examination.

TL;DR: when analyzing children’s media please remember that adults are not the target audience. This means that it will likely be tackling different themes than what you, personally, find relatable. This is not an inherent story flaw, and you should not critique it as such. If you are incapable of enjoying the themes typically found in children’s media, and feel the need to demand it be more ‘mature’, perhaps you should consider moving on from children’s media to YA or adult.