I’m assuming everyone has watched at least one cartoon in their life that has had some type of meaningful object to it.
A lot of the cartoons I’ve watched have had deeper meanings. So let’s talk about them.
We’ll start off with a more obvious one if you’ve seen it before.
“Steven Universe”
The show starts off with a young boy living with “The crystal gems”, and he is learning to use his mother’s gem powers. Steven is half gem, half human. In the show Steven goes through a lot in his adventures. He learns about the gems, his mother, his said “destiny”, and to control his powers. With that being said, Steven faces many challenges to reach the point he is at the end of the show. This includes some traumatic events. Steven has to deal with his mother’s consequences after she passed her gem and life on to Steven. He’s left with gems coming after him as they believe he is rose quartz (his mother) and has to deal with the repercussions of Rose’s actions. The show talks about feeling alone, war, aliens, being made for something, choosing your own path in life, and so on. Steven not only has to deal with his mother’s actions but he also tries to fix everyone else’s problems. Homeworld gems come to earth to try to get Steven and destroy the crystal gems. Steven does everything to make the Homeworld gems see why life on earth is so important. This leads to Steven really struggling to have time for himself in later seasons.
The show is good in the fact that it brings important topics to light and has amazing songs, character development, design choices, and writing. Though a few times I feel like the show can’t move without Steven being on screen, which makes sense. I mean, the show is about him but there are times where it feels like a lot of the other characters deserves more of a spotlight with just an episode by themselves (which we do get a few times) but it would have been nice to get a bit more with growth and having each main character get their own dedicated episode. Sometimes I feel like the show was lacking the other point of views that could have really had more of an impact. But, overall, the show is amazing and has very important topics. If I could watch the show again for the first time, I would, and if you haven’t seen it, I totally recommend it. 9.2/10
“Bluey”
Bluey is a cartoon about an Australian puppy named, (bet you can’t guess) bluey. She’s named that because she’s a blue heeler, in case you were wondering. She’s seven years old and lives with her mom Chili, her father Bandit, and her little sister Bingo. Bluey learns a lot about life and how the world works from adventures with her friends and family, stories, and playtimes with her sister. Bluey is very outgoing and always eager to learn new things. Bluey’s very open minded, and through the show, her growth as a kid learning about the world around her is very evident. While Bluey may just seem like any other kid’s cartoon, there’s a lot more to it that might just surprise you. The show has a lot of serious topics in it, some being the circle of life, death, bullying, being “different,” separation anxiety, comparing yourself to others, infertility, early babies, and a lot more. With each of these topics, the show finds a way to make it evident about what’s going on in a child friendly way that gets kids, adults and teens crying. (I definitely have cried during a few episodes. “Copycat” and “sign” especially.)
I feel like the show really finds a way to keep people engaged while watching it. I oftentimes will get bored of shows and click off to find new things, but I haven’t had that with Bluey. The voice actors are amazing, especially the kids. They really seem to help bring the characters to life and show just how important the world is to kids, along with multiple points of views.
I feel like a lot of the time cartoons are overlooked and only thought to be for kids, while I can understand that in my personal experiences cartoons can and should be for all ages. I’ve watched a lot of cartoons that have really helped me in life to better understand me and my surroundings. Bluey is a feel good show meant for all ages to enjoy. If you ever find yourself needing a break or distraction I’d recommend bluey. 9.2/ 10
I could keep going but I’ll end it here. There are a lot more cartoons that have deep meanings but I’ll stick with these two.
If you ever have a chance to maybe sit down and rewatch a cartoon you used to like, you might realize there was more to it than meets the eye.
