Monday, March 7, 2011

Word of the Day: Kidult


Ever watch a kid movie, catch a joke, and look over at the kids to see if they get it? I have, and the more I watch kid entertainment or read kidlit, the more I catch winks that were obviously meant for me, the adult. For example, I read a Edgar nom that was a really heavy detective pastiche, playing on all the cliches--and a middle-grader hasn't been exposed long enough to appreciate this. A nod to librarians and parents? I don't know.

Anyway, what had me thinking was this article on what's called kidult entertainment (like the new Rango movie). Interesting stuff.

It keeps me wondering: how much entertainment (and I'll include books here) is really for kids, and how much is through the adult lens? Are we directing kids' entertainment too much?

Food for thought.

4 comments:

  1. Tricky. I recently watched Gnomeo and Juliet and was happily entertained...but I know who Shakespeare is. I know how the real story ends. The three year old was entertained by the bright colors and music. The eight year old was mostly: What? So it is a very tricky thing to balance. A nod to the adults is appreciated, but a kids movie should really be more about the kids. IMHO =)

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  2. I agree.

    It's tricky, though, for us writers: you want a book kids love, but at the end of the line, you also have to sell it to the parents.

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  3. I was really surprised at the level of tension on TS3. Truly there was never a moment when the toys were not threatened with either abandonment, injury or extinction. What does that tell me, never mind a four year old.

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  4. Kids movies of today move so fast. When I sit down with my kids to watch one of the kid movies I grew up with, they get bored.

    Man, I sound old :-)

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