Art for Children

Looking over some of my previous blog entries, I noticed that previous topics have included: the Roald Dahl, Pokémon, Looney Tunes, and the Walt Disney Company. Rejected blog topics have included the Sailor Moon manga and the Super Mario RPG remake.

It wasn't my intention make make a blog that leans so heavily into children's entertainment, but then I guess that I'm just a big kid at heart. I've been a life-long fan of animation, I'm a retro-gamer, and I have a soft spot for fairy tales.

There's a stereotype that people in their thirties are too fixated on books and movies for younger people. The implication is that our generation cannot handle more mature works of art. I used to feel insecure about some of my tastes, but reading C.S. Lewis' "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" has cured me of that. Now, I believe that art made for children's can have just as much merit as that for adults. Paddington is a great movie. The Wind in the Willows is a great book.

I don't believe that one adult should ever tell another what they can or can't watch, read, play, or listen to. That applies to snobbery as much as anything: there is no reason a grown man or woman cannot read whichever book or watch whichever show or movie they want, regardless of the target audience.

However, I do believe in recommendations. I love them--seek them out. And, even though I believe whole-heartedly that reading books or watching TV shows and movies for children is fine, I also think that exclusively reading or watching kids' stuff is too limiting. As much as I love The 13 Clocks or Animaniacs, I'd get bored if that was all I had. I like Octavia Butler's Kindred. I like Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole. At the moment, I'm playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom after work, then reading Anthony Trollope's The Small House at Allington before bed. I like variety.

I don't like to tell other people what to do. Not everyone is going to enjoy reading Macbeth or watching Ikiriu, and people shouldn't be forced to. But I do suggest that people should try a wider variety of art. The goal is to appreciate mature works--not to shun immature ones.

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