Do you guys watch cartoons?

I’m not talking about the most hyped animated movie series like Toy Story, Ice Age, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, or others that often become the talk of the box office as soon as they release, but, the real cartoons. Did I say real cartoons? Cartoons aren’t real, right? Anyway.

For an adult like me, watching cartoons is quite a disappointment to my family members and I often face harsh criticism. Even among the friends. But I enjoy it. More than watching hardcore action movies or boring sci-fi ‘masterpieces’. From classics to witty shorts, I enjoy them all. I like how they talk, move, and make me laugh— or keep me awake till midnight.

A few days back, one of my friends had to borrow my spare smartphone for a day as his one crushed unexpectedly. As I trust him, I didn’t sign out my Google accounts but I told him not to sign in to his account and to peek into my accounts as little as possible. He is quite a YouTube and Facebook videos freak and couldn’t help but use my YouTube account. Bad for him, I don’t use FB on my phone.

The next day, he seemed to be off, all gloomy. Turned out he tried to watch something from my YT feeds but the majority of them were cartoons— his least favourite. Good for me, he fixed his phone the next day as he found using my phone for entertainment purposes is quite impossible. I laughed.

Now, I know many of you enjoy watching cartoons a lot. Given that we’ve grown up, do we have to stop watching cartoons? Is it solely designated for the younger demographic? What if we find them irresistibly entertaining?

Personally, I don’t believe watching cartoons has anything to do with ‘’growing up.’’ You can watch it if your soul wants it to. There is nothing wrong. It’s just another form of entertainment anyway. What’s wrong with entertaining yourselves with some characters doing this and that? Rather, I feel like grown-ups should watch cartoons more.

Kids don’t get to appreciate the creativity of putting thousands of frames sequentially to make something move, adults do. We can perceive the message or utmost depth cartoons represent. And there are lots of them representing the social imbalance, its dark side and whatnot. Kids don’t get them. To me, it’s a waste of talent to broadcast those cartoons intending the kids and youngsters.

But we don’t watch cartoons as they are merely entertaining or have a strong message to deliver. Sometimes I feel my lost childhood among them. I feel nostalgic. Memories pop up, a subtle grin becomes visible on my cheek— that’s precious. It’s like scrolling through an old album and seeing myself in shorts, hair combed right, or those uncared moments with friends and family. It feels divine; as if the cartoon characters are my childhood buddies dancing with my imagination, doing stupid things and making fun out of it.

Usually, I don’t talk about my personal preferences in terms of movies or TV shows or say, cartoons. Cause they don’t resonate with the majority and suddenly a swarm of criticism forces me to retreat to my cave. But, that doesn’t stop me from doing what I enjoy most, that’s why many of us keep multiple accounts, right?

Sounds fair or not, I don’t want to stop watching cartoons anytime soon. And I guess I won’t ever as long as they make me feel more alive.

_{Photo by Will Rust on Unsplash}