Why is so rare in cartoons for children to actually act like children instead of neurotic mini-college students?

Why is so rare in cartoons for children to actually act like children instead of neurotic mini-college students?

I remember Nick Jr cartoons too.

because they're written by people who have romanticised their childhood.

Real children aren't particularly interesting most of the time.

doesn't arnold act like the adult one most of the time?

Because it's so rare for adults to not act like neurotic children in real life?

because you won't watch a show like that.

Because actual children tend to be rather annoying and simple minded. Doesn't exactly translate well into fiction.

arnold "mary sue" shortman

It's a really good writing tool.

Imagine being a college kid too young to drive, drink, smoke. You still in your bedroom you ride around on your bike and all your friends are still down to hang. Nobody has a job and you still play at the playground.

Actual, real kids look up to figures who are older, or more mature. It should be that way anyway, to set standards and morals for them.

Why would they want to watch a show with kids who are as ignorant or immature as they are? That is what they have their friends for.

The same reason adults in movies don't behave like normal people in real life. Normal people are fucking boring.

They do it so the characters can appeal to a wide demographic. Real children aren't relatable or interesting to most people.

Kids in 90s cartoons are less like kids and more like fair folk. They kinda look like tiny humans but they live by their own weird rules and have their own weird priorities and pissing them off ends poorly for adults. And that's entertaining.

Because they are written by out-of-touch adults who have no kids.

kids are usually obnoxious or uninteresting. sometimes both.

Do you want every show to be Clarence? I love Clarence, but no thanks. Harvey Beaks is good, too.

Because children lead incredibly dull lives, and more importantly the show is written by adults.You're forgetting that a good 90% of the time they are actually just doing kid's stuff.

As opposed to anons on Sup Forums who all have children and have a great grasp on all aspects of real life.

Mitsuboshi Colors and Ichigo Mashimaro for example have child characters that are, if not entirely realistic, at least nothing like neurotic mini college students. So it's not like it can't be done.

Hey Arnold has only one neurotic mini college student style character, and she is also used for comedy and (rare for a female character) outright violent slapstick.

Kids don't want to watch normal kids do normal things.

>arnold "mary sue" shortman

Only from like Season 3.

Seeing as how shows are written by adults. such a show would have to be written by people who fondly remember their own childhood, or adults who have their own kids. That alone may not even be enough to carry an entire season or more, so they fall back on making them somewhat more mature than previously established.

Because the writers are childless neurotic college graduates.

Because real kids are boring and stupid, hur hur. Am I doing it right, it Sup Forums?

Look, the thing is, in stuff like Hey Arnold and Peanuts, the kids actually do act like real kids. No, you won't find a literal Stoop Kid anywhere, or a Linus who drags a security blanket wherever he goes, but the outlandish aspects of such characters serve as caricatures of very real, very human flaws.

More germane to Hey Arnold is the fact that even though it's exaggerated in Helga to a comical degree, lovesickness is a thing that grade school kids can experience, so much so that, in want of a way to express the feelings that the child is afraid to express, it can manifest in picking on the object of their affection.

In Arnold's case, who says there aren't kids with earnest convictions who try to be honest and fair with adults and fellow kids alike? It's not as if Arnold never does *anything* immature or irresponsible over the course of the series and two movies, and many times Gerald is the voice of reason. But there's nothing about either of these kids that screams "neurotic mini-college student". And--this goes for most of the posters in this thread as well--even though you were once a kid yourself and no doubt despised adults who looked down on you, I'd posit that it's your own adult cynicism towards childhood that causes you to roll you to roll your eyes at any semi-realistic, heartfelt cartoon depiction of adolescence.

As decades pass and the gap between your childhood and adulthood grows, it must be comforting to think that most children are annoying and simple minded. I've never had that sense of superiority, because the one part of my childhood I'll never let go of is the part of me that hated anyone who assumed that because I was a kid I was too "simple" to understand adult matters.

Because drama is fun.