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When it comes to animation, when you see a protagonist, you'll usually see right away that they're a kid character, a teenage character, or an adult character. However, some shows have characters that may seem to look like they could be a certain age, yet act older or younger than expected. This is called Vague Age, where you may think a character is a certain age, but some of their behavior says otherwise. What are some examples of the vague age effect that you can see in animation? I'll start.
One example I can think of is with Strawberry Shortcake: Berry In The Big City. I mean, this can apply to the whole franchise in how characters who seem to be young kids or teenagers are seemingly living on their own and owning their own businesses. However, I think it's pretty noticeable here. The characters seem to be written like teenagers due to their attitudes having a bit more edge, yet can still operate their own businesses and adults trust them with big tasks. However, that's not what puts the show here. It's instead when we see their family members that this becomes noticeable. Take for example Blueberry's younger brother. He very clearly looks like a young kid. There's also Orange's older sister, who looks like a college aged adult. In fact, she's even tasked with watching over Strawberry and her friends in one episode where they have a sleepover and watch a scary movie. There's also how adult characters like Aunt Praline and Lime's dad definitely look like they're more in their 30s or 40s.
Now let's shift the conversation over to Princess Power. The four main characters seem to be written to be like young teenagers, what with the extra emphasis on responsibility for others and the witty fourth wall breaking that's not usually seen in preschool shows. Comments from some of the characters, like Rita (where she says how she doesn't want to let the Raspberrian kids down in Princess Creation Station) and Penny (where she says how she's practically still a kid in Princess Babysitter's Club) seem to add to this. The attitudes of characters like Kira (who often tends to be rather mature) and Bea (who has the energy of a sporty teenager) along with their voice actress, Dana Heath and Madison Calderon, being two of the older voice actors due to being born in 2006, also adds to this. However, you also get episodes like Princess All Nighter (which has Bea being nervous about going to her first sleepover, something usually shown more for younger kids) and "The Princess's Speech" (where Kira is nervous about giving her big speech, something also usually shown more with younger kids). What ultimately adds to this is how we have an episode like "Princess Royal Wedding", where Rita says how she has the authority as princess to marry her mother Queen Ryung and her soon to be mother Queen Olivia. How often do you have kid or teenage characters in media with this kind of authority?
Now I want to talk about both TOTS and Pupstruction, both being Disney Junior shows created by Travis Braun. Both shows can basically be described as preschool work coms due to both shows' main characters (Pip and Freddy in the former, Phinny, Roxy, Tank, and Luna in the latter) all having legitimate jobs in childcare and construction respectively despite all being kids. What ultimately puts the shows here are with their more prominent younger characters, Mia in the former and Phinny's younger sister Bailey in the latter. Both are shown attending school at some point, but the lead characters don't. So like, are the main leads meant to be like teenagers or older kids who, in the world of both shows, don't need to go to school anymore?
The final show I want to talk about is Bugs Bunny Builders. Generally speaking, the Looney Tunes are meant to be adults with their own lives and jobs depending on what the situation calls for. It seems to be the case here with how they run their own construction business. However, there's also that one episode where they make a playground for themselves, not for the kids like that episode with the merry go round. Tweety also seems to be written to be more of an audience surrogate for young children given how he's been given some of the plots that more directly speak to them (like the episode where he's afraid of a dinosaur skeleton or the episode where he's afraid of the dark).
And that's all I have. What are other examples of the vague age effect that you can find in animation?
One example I can think of is with Strawberry Shortcake: Berry In The Big City. I mean, this can apply to the whole franchise in how characters who seem to be young kids or teenagers are seemingly living on their own and owning their own businesses. However, I think it's pretty noticeable here. The characters seem to be written like teenagers due to their attitudes having a bit more edge, yet can still operate their own businesses and adults trust them with big tasks. However, that's not what puts the show here. It's instead when we see their family members that this becomes noticeable. Take for example Blueberry's younger brother. He very clearly looks like a young kid. There's also Orange's older sister, who looks like a college aged adult. In fact, she's even tasked with watching over Strawberry and her friends in one episode where they have a sleepover and watch a scary movie. There's also how adult characters like Aunt Praline and Lime's dad definitely look like they're more in their 30s or 40s.
Now let's shift the conversation over to Princess Power. The four main characters seem to be written to be like young teenagers, what with the extra emphasis on responsibility for others and the witty fourth wall breaking that's not usually seen in preschool shows. Comments from some of the characters, like Rita (where she says how she doesn't want to let the Raspberrian kids down in Princess Creation Station) and Penny (where she says how she's practically still a kid in Princess Babysitter's Club) seem to add to this. The attitudes of characters like Kira (who often tends to be rather mature) and Bea (who has the energy of a sporty teenager) along with their voice actress, Dana Heath and Madison Calderon, being two of the older voice actors due to being born in 2006, also adds to this. However, you also get episodes like Princess All Nighter (which has Bea being nervous about going to her first sleepover, something usually shown more for younger kids) and "The Princess's Speech" (where Kira is nervous about giving her big speech, something also usually shown more with younger kids). What ultimately adds to this is how we have an episode like "Princess Royal Wedding", where Rita says how she has the authority as princess to marry her mother Queen Ryung and her soon to be mother Queen Olivia. How often do you have kid or teenage characters in media with this kind of authority?
Now I want to talk about both TOTS and Pupstruction, both being Disney Junior shows created by Travis Braun. Both shows can basically be described as preschool work coms due to both shows' main characters (Pip and Freddy in the former, Phinny, Roxy, Tank, and Luna in the latter) all having legitimate jobs in childcare and construction respectively despite all being kids. What ultimately puts the shows here are with their more prominent younger characters, Mia in the former and Phinny's younger sister Bailey in the latter. Both are shown attending school at some point, but the lead characters don't. So like, are the main leads meant to be like teenagers or older kids who, in the world of both shows, don't need to go to school anymore?
The final show I want to talk about is Bugs Bunny Builders. Generally speaking, the Looney Tunes are meant to be adults with their own lives and jobs depending on what the situation calls for. It seems to be the case here with how they run their own construction business. However, there's also that one episode where they make a playground for themselves, not for the kids like that episode with the merry go round. Tweety also seems to be written to be more of an audience surrogate for young children given how he's been given some of the plots that more directly speak to them (like the episode where he's afraid of a dinosaur skeleton or the episode where he's afraid of the dark).
And that's all I have. What are other examples of the vague age effect that you can find in animation?
