Are animated movies made for all ages?

As famous animator and Disney creator Walt Disney once said, “You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”

Animated movies intended for a young audience continue to keep teenagers enthralled. Recent hype about Disney’s newest animated movie, Frozen, continues this prolonged discussion. Juliet B. Schor, author of Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture, says that in the most “consumer-oriented society in the world,” kids and teens have taken center stage as “the epicenter of American consumer culture.”

“Everyone has a child in them no matter how old they are. Usually animated movies are ‘family’ movies. Anyone in a family could watch these movies, whether it’s grandparents or nieces and nephews,” says sophomore Alex Magnoli.

“I go with my little sister. There are a lot of old people too. There are a couple groups of teenagers and mostly families. If [animated movies] appeal to a wider range of adults and teenagers, they’ll get more income,” says sophomore Arianna Kan.

Animated movies keep their older audiences entertained through careful nuances that may escape a child’s notice.

Sophomore Marly Miller says, “A lot of those movies have jokes in them for adults because the adults are taking their kids and they want the adults to be entertained so they put in some jokes that only adults would understand. And the teenagers understand, too, so it’s kind of funny. When we went to The Lego Movie there were adults sitting next to us and they were laughing more than we were.”

Although these movies do target all age groups, some students go to the movies with their younger siblings to escape judgement.

“A lot of times there’s people my age who go and sometimes I go with my younger brother, so I don’t feel so old.” says sophomore Briana Reynolds.

Many students believe that going to animated movies as a teen gives them an advantage over children.

Senior Alex Griffis explains, “Going as a teenager I kind of have the best of both worlds. I can still enjoy the kid things and also I understand the adult jokes. We’re still trying to hold onto whatever experiences we can and even as an adult they are still appealing because they are so fun and light.”

“When I was little I didn’t really understand it, but now that I’m older it just seems so much better,” says sophomore Gilly Toledo.

Animated movies also attract teenagers with their unique music and animation.

Junior Cameron Jacobs says, “I saw Frozen recently. I’d heard a lot of great things about it from my friends. And people were singing it in the hallways so I was genuinely curious. It was a little bit predictable, but I thought the music was really well done and the animation was good.”

Freshman Alex Tenorio says, “I like how [in movies] anything can happen. There’s only a certain amount you can do when you’re telling a story with words.”

Although animated movies are very popular, some still aren’t enthralled by these types of movies.

Junior Jeffrey Santos says, “As I grew older, [I] just lost interest in animated movies. I just kind of grew up. As a kid, I found them colorful and they caught my attention, but as I grew older, movies became more about the storyline than what I’m seeing.”

Freshman Wayne Su says, “I haven’t watched a lot of animated movies lately. I haven’t even watched Frozen. I feel that it’s kind of childish and I kind of feel embarrassed to watch them.”
Some problems may arise when the theater audience is comprised of a diverse group of people that ranges from young children to adults.

Freshman Kyra Mingus says, “So we were in the back of the movie theater—I forget what movie we were watching. We started laughing really hard and these old ladies in front of us, who chose to sit in front of three teenage girls, were like ‘Girls, that’s enough.’ Chill!”

Magnoli concludes, “Movies are for everyone. Anyone can watch any type of movie anywhere.”