A very interesting quote from Don Bluth

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I figured there are a plenty of Don Bluth fans on here... I was on the web a few days ago...And I sorta came across this very interesting quote from animator Don Bluth.

"I [FONT=Verdana, Arial] remember reading a quote from Walt Disney which stated that he never created animation exclusively for children. Certainly, the subject matter of Snow White with its Wicked Witch, and Bambi with the death of the mother deer, and Pinocchio, with its coming-of-age themes, were all aimed at mature audiences. So the question that has always puzzled me is: How did traditional animation come to be viewed by almost every American household as children's entertainment?"

http://www.animationnation.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=013579;p=

What do u think?
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I would think it's most likely because they're reminiscent of picture books, comics, and other illustrated stories, which usually are meant for children.
 
I find it weird that Don Bluth of all people said that. With the obvious exception of Titan AE, he created some of the most cloyingly cute cartoons ever in the latter parts of his career.
 
...sorry, Don, but I'd have to say that the loss of a parent (a theme rooted in childhood, surely?), the obvious paedagogy in Pinocchio and the presence of wicked witches (!?) all point more to an audience of kids than adults.
 
Not to mention, that the stagecoach in Pinocchio was never dealt with and thus it's quite clear that he'll continue kidnapping and enslaving children.
 
That's the one part in the film that got to me a bit, there was never any means to look into or stop this guy from continuing his thing.
 
I'm reading the book right now and it looks like nothing is done with him in there, either. However, it strikes me that it's because the "coachman" as most people refer to the Disney character or the "Little Man" as he's called in the book is designed as a cautionary tale. The idea isn't that he's some villian that has to be stopped. It's that, if you're a good kid, you won't run into him in the first place. The Little Man only preys on bad kids who are willing to abandon school and parents to play all day long and make jackasses out of themselves without a thought to responsibility.

It's like that old cautionary tale of "If you make a face and the wind changes, it'll be stuck that way". No one ever says "Gee, that's a real problem. We should find a way to stop that." The solution is just "don't make faces".
 
Sort of like the movie "Taken". The main character only cares about saving his family member, to hell with everyone else who's being captured and imprisoned every day.


But I'm not sure I understand how that kind of thing appeals to a younger audience.
 
Simple! It's because of TV, and decades of animated programming geared to Kids. It was truized long ago that Kids didn't give a damn about the authorship, quality, etc. Kids, it was averred, would view anything. Michael Barrier has asked a very controversial question: What if animation had never been allowed to reach TV? It would have been better for the art, Barrier opines, if animation had gone into a loooong nichery/independency period.
 
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