Do you like a show better when it features characters around your age?

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<3life<3

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For some reason I like shows that feature characters around my age... For instance each year I like Avatar a little less, maybe cause I feel that Aang is a little immature? I like him, but... I dunno. Maybe it's because I can connect better with characters my age.

Anyone else feel this way?
 
I rarely see's any character around my age (Young adult, 19) in animation.
But everytime I see some characters that are older, they act like a child. Which, I find odd because sometimes I see some characters thats younger; but yet acts like a adult.
 
I usually don't see or hear of a lot of animated series with a twenty year old character. Most characters in animated series aren't pass eighteen or nineteen, but that's not counting the animated sitcom series. For me, the age doesn't matter in terms of allowing me to relate to the characters. Its more about their personalities and how they handle various situations in their series.
 
Eh, most of the fictional characters that are my age (40) tend to be parents. And since I don't have any kids, I can't exactly relate.


Overall, a characters' age doesn't matter to me, it's who they are, how they act and react and how much they entertain me that matters.
 
I see where you're coming from. I mean, there's characters that are 30 years old that are my favorites. But when they exaggerate like a 90 old man would kinda bore me, unless he was really interesting, and a show that features toddlers... Ehhh....:sweat:
 
I personally disagree with the notion that kids/teens/adults can't relate to one another. To say otherwise means sterotyping someone based on age.

For one thing, whether it's getting summer break/weekend from school or getting vacation from work, people of all ages tend to try enjoying time off (unless the individual is a workaholic).

To give a personal example, I (who am 27) tend to relate to Aang from Avatar myself. Like me, he doesn't try to act macho and insensitive to be the sterotypical boy/man. And much like myself as a child, neither of us viewed girls to be icky. Only difference is that he got the girl.:sweat:


Only reason I request adult centered programs is so that the medium gets some diversity.
 
Most adult characters in animation are probably about my age (in their 30s---old enough to seem like full-fledged respected adults possibly with kids of their own or be nostalgic for their childhoods "many years ago", yet young enough to still seem "immature-acting" if the plot requires it/look attractive or "hot" for romantic purposes/not seem "too old"/take part in some fad-du-jour like becoming a rock musician, etc.). Still, I'd identify way more with Lisa Simpson than Homer Simpson ... :-p

Oddly, seems like after about age 40, cartoons jump immediately to "elderly person" instead of depicting people in their 40s or 50s...

-B.
 
It's really the main characters' overall personalities that appeal to me most. I can like any show better because of that, not because of their ages.
 
Yeah. I could relate to Aang more because I was 12-13 around the time avatar started. I feel I can understand the character more.
 
Eh, age usually doesn't factor in when it comes to characters I like.

Besides, there aren't that many appealing 17-year-old characters in animation.
 
I am 18, so no, i don't. I hate 18 year olds and shows that feature them. Most of my favorite cartoons feature kids of around 8-18 years of age. Phineas and Ferb, Daria, etc. I never much cared for adult characters (with some exceptions) as i find adults overly utilitarian and dull. Whereas a kid, like a villain, has more freedom of character and what they can do, whereas adults have jobs and are all pretty much the same person with personality quirks added for humour. Kids are better than adults in animation imo for not just this reason but because they are more mature than adults and more civilized overall, less concerned with dating, sex, alcohol, work, money strife etc, and thus more civilized and normal on the whole. ed, Edd n Eddy for instance are good examples of characters that couldn't exist as adults. Phineas and Ferb could never do the stuff they do as anyone over school age.
 
I find that often times the characters i like the best are of some vaugely defined "adult" age that could often be anywere from their 20's to their 50's (think Garfield for instance, he can easily be imagnied as a 32 year old, but just as easily as a 48 year old. Same goes, more or less, for Goofy, Donald Duck, Inspector Gadget, Felix the Cat, ect ect...) Either that, or kids that act more or less like adults (like the Peanuts characters). So basically, characters that are more defined as cartoon characters than as characters of a specific age.

Characters that are specifically pointed out to be around my age (im 22) rarely appears in western animation. But when they do, i find that in the cases where their age is an important aspect of their personalites or lifestyle, im generally not to fond of them, because that usually means that they will spend way to much time whining about relationshpis (like Fry and Leela in Futurama). And that particular kind of drama is almost never something that interests me.
 
Not really - good characterization is good characterization as far as I'm concerned.

HOWEVER, it was oddly refreshing the first time I saw Gintama - the main character's in his twenties, and most of the cast is around my age or older. But it still comes down to good characterization. *shrugs*
 
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