In the world today, it’s not uncommon to see or hear about shows that people used to watch as kids or are aimed at kids be talked about or referenced. From people watching Transformers, interest in My Little Pony among adult males or even the fascination with a bright and colourful series like Pokémon, it seems that everyone seems to want to keep a bit of their childhood with them. But is that the real reason? Can all adults do this without judgment? Those are the questions I wish to discuss today.
Firstly, to understand the shift, we must look at the reasons behind it. When we think of adult-oriented shows, we think of shows that tackle darker themes, morally questionable characters or even just the going-ons of an adult’s life. Often, people report watching TV or reading books to temporarily ‘escape’ the events in their life. In the pandemic, this idea caused a large percentage of adults to start rediscovering kids’ media to distract themselves from the uncertainty surrounding that period.
But even after that, the phenomenon didn’t show any signs of slowing down and it links back to what I mentioned about the modus operandi of adult shows and escapism. Oftentimes, the themes tackled in children’s shows across multiple genres and mediums (action, romance, slice of life etc) are simple to understand on the surface, with a deeper meaning when watching as an adult and having lived through some of the conflicts the characters face. However, this isn’t to say adult-oriented shows lack this deeper meaning at all; it’s more to say that the light-hearted approach kids’ media takes with addressing its themes makes it a more enjoyable watch for adults under a lot of stress or wanting something easy to watch.
Additionally, a lot of the themes explored in kids’ media, are universal across all areas of life. Adult-oriented shows don’t often have ideas like the importance of friendship, inclusion or imagination because they’re tackling bigger themes. While that’s also important, the way the world works means that it’s easy to forget the simple lessons those shows taught you and adults may feel compelled to watch these shows and remind themselves of what they may have forgotten, subconsciously or not.
Usually, to prove a hypothesis, you would present facts and statistics in your favour. However, research on this phenomenon is buried at best and largely non-existent at worst. A piece I did find came from a website called worldmetrics.org, which stated that Bluey is the most-watched children’s show globally with 50 billion cumulative views as of 2023.
To conclude, I wanted to briefly touch upon the stigma society holds towards adults and even seniors watching shows made for a younger demographic. Even now, people seem to look at you differently when you say your favourite show or the one that had the greatest impact on you was something their little cousin could watch. But the message stories can give, regardless of their viewing group, doesn’t just expire when you get older.
It sticks with you and your understanding grows as you get older, not the other way around. You should never be ashamed to embrace the things you love, kids’ media or not. And while not everyone who needs to hear this will read this, for those of you who are reading, I have only one thing to say; never stop believing in what you like.
Sources: https://worldmetrics.org/television-viewing-statistics/
Credits : Banner from Unsplash & edited by Jack Oastler
