Comments on: What It Is Like To Be Old http://mattchan.net/2006/06/29/what-it-is-like-to-be-old/ monitoring my meandering mind Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:35:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: R.B. Boyer http://mattchan.net/2006/06/29/what-it-is-like-to-be-old/#comment-18 R.B. Boyer Fri, 30 Jun 2006 17:32:56 +0000 http://mattchan.net/2006/06/29/what-it-is-like-to-be-old/#comment-18 I think this is related to the "languages are easier to learn when you are young" concept. Cartoons are assembled from symbols (<a href="http://tvtropes.org/" rel="nofollow">tropes</a>) that we understand: "bad guy", "good guy", "the girl", "the sidekick", etc. Since cartoons are geared towards children they must use simple symbols because children do not have access to a large set of life experiences to understand some of our more complicated and "adult" television plotlines. Once we grow up, we look back at these cartoons and see them as simple for the very same reason why children love them so much. I think this is related to the “languages are easier to learn when you are young” concept. Cartoons are assembled from symbols (tropes) that we understand: “bad guy”, “good guy”, “the girl”, “the sidekick”, etc. Since cartoons are geared towards children they must use simple symbols because children do not have access to a large set of life experiences to understand some of our more complicated and “adult” television plotlines.

Once we grow up, we look back at these cartoons and see them as simple for the very same reason why children love them so much.

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