Spinsanity

DOIN' IT FOR THE KIDS

What do super-powered heroes, giant battling robots and the other principal denizens of comics, cartoons and video games all have in common? At the end of the day, the primary target audience for these colorful and exciting marvels of imagination is children. Over the past few years, there seems to have been a concerted creative effort to change this by making these characters and products constantly "edgier" and more "mature," ostensibly to enhance their appeal to an older demographic. The obvious question that follows is: Has this worked? Have guys in tights, shape-shifting robots and all the rest suddenly lost their "childish" stigma and exploded into the mainstream to become the favorite entertainment for the adult population?

Nope.

Worse, these things have become progressively less accessible to the children for whom they were originally intended. Trying to please an increasingly jaded and ever-shrinking group of adult fans is never going to bring the type of success that catapulted these properties and concepts to iconic status in the first place. The misperception that a property requires over-the-top violence, inappropriate sexual content and overall cynicism (perhaps the most insidious element of all) to have real creative merit and audience appeal is inherently flawed, and an objective analysis easily shows that employing these shock tactics to synthesize depth is the antithesis of actual maturity.

Does this mean that adults can never enjoy these things? Must everything be watered down to make it kiddie-safe? Of course not. Appealing to children doesn't automatically exclude appealing to older consumers. However, youth-oriented properties can't constantly apply the cynical worldview of an older and often out-of-touch segment of the population when determining what's going to work. A property can't overanalyze itself to the point of becoming self-conscious about the very elements that made it fun in the first place! For example, most people over a certain age probably think that stories about folks dressing up in silly suits and having powers are downright ridiculous, but do you know which people don't think that way? The bazillion little kids running around in super-hero T-shirts and clutching their favorite action figures for dear life. Those kids will grow up into the fans of tomorrow, but not if they can never approach a property today.

Several successful franchises have gotten it right in the past. A great example from previous years is Batman. The '90s-era Batman: The Animated Series was a watershed moment for cartoons, where children could enjoy the action and cool costumes, while older viewers were still drawn to its themes and character interactions. These elements weren't overdone to the point of trying too hard (an all-too-common mistake of the series' numerous less-successful imitators); they were just there to be enjoyed. This approach resulted in a resounding success for the series across multiple demographics, but this wasn't the first time that Batman had snagged the hearts and minds of young and old. The Batman TV show of the 1960s operated on the same principle, although it used a different formula to achieve its results. While kids enjoyed the adventures of Batman and Robin, adults could still appreciate the campy humor and nods to pop culture that were interwoven in a way that enhanced the show without detracting from its appeal to kids.

These two series demonstrated radically different approaches (the more serious-minded, but still entertaining, animated series versus the tongue-in-cheek fun and wit of the live-action show) that garnered the same result: reeling in a huge amount of kids without completely alienating the potential older audience. For modern properties to truly succeed they have to attract a large group of interested kids, something they can't do if children are turned off by them or if parents don't feel that the properties are appropriate. Franchises have to remember how to manage this crucial balancing act by being both smart and fun, while never forgetting the source of their appeal. Because -- let's face it -- millions of 40-year-olds won't ever run out to buy toys and Underoos after catching the latest Spider-Man flick…unless they're doing it for the eager kids whom they took to see the movie.

Where will THE ENEMY strike next?
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