Gephyrophillia #216

Originally Posted on 11/04/2009 by Jeff Harris

A long, long, long time ago, I figured kids were just sponges willing to sop up anything they're told and everything they saw. Over the years, I reexamined that viewpoint from time to time, and I've realized that kids are actually smarter than you think. Today, after watching them in a classroom setting first-hand today, I have this to report.

The kids are alright.

They're bright, inquisitive, and creative. And they know what they like. I taught and read with first-graders today. Some were a little wild, but overall, they were good kids. After they read their stories, they had to draw a picture from their favorite stories from the book. Some had a keen artistic eye and you could recognize what they were drawing. Others . . . well, they get an A for effort. But you could tell they were having fun with the drawing. Around the same time, I started sketching a few things and some familiar characters.

I drew my first character, and the kids immediately recognized who it was.

"That's Spider-Man!" "Is he the good Spider-Man or the bad Spider-Man?"

Kids know Spider-Man. I chalked that up to the movies. Plus, the character's pretty cool to begin with. I drew a second character, and this one surprised me.

"You're drawing Superman!" "Don't forget the S, Mr. Harris."

Now this one kind of struck me as a curiosity. There are many factors to consider how kids would know of a character like Kal. I could point back to Legion of Super Heroes, but these kids had to have been three or four when it last aired. Same deal with Superman Returns, which came out around the same time. Perhaps they recognized the character from the series that airs on Disney XD or from the Justice League episodes from Boomerang. But it's kind of telling how these first graders recognize a character that, more or less, has been out of reach from their demographics nor has there been any new production involving that character.

Instead of wondering why kids know Superman, I felt good that they actually know who the character was.

I wonder if anybody actually paid attention to what little kids like at Cartoon Network. Not test studies of what you want them to like or goading them on to liking something they don't. Asking questions like "You like stories about kids in school?" or "You like stories about kids looking for ghosts?" or will always get the same kind of answer, but they should ask a solid question. "Do you like cartoons?" If a network called Cartoon Network does not begin a test study with that question, then you already know the agenda is skewed to a certain viewpoint. Otherwise, a session could go like this:

If they like cartoons, they could easily follow up with what kind of cartoons they like. If they like comedies, then Cartoon Network could commit to make more comedies. If they like action cartoons, then they could make more action cartoons. If they like anime, they need to find age-appropriate shows that could be a part of their network. It's not complicated. If they don't like cartoons, they could easily follow up by asking what don't they like about cartoons and what kind of cartoons would they like to see on Cartoon Network. Again, simplicity in the details.

What I've seen from the class of 2021, an age group that's a part of the core 6-11 demographic, is that they actually do love cartoons. You see a bunch of bookbags with cartoon characters on them, right now mostly Disney and Nick cartoon characters (I'm counting Marvel characters as part of the former as strange as it still seems), though I did see a kid with a Super Mario Bros. bookbag. The kids gravitated to Clifford the Big Red Dog, which is a pretty good bridging series guiding kids into more comedic cartoons. The future viewers of Cartoon Network are here. This is the market that will likely stick around for the long run . . . if you air what they like. Ask them what they like, don't force them to like what you want them to like.

Wonder how the kids feel about Bugs Bunny . . .

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
Creator/Webmaster, The X Bridge.