When I hit about 7th grade, there was some sort of weird agreement among most of my classmates that we should all stop watching cartoons, which were deemed 'childish' or 'stupid' or similar things. For about three years I publicly stuck to this unspoken rule, and then sophomore year of high school it was suddenly acceptable again. Personally, I was psyched - I had still been watching cartoons those three years, but just keeping quiet about it. Now, I could talk to my friends about them again.
Well, only some friends - some people seemed to have given up on cartoons entirely. Which is fine, everyone has different tastes, but I could do without those who don't watch them calling those of us who do 'childish' or 'stupid' or whatever the epithet of the week is. The good news is that it's much more acceptable in college - everyone is watching cartoons, to the point where I've seen Cartoon Network playing on the TVs in the dining hall more often than MTV.
But, more then that, there seems to be a sort of resurgence in cartoons these days: shows like 'Adventure Time' and the newer 'Steven Universe' offer not only 30 minutes of escapism, but also some great messages for kids and reinforced beliefs for young adults. For example, this great scene from 'Adventure Time;'
This is something that simply isn't present in a lot of shows from my childhood; or even most 'adult' shows today. The idea of consent is repeated many times throughout the show; though I myself have never seen most of it, I've heard a lot about it from the more regular fans. Asking for permission to touch someone or do something with them is a huge message in 'Adventure Time' and I, for one, think that's pretty damn awesome. Teaching kids from a young age about consent is the first step to stopping sexual assault in the future.
'Steven Universe' is more notable for it's openness about the real world; even though the show is centered around magic space rocks that can take humanoid form, the show has been very clear that most of the Crystal Gems, as the main group is called, prefer to identify as women, with the notable exception of Steven himself; therefore, the relationship presented between character Ruby and Sapphire, who unify or 'fuse' to make the completely separate character of Garnet, is difficult to view as anything other than lesbian in nature. Which is incredible, considering how much time has been spent on developing their backstory and relationship, especially when compared to the Disney show 'Good Luck Charlie' which was cancelled after showing a lesbian couple for a minute or two and received severe backlash.
Other popular cartoons among young adults include 'Gravity Falls,' which recently ended, but on a high note, and dealt heavily with dealing with traumatic events; and 'Over The Garden Wall,' a miniseries focused on the coming-of-age story of Wirt as he learns to understand that he can't control everything in life, and that he should really pay more attention to his little brother. Both of these shows had some exceptionally dark moments, especially near the end, but this only added to the overall message of "things get tough, but life goes on."
To conclude, I suppose the only thing left to say is that cartoons are fun. Life is stressful, especially as a college student looking forward to a broken economy and desolate job market, and putting on something that's colorful and funny and just a little bit ridiculous can be a great stress-reliever for half an hour or so. The fact that so many shows nowadays are upfront about dealing with sad or upsetting scenarios that can be related back to real life is just the cherry on top.
