🚀 go-pugleaf

Polarization into "adult" material and "kiddie" material is already here,
alas, partly because of the attitude that anything which isn't clear to
a five-year-old imbecile is too complicated for the kiddies.  This produces
polarization automatically, since it makes the "kiddie" stuff so drivelous
(is that a word?  it should be...) that older people can't stand it.

I *could* cite the degeneration of Saturday-morning cartoons as an example
of this, but instead I'll mention something with wider appeal:  the Peanuts
TV specials.

The early Peanuts specials, like the Christmas one (the first) and the
Halloween one, had all the characteristics of *good* children's literature,
i.e. they were understandable and enjoyable to all ages.  "If adults feel
it insults their intelligence, the kids probably feel the same way, but are
too polite to say so."

Have you seen any of the recent Peanuts specials?  Barf.  Not only has the
quality of the animation slipped badly, but the plots are imbecilic and the
characters are cut from the thinnest cardboard.  How the mighty have fallen...
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry