You could sit your kids down in front of the screen and know the only drama they’d encounter would be a villain plotting or a character singing about friendship
Once upon a time, animation was simple. A lion wanted to be king, a fish got lost, and a toy dreamed of being real...and that was it.
You could sit your kids down in front of the screen and know the only drama they’d encounter would be a villain plotting or a character singing about friendship.
Fast forward to today, and suddenly even a wrap or a soda can is… discovering its sexuality. Really?
Dear directors, scriptwriters, and producers, why are you so obsessed with slipping “adult spice” into cartoons?
Who exactly are you writing for? Because the kids who are supposed to be the primary audience don’t need to know whether a talking burrito is gay, straight, or vegan.
They just want to laugh when it dances across the screen.
Look, I get it.... Animation has evolved. Adults watch too, and some of us even cry harder than the kids (don’t lie, The Lion King scarred you too).
But there’s a difference between smart humour that sails over little heads and content that makes parents suddenly sit upright on the couch wondering if they should press stop.
When every character in the movie seems to be going through an identity crisis, it stops being animation and starts looking like an after-hours soap opera with talking vegetables.
And let’s be honest...sometimes this “adult edge” isn’t clever at all. It’s lazy writing dressed up as “representation”.
Not every side character needs a romantic subplot, not every sandwich needs a backstory, and not every soda can needs to “come out”.
You know what kids really find funny? A banana slipping on its own peel. Trust me, no one under ten is begging for a storyline about a latte who just discovered polyamory.
The irony is, animation is already one of the most powerful storytelling tools on earth. You can make kids believe toys talk, that emotions live in our heads, and that a rat can run a five-star restaurant.
You can inspire kindness, bravery, and imagination. Why waste that magic on wink-wink jokes meant for viral Twitter clips?
Parents already have a tough enough time raising kids in this content-saturated world. Movie night used to be the safest escape, popcorn, pyjamas, and a G-rated guarantee.
These days, we need a warning label just in case a sausage decides to go on an existential rant about sexuality. Honestly, who asked for that?
So here’s my candid plea: keep cartoons, cartoons. Make us laugh, make us cry, make us sing along.
But stop serving five-year-olds a side dish of adult content they never ordered. Save the spice for the late-night shows,because kids’ menus don’t need chilli peppers, just ketchup.
