Why I Still Watch Cartoons at Age 25+

I make it perfectly clear from as soon as you meet me that I'm not normal. I love superheroes, writing, swivel chairs, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. And yet, this issue still keeps coming up for me. Whether, it's peers of mine looking at me like I'm crazy because I'm talking about the latest animated movie, someone critiquing my video game collection and saying I should play more M-rated games instead of the E for Everyone and T for Teen games I have instead, or even my dad telling me that I should be watching the latest on Sports center instead of the newest episode of Power Rangers. Needless to say, this repeated rhetoric is rather revolting and an instant irritant for my aching ears. My usual response is something like,

"Buddy, you're talking to someone who plays Dungeons and Dragons on a regular basis. I gave up my dignity a long time ago."

And yet they persist. To them, watching such programs deemed as "childish" means that I'm not a real MAN. People will think I'm weird (which I already am). They might even think I'm (gasp!) GAY. And I'm pretty sure that last one is an insult to both gay and straight people for stereotyping both sides of the coin.

So why? Why do I do it?

Because it's not about the demographic the show is made for, it's about what you can get out of it.

For me, I take the term "don't judge a book by its cover" to its logical conclusion. For me, there is no cover. There's no stigma. There's no requirement. Nothing. I don't watch something because I'm "supposed to", I watch it because it looks interesting. And so, I judge everything under the same set of standards.

What does that mean?

It means I can watch an episode of Daredevil, where a character gets his head torn off by a car door slamming on it, and I can watch an episode of My Little Pony, where one of the characters loses her self-confidence from a bad hair day (you try feeling good about yourself when you look like you've gone through chemo) and has to rediscover her inner beauty, and I enjoy both of them equally.

This...notion that children-centric media is supposed to be beneath my notice bothers me a great deal. Not only because adult entertainment can be equally if not more childish by throwing in gratuitous gore (Mr. Pickles), overuse of swearing (Grand Theft Auto V), or general immature behavior (Family Guy) but because children-centric media can be a lot deeper if we allow it to influence us.

Life is about growth, change, and development. No matter how old you are, you're never done learning. And if you can package down these little life lessons into something easy to digest then anyone can enjoy them whether they're 9, 19, or 90.

Stay tuned for some examples in future posts.