"Have you seen Frozen?" my friend asked me as we walked up to campus the other day.
"Have I seen what."
"The film? It's in cinemas at the moment."
"Oh, that...isn't that a kids' film?"
"Exactly!"
And that is exactly the point - students in general seem to love nothing better than vegging out in front of some kids' TV, and don't mind sitting amongst the tiny tots in the cinema.
My question is: why do we enjoy watching kids' TV and film so much?
The most obvious answer is that it's a form of escapism - when we tune into the simple lives of characters who encounter a problem and resolve it in a satisfying manner, we can pretend our lives are just as simple. There isn't an electricity bill lying on the side, waiting to be paid, nor is there an essay that has to be written for tomorrow. We're just little kids again, passing the time by sitting in front of the box.
But it's not just watching the films and TV shows, anymore. Oh, no. Us students have been taught to analyse and criticise, and this is what we shall do. If you've spent your afternoon looking up what half of the words in your essay title actually mean, resorting to kids' programmes gives you a chance to feel clever again by having a go at the characters who don't know what they're doing with their lives. Never mind the fact that the shows are meant to educate children on how to resolve problems - we've solved them, and the characters need to hurry up and get to the happy ending already.
We've got more than the plot down, though. We're looking at what we'd missed out on when we were real kids - the adult jokes. Now that we're all grown up, we can watch Shrek and chortle away at the ogre looking up at Duloc's massive height and saying, "Do you think he's compensating for something?". Don't even get me started on the Disney movies...
It's an undeniable fact that children's shows can be educational. Take Dora the Explorer, for example. Fast track Spanish course, sorted. We can convince ourselves that we're studying by watching dancing cartoon maps and monkeys, because some of it isn't in English.
And don't forget the fact that some kids' films were simply made for us - Toy Story 3 simply couldn't be missed, because it ended with Andy saying goodbye to his childhood by passing on his toys, moving away to college, and generally growing up, just like we have....right?
"Have I seen what."
"The film? It's in cinemas at the moment."
"Oh, that...isn't that a kids' film?"
"Exactly!"
And that is exactly the point - students in general seem to love nothing better than vegging out in front of some kids' TV, and don't mind sitting amongst the tiny tots in the cinema.
My question is: why do we enjoy watching kids' TV and film so much?
The most obvious answer is that it's a form of escapism - when we tune into the simple lives of characters who encounter a problem and resolve it in a satisfying manner, we can pretend our lives are just as simple. There isn't an electricity bill lying on the side, waiting to be paid, nor is there an essay that has to be written for tomorrow. We're just little kids again, passing the time by sitting in front of the box.
But it's not just watching the films and TV shows, anymore. Oh, no. Us students have been taught to analyse and criticise, and this is what we shall do. If you've spent your afternoon looking up what half of the words in your essay title actually mean, resorting to kids' programmes gives you a chance to feel clever again by having a go at the characters who don't know what they're doing with their lives. Never mind the fact that the shows are meant to educate children on how to resolve problems - we've solved them, and the characters need to hurry up and get to the happy ending already.
We've got more than the plot down, though. We're looking at what we'd missed out on when we were real kids - the adult jokes. Now that we're all grown up, we can watch Shrek and chortle away at the ogre looking up at Duloc's massive height and saying, "Do you think he's compensating for something?". Don't even get me started on the Disney movies...
It's an undeniable fact that children's shows can be educational. Take Dora the Explorer, for example. Fast track Spanish course, sorted. We can convince ourselves that we're studying by watching dancing cartoon maps and monkeys, because some of it isn't in English.
And don't forget the fact that some kids' films were simply made for us - Toy Story 3 simply couldn't be missed, because it ended with Andy saying goodbye to his childhood by passing on his toys, moving away to college, and generally growing up, just like we have....right?