Too Old For It?

Willem Dafoe by Szilvester Makó.

Cartoons are for children, aren't they? Princesses, magic, the victory of good in its struggle with evil, talking animals, and happy endings… Who else could believe in such sweetness but a child?

Well.

Cartoons are more than just bedtime stories. At first glance, it is true that they are well suited to a child's understanding, but digging beneath the colorful characters, whimsical narratives, and catchy theme songs that are hallmarks of our childhood Sunday mornings, even the most adult of adults will find the monsters that haunt them and the hopes that, deep down, animate them.

Shusaku Takahoka via theboredbanda.com

The Pixar Case

Take, for example, the case of Pixar Animation Studios. Without even thinking about it, with their first feature film, they staged the dreams, fears, and dynamics of an entire nation.

Behind the Toy Story family - which drove the children of the whole world crazy, constituting one of the most lucrative franchises ever with its eye-catching graphics - John Lasseter and his team have masterfully directed the choice and characterization of the characters, staging a story that speaks to an audience of all ages.

A child can certainly appreciate the colorful universe and the exciting adventures of a cowboy and a space ranger. Amidst a thousand vicissitudes, they become friends, wringing tears and laughter that transport the young audience to a magical world akin to his fantasies.

But an adult may notice that Woody is a cowboy. And Buzz, a space ranger. That they are both symbols of the American myth of crossing the frontier. And that, just as Woody is not initially very accepting of Buzz, Americans too have struggled to make their way into space after the earth had been explored far and wide.

And an adult might also note that, just as Woody and Buzz make friends despite their differences, tradition and innovation can also coexist. It is therefore not necessary to abandon what has been in order to embrace novelty; quite the contrary.

Toy Story teaches us precisely that, in order to be disruptive in the present, we need the ability to combine the tension between past and future.

All this may sound obvious today, but in 1995 - the year Toy Story 1 was released to the general public - it was not that obvious at all.

Woodies via Pinterest

And as with Toy Story, Pixar has continued over the years to portray the lives of Americans and the feelings of the entire world, following the social, environmental, and even ethical dynamics of society, film after film.

Identity, family, personal fulfillment, success, climate change, and traditions are the cornerstones of the production of a studio that has written the history of animated films over the past thirty years.

Think of Nemo, who finds himself alone in the middle of the ocean; Ratatouille, a mouse who dreams of becoming a chef; Cars, blinded by fame; and Wall-E, who almost without saying a word shouts at us about the importance of taking care of our Earth.

These are characters that are aesthetically beautiful, a masterpiece of characterization, and super fun. They have a story to tell the child in us, and the adult we have become.

The Origin and the End

However, even film critics have not failed to point out how even Pixar's films, for decades defined as cutting-edge 'adult animation', have turned to weaker and weaker plots, flatter characters, and more standardized universes.

What has happened? According to many, it all seems to be summed up in one word, or rather, one name: Disney.

When we think of animation, par excellence we think of Disney: the production company that gave birth to animated feature films in the format we know today. And also the benchmark of the animation industry for decades.

Magic and good characters were a must in the early years of Disney's production because animation was the release valve for a population that needed to believe in Mickey's optimism and respectability. These features gave people hope in the dark and difficult time of the war. Yet, as the years went by, the public's needs changed, but the standard remained the same. Outdated. Able to speak, by now, only to children.

That is why animation began to be labeled as a product for children.

And when Pixar, the first production company that succeeded in staging a real mass revolution against Disney, started to run at full steam, financial problems forced the studio to join its nemesis, Disney, which - whether we want to acknowledge it or not - indirectly forced it to support the thesis that animation, after all, is more of a children's product, where the politically correct prevails - see “The Real Story of Buzz Lightyear” - and the sharpness that characterized the first Pixar products is missing.

Cartoons are Evergreen

Nevertheless, even in the story that seems most obvious, there are themes that can touch the deepest chords of all of us adults.

Disney helped to create the imagery of animated films as a children's industry, and somehow also managed to perpetuate it even where people worked to counteract this idea.

But we must remember that Walt Disney’s original aim was to speak to people of all ages, just as so many production companies are doing today.

Illumination Entertainment, DreamWorks, and Sony Pictures are just some of the companies born with the aim of speaking to families, giving children what they need, and adults the satire that only a form of expression like animation can convey without malice to the adult world.

Shrek via TikTok

It is therefore really worth going beyond prejudices and enjoying the products of animation, at all ages.