"Children's Media"

Without really being aware of it, until this post, I guess the bulk of my media is what society calls "Children's Media". I don't really consider them Children's media myself, because to me that means that it's something made, for and enjoyed solely by children. Movies like the Harry Potter Series (and the books), How to Train Your Dragon and other animated movies are titled Children's movies, but I've seen plenty of people who aren't "children" enjoy the movies. I'm 20 and I love movies like Kung Fu Panda and Aladdin. I also have friends who are around my age who also love these kinds of movies, even my parents and grandparents watch them.

Perhaps Children's media is viewed by some "adults" as being less than other media or beneath them because of how people define it. Because it's called Children's media, people perhaps  assume that it's only for Children and because of that, it's less intellectual. Children's media may be made with children as the intended audience, but there is some really good media that not only talks to children but is also enjoyed by everyone.

When I was maybe eleven or twelve years old, I started reading the Harry Potter series. My parents bought all the books and eventually my dad started reading them as well. I remember he enjoyed them a lot and whenever a movie came out, he would re-read the book before going to see it. We saw all the movies together.

I think Children's media is perhaps frequently viewed as just fun, fluff movies or books that are just to entertain (which some non Children's media does). Which it does entertain, but the good ones also seem to show you a possible way to view an aspect of real life or teach you something. How to Train Your Dragon is all about Hiccup who tries very hard to do what all the other vikings do; capture dragons, but he's not very good at it and it becomes more obvious after he rescues Toothless that it's something he doesn't want to do. From my view, it teaches you to stand up for yourself and to not let people tell you who you should be.

The Harry Potter series doesn't seem to be teaching you something, at least nothing I can remember seeing, but I always remember reading it and enjoying it because it took me to Hogwarts and I could imagine myself walking in the halls and taking classes and using magic. It sort of gave me the belief that you could make something magical happen. You could go on an adventure with friends, granted nothing with magic, unicorns or evil wizards bent on killing you, but you could have your own adventures; and I have. They've been to places like Fred Meyer, pet stores, somebody's favorite place to eat or video game stores, but they've been adventures to us.