Cult of Dan Brown: Reading Or Branding

The difficulty is I don’t know the most of cartoons you reference to. Some of them were on our TV. But when I saw Pinky and the Brain, for instance, I changed the channel at once because I didn’t like the characters and picture at all.
On the other side my examples may be unfamiliar to you. Nevertheless I shall try to explain my position.
My classification below doesn’t pretend to the completeness. It just helps me to explain my viewpoint.

There are cartoons for little children. They are not interesting for adults at all. I saw an episode of Andy Pandy. It is an example of cartoons of that sort.

There are cartoons for adults. TV programme refers to them as “animated cartoons for adults”. Usually the cartoons are not interesting for normal children. I think Simpsons serial is an example.

There are well-done cartoons and films for children. Often they are interesting for adults too. I enjoyed Aladdin along with my father and elder brother. The first of Harry Potter books may be categorized in this way. They are for everybody. They are fascinating for children and they make some adults to enjoy. I am completely for this category.

There are movies and films for adults. Quite often there is not a child character in them. Nevertheless the films are interesting for everybody. They don’t contain vulgar things and so they have not bad impacts on the children. It is an important feature of films from this category.
I adore Soviet film version of D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers. The film version is light in comparison with the novel. There are many songs in its three episodes. It is pleasant and very enjoyable. I remember us fencing with rulers that were our “swords” during the breaks at school. We were under 10 years old. Actually I believe Soviet film version is the best version in the world. Of course, the French may disagree with me.
French Fantomas (sp?) series is another example of the movies from this category.
American movie The Magnificent Seven was very good. Its main character Chris was a real hero for many boys. Perhaps the movie was better for teenagers than for children. I say “was” instead of “is” because the movie is rather old; it was shot in 1960.
What else? Star Wars. I liked it in my childhood.
I give my vote for this category too.

There are movies for adults. (I don’t mean pornography). They touch upon subjects that may be interesting for adults. They are made for adults; they show adult people with their problems. It doesn’t mean they are abstruse. Sometimes they are enjoyable.
I unexpectedly liked The Devil Wears Prada and Blood Diamond. The movies differ from each other; I mention them together just because they are for adults.

There are cartoons for everybody and for nobody at the same time. They contain rude humour and jokes “below the belt”. Monster House is a glaring example. Don’t tell me that it is a cartoon for children.
Shark Tale isn’t for children too. What do the children need watching gangster actions for?
Unfortunately the cartoons like those are becoming the mainstream now. It seems the producers forget about the normal difference between children and adults. Let me know if there are age limits on the cartoons like those in the countries you live in.

Let me give an example from the field of music.
Junior Eurovision 2005 and Junior Eurovision 2006.
Byelorussian girl celebrated victory in 2005. Her triumph was a surprise for me. I make no secret it was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t think European audience would vote for a singer from an unfamiliar country who sang in strange language dissimilar to the European languages.
Russian twin sisters won victory in 2006.
Why do children from Slavic countries win? I have an assumption. The children don’t sing about things which they don’t understand.

I saw Junior Eurovision 2005 on TV. Of course, I don’t understand every European language. But presenter’s opening addresses gave some idea of every song. The main idea of one boy’s song was “first the love, and then the football”. The singer was a boy, not even a teenager! What did he know about the love? Was it interesting for him?

What Byelorussian girl Xenia Sitnik sang about? She sang, “Together we are the great strength”.

What Russian sisters Masha and Nastya Tolmacheva sang about? They sang “Spring Jazz”:

We are walking round the town
The sun is shining
People are smiling
And gazing at us
“Just look how they are alike!”
But we are twins, what's the strike?
We are walking the busy road
We are singing spring jazz song

That the winter is over
Incredible winter
The winter of 2006
And it is coming again
The spring, so young
The weather is waking from sleep
…

Children sang about simple and clear things. They felt their songs. Children were the children. They looked and comported themselves naturally. It was the naturalness - in a combination with the good vocal qualities - which brought them the victories.

So, I am wholly for childlikeness for adults. I just make an appeal not to forget about the normal distinctions between children and adults; they are not the same.

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