Animation Age Ghetto

The Western preconceived notion that anything that is animated is either for kids or a raunchy adult comedy which prevents more serious portrayals of animation from getting a mainstream foothold in the United States and Europe.

In the United States and Europe, animation is seen by most folks as a medium that is geared for either children or an adult title whose content is just for laughs. In other words, any TV show or movie that is animated is not meant to be taken seriously as an art medium as they are considered just a simple form of entertainment to most people in Western countries. It is seen by some anime fans as a possible barrier that prevents anime from gaining greater mainstream exposure in the West.

This notion was pushed along from animation's earliest use in Western countries being for slapstick entertainment during the first half of the 20th century. With television not around in greater use until the 1950s, animated shorts from major studios like Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and MGM were presented in theaters alongside newsreels, B movies and other features. With the Hays Production Code (regulated film content code) enforced in the United States at the time, all content presented in theaters had to appeal equally to all audiences where some of the subject matter in animated shorts gave some nods that appealed to older audiences, such as references to popular culture and current events.

With the emergence of more Disney animated feature films and television, animated theatrical shorts eventually fizzled out in the 1960s. Disney's animated feature films helped gain the studio greater recognition for it's "family friendly" appeal and content which made it the major influence in animation that it is today. Television broadcasting standards at this time were also much more strict than the guidelines laid out from the Hays Code. As a result, developers of movies and television programs developed a changed mindset of animation by making it more geared towards a younger audience by having slapstick comedies and/or "family friendly" themes. This mentality was also passed to the audiences that the developers appealed to. Any animated film or television show created that was serious such as animated films from Don Bluth (Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go to Heaven) or Watership Down had great difficulty appealing to wide audiences and major studios due to its dark and serious themes since most of these people carried the mindset of anything animated being for kids.

The emergence of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Simpsons in the late 1980s somewhat helped change the Western mentality of animation being perceived to be just for kids. Both appealed to wider audiences and featured levels of content that would not be commonly found in a Disney animated feature film. As a result of Roger Rabbit and The Simpsons' success, more animated television shows and movies were created to appeal to wider audiences. However, a majority of these new Western animated movies and shows still focused their content on comedy as animation was still not considered an appropriate medium to feature more serious themes and drama.

In Japan, there is a greater acceptance of animation being an artistic medium that can create serious themes and drama. While more Japanese are receptive to manga than anime, both are seen as mediums that are capable of storytelling of any kind of genre and appealing to any kind of audience. In most cases, an animated adaptation of a story is preferable over live-action to the Japanese because it's easier to find a voice cast (seiyuu) and their animated content is more "internationally friendly" than a live-action adaptation, despite the higher costs of an animated film or television series. However, this also creates the preconceived notion to a good number of Western audiences that all Japanese animated films are filled with graphic violence and sex, as well as people being labeled a "child" or "pervert" for liking anime. The labeling even occurs in Japan for those that are too interested in anime.