Quote Sandwich

Introduction: Animators are pretty important, despite what people might say. The community is supportive, creative and driven, but the industry is no joke. Part of the reason that people think animators aren’t serious jobs is because of the association of animation being for kids. This quote from the-artiface.com summarizes this idea perfectly:

Quote: “The primary issue animation has to deal with is its reputation as a children’s entertainment machine. People with a decent reputation shoving a well-done animated work aside for a live-action contemporary just because of the medium used to convey the plot, can be quite a common occurrence. On the other hand, people are just as likely to forgive a work of animation for having glaring flaws for the same mundane reason. (“It’s for kids”) Hence, people fall victim to a thought process that is summarised by dismissing animated movies and shows, which are generally family friendly, as works that are strictly made for children. Thus, animation is indirectly labelled as an immature medium with no stories that adults can fall in love with.”

Interpretation: In other words, animation has a heavy association with just being kids entertainment. Something that you can just plop a child in front of. Many adults are seen as “children” or “immature” if they enjoy cartoons and animation themselves. The problem is people only look at animation on the surface level, when it’s so much more than what people give it credit for. 

Analyze: In the last sentence of the quote, it shows that there are some people who dismiss animation because there’s no stories that adults can fall in love with. There are plenty of examples in which animation tells a very mature story that adults can either laugh at or relate to.
Apply: This supports my argument that animation community isn’t taken seriously because we are viewed as a group of people who are obsessed with watching and creating kids programming, due to the assumption that animation is just for kids.