So what’s up with people insisting that if you don’t like kids/young adult stuff you don’t like joy? It keeps coming up in quote posts from nerds who are mad at me for saying that adults should be less into things for kids and it kinda creeps me out.
I think it has to do with not liking something that gives people joy in general, but the joy given by kids/young adult stuff might be seen to elicit a “more pure joy” than adult things like . . . uh . . . a period drama or something
Dang, other people replied pretty much the same thing.
I get joy from complex, deep, and well written things. Currently reading Maggot and it rules
We just need more people to post: It’s OK to Like Grown-Up Things
(and yes, I recognize the irony of saying that with an anthropomorphic pig as my avatar)
I don’t know exactly but experiencing the joy that my kid is experiencing is like 10x better than that which I’ve done on my own so maybe it’s an extension of that phenomenon?
Arrested development be strong here sometimes
spent a while thinking about whether i had failed to put away childish things or if i just have young children. the latter. never having been into harry potter, i thought "but i love beatrix potter!" but i think i actually love the human person beatrix potter, not her stories, which are for children
I think there’s a big gray area when you have children, for what it’s worth
i think there's an assumption that you're shitting in people's punchbowls. i have followed you long enough to know better. i disagree with you on the sort of broader point bc my view is let people enjoy media how they want (which means also not making people liek your dumb thing) but yeah
I was discussing this with some friends the other day in that theres definitely a difference between the occasional indulgence in media from ones childhood/YA years as a nostalgia thing and never growing out of what one of them termed "soft interests"
Not to start a Discourse™️ on a friday afternoon, but in Gen Z in particular i think you see a lot more "not growing out of soft interests" type dynamic than was the case with previous generations
maybe, but also as long as they leave me the hell alone i don't really care honestly.
I mean, same, but I do think its part of a broader generational trend and in that regard its bit funny to watch ppl with anime pfps try to rag on "disney adults." Youre both kinda doing the same thing! Which is fine! But come on lol
my take is really that i don't really care what media you enjoy, if it is not actively harmful to someone else then by all means watch your stories. but the flipside means you don't get to judge anyone else for not liking your dumb little marvel movies.
100%. my niece had me watch the lego movie w her, and i thought it was super fun; can understand why an adult would choose to watch it, but also it *is* a kid's movie and "it's not what i want to watch" is an equally valid take
I think we can let people enjoy media how they want while also pointing out that they’re probably missing out on difficult questions of moral complexity that youth-targeted media tends to pretend to address via lip service while mostly avoiding through its commitment to simplicity and feeling nice.
Marvel movies probably make up a disproportionate share of what I’m talking about here.
Enjoy your bordeaux, leave them to their Welch’s.
pretty simple: children's media is both a beacon of pure unadulterated joy AND deftly handles serious adult topics depending exclusively on which argument I, someone afraid of kissing scenes in movies, am deflecting
also implying that they don't know of any media for adults that's joyful. Just baffling. Broaden your horizons, people
Mozart and bach
I think a lot of folks haven’t considered the implications of assuming that “youth-targeted media and being youthful as the primary or quintessential form of Joyous Life, and seeing adulthood as being necessarily Joyless”.
thank you for expressing what I was thinking in a much more elegant way
As a middle aged guy, it is kind of joyless
I think (and hope) this is a joke. If not, I hope you find some joy soon.
people got mad me when I, after watching a run of several animes clearly aimed at adults, watched one for teens and was like this kinda sucks, it's for teens.
WHICH ONE MICHAEL
bsky.app/profile/flee...
you're brave for this one
I like the show and I agree. It hits harder when you watch it as a teen, or you're not doing well in your early 20s. That's what makes the Rebuild of Eva film series so fascinating to watch. The new character is essentially a stand in for his wife and it ends on a more hopeful note than the show.
It's like expecting Trent Reznor to keep making The Downward Spiral again when he's in his 50s, happily married, off the drugs and content making movie soundtracks
ha I didn't even say it kinda sucks! I was remembering thinking attack on titan sucked and had YA vibes too but it was def this
Hoo boy, where to start with Attack on Titan. The manga ending was so bad the anime had to significantly alter it because the author accidentally turned it into an argument for fascism lol (There's also a case it wasn't an accident which would be even worse)
I'm firmly in camp "that was not an accident", but hoo boy indeed.
I thought it was kinda fashy in the first season and never finished it
(attack on titan does kinda suck though)
I binged it like 5 years based on it’s reputation, and I guess I wasn’t expecting a whiny kid with dad issues + horny for boss
the most interesting thing about it is the whole story of the fan backlash to the broadcast ending, and the subsequent movie made in light of that backlash that does a complete character and thematic 180 and is, frankly, outright hostile to the fanbase
Oh my God I hated the brain dead reasoning of the entire Jaeger family in the last season.
