The SAGeeks series is all about celebrating the geeky and nerdy sides of all of us working in higher education and student affairs. The series is edited by Jenn Osolinski and Lynne Meyer. Check out our resources page for more geeky goodness.

If you grew up watching television in the early 90’s like I did, you may have watched a channel catered to children called Nickelodeon. On this network, all of the programming was targeted towards kids and young teenagers; I can remember sitting on Saturday mornings watching cartoons like Rugrats, Aaahh!! Real Monsters, and my favorite at the time, Rocko’s Modern Life. I continued to watch these cartoons long after my friends moved on to shows like The Real World and Dawson’s Creek; all aiming for a slightly older demographic.

You’d be surprised at the amount of quality animated programming these days. Animation, for many years, followed a very narrow format. Shows like Rugrats were for children, and often had a small lesson to be learned about sharing or the importance of taking turns. Taking into consideration shorter attention spans, an episode rarely went longer than 11 or 12 minutes. More mature programming at the time (known as anime, often coming from Japan) was targeted primarily for teenaged boys. I loved it all. I consumed as much as I could, often racing home from school to catch Toonami on Cartoon Network.

Over time though, my enthusiasm for cartoons faded. Occasionally, I would catch an episode of Family Guy, but for the most part, I was busy with school or I was watching some “more appropriate” television for someone my age. Sometime in my undergraduate years though, I caught an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender while watching after one of my younger cousins. It was a show about Aang, an 11-year-old who was the last of his kind, and forced to save the world, which was on the brink of war. For anyone paying minimal attention, the show was for young teenagers, but if you took the time to examine a little closer, the show was groundbreaking.

After that first episode of Avatar, my cousin put on another, then another, and another. We were both hooked. This show was action packed, but could slow the pace down to develop characters. It was beautifully animated, yet didn’t rely on visuals to be entertaining. The jokes were funny, but took the time to process serious issues. It, above all other animation at the time, treated its audience (children and young adults) seriously. It knew that the people watching  it could handle serious stuff. (It’s also one of the first cartoons I can remember that had a regular character with a disability without making her one-dimensional.) If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, it is currently available on Amazon Prime to stream. I highly recommend it. The point of all this is that with the help of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I fell in love with animation again. I began consuming loads of animated programming, from Japanese anime like Cowboy Bebop to more light-hearted fare such as Disney’s Gravity Falls and The Proud Family.

    Now, as an adult, I’ve rekindled my love for cartoons. Over the last few years, I’ve grown from a fresh-faced new professional to someone with some experience, some knowledge. I was very self-conscious about my interest in cartoons, because they’ve always been seen as childish and immature. But I can tell you, from someone with experience watching A LOT of animated television: you will not see a rundown as diverse and mature as what is available nowadays. Steven Universe features openly gay intergalactic warriors defending the Earth, stars a racially diverse set of characters, and talks about loss and relationships openly and in a healthy way. Adventure Time shows characters processing rejection and loss, and has rich and deep storylines with multiple characters at once. The Legend of Korra, a spinoff sequel of Avatar, has a bisexual LEAD CHARACTER (honestly, when was that ever done in a mainstream cartoon before?), and had our heroes struggle with identity, competence, and post-traumatic stress. Not only do these programs incorporate serious topics, they integrate them WELL, and that is the important thing to remember.

I’m the type of person that enjoys processing an issue through entertainment. I like to laugh while learning. I get caught up in the narrative, and while doing so, I learn more about something. If a term catches my attention, I look it up. Cartoons have taught me more about being empathetic, kind, and patient; and I am grateful for it. I know that the things I’m watching may be catered to a younger demographic, but that doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable. Our future students may grow up watching this content. I’ll be thankful for it when they come to my institution as first year students, having maybe unwittingly learned to be compassionate and dedicated, just like Aang from Avatar.