Oh yeah, there’s waaaaay too much anime bullshit for me to take it seriously
Is Naruto still going. I remember that being just a sadgasm half the time.
I feel you, people who *only* read YA stuff kinda rub me the wrong way, even if it's just because I want to be around people who challenge themselves harder than that. And it's super weird when adults go on YouTube and complain about kids' cartoons. Grow tf up
Like you get the normal “thief of joy” thing, but there’s also stuff like this
I think some people want their minds blown like they were 8 again and seeing Star Wars or Jurassic Park or whatever. Not going to happen, but they keep chasing the dragon.
When I posted “I don’t like the expression ‘Don’t yuck my yum,’ because it’s the way a 3-year-old talks,” I got a reply “Wow, it sounds like the bullies have won for you!”
oh you're a fan of joy? name me three iotas in your entire life
- why I iota - you iota be in pictures - straight iota luck
the bio on that one is not someone i would want to hang out with
Idk people who can’t handle anyone who isn’t exactly like them? Bizarre
That quote post reads like someone who's had their brain fried and can now only express themselves in hyperbole
i have never understood this slogan because it’s not even like kid stuff is all joy all the time! in fact one major benefit of it is how it can offer an artful, low stakes way for kids to acquaint themselves with emotions that are scary to them!
[stares in little ann and old dan]
You’ll never catch me re-reading Bridge to Terrabithia, I can tell you that much
the last unicorn is in that set as well
hell i can’t even handle the velveteen rabbit at my big age lmao
yeah, I mean - a pretty solid majority of kid stuff has no real appeal to adults anyway, and what does is usually aimed at like, older kids and teenagers, etc. Like, nobody is out here talking about how great "Spidey and His Amazing Friends" is because it sucks.
My kids watch this thing all the time and man. Man.
Oh man. Mine too.
I mean, at least it’s not Paw Patrol?
Oh it’s basically completely inoffensive, but like, offensively so.
it's just extremely For Babies
My kids enjoy the regular MCU and also enjoy watching Spidey. I think the older ones still like it a little mostly because they can share it with the younger.
how old are the older ones?
If it's this or Cocomelon, I mean...
honestly i don’t even like looking at this lol
Yeah, so like...if you want to know whether Spider-man is just for kids, it is when it looks like that and not like Tom Holland.
I have watched so many of these out of the corner of my eye with my 5 year old this is giving me ptsd
yeah my nephews love it and it does NOT do the thing that like, Bluey does where it appeals to kids and adults.
Bluey is amazing. First thing I notice is that the art and animation gets a lot more love than a typical animated show. It looks like a labor of love--like someone's putting in way more work than they need to do just to collect their check. It's a stark contrast to a lot of the stuff on offer.
Second thing is that I like the way these characters talk to each other. Many of the shows 7yo wants to watch are fingernails on the blackboard. Everyone's rude and mean, always striking poses and mugging for the camera. Not in Bluey. They talk like people you wouldn't mind spending time with.
Yes totally. Bluey rocks
i caught a couple minutes & had questions -- like are they all kids? there are adults that tower over them what is toddler electro's motivation?
let's say you buy a toy for your dog. it's a squeaky rubber ball, big fun.
it's great to think those squeaks are cute and it's great to love how happy it makes your dog. if your dog thinks this ball sucks, it's great to say "this ball sucks, my dog took one look at it and got the vapors." (I don't own a dog but this could easily happen.)
but if _you_ like the ball as much as your dog does, that's a little weird! if you hate the ball because it's no fun for _you_, that's a little weird!
It’s like how my mom claims taking me to see Return to Oz as a small child was good for me
There is a big gap between not being into something and wanting other people not to be into something. One is your own preferences. The other is a desire for others to renounce a source of joy.
The internet has turned people into (largely) makers and understanders of extreme takes. Doesn’t matter how polite or normal or whatever you are, people will assume your take is “fuck you guy who loves kids books You’re what’s wrong with America”
Like theres def a version of your take out there that someone posts that says “Youre a pedo if you like kids books” and people act like everyone with a different opinion is saying that to them all the time. Exhausting. Like “woke Cracker Barrel” bullshit but about how you spend your free time
Yeah action figures are fun but have you ever successfully fixed something
Replacing a garbage disposal >>>> all action figures in the world
yes. action figures.
Uh, there isn’t much happy joyful media that’s coded as acceptably adult these days? Romance novels as a genre almost always end with a HEA, and always get shat on. The only things acceptably “adult” are dull and grim.
Bach, Mozart, palestrina, good horn music, ambient, folk music, the tale of genji
Do you actually want some ideas for things that I have found joyful and made for adults? And I guess, what do you consider joyful to begin with?
