Kids Don't Have Any Magic...

    

     Recently, I've been thinking about a lot of the media I used to watch during my childhood, and what kids nowadays are watching. Even outside of the fact that kids often don't watch actual shows (or read books, as for some reason many of them think reading is the end of the world), but spend most of their time on YouTube, kids' media has lost its sense of magic.

    Literally.

    Kids' media often involved magic and powers in some form or another during my childhood. Magical worlds that were completely different from our own, or worlds just like ours that made us believe we could perform magic right in our backyard. From shows like Wizards of Waverly Place, That's So Raven,  and My Babysitter's a Vampire to Danny Phantom, Avatar the Last Airbender, Winx Club, Etc. 

    These shows, while wildly different, all held some form of wonder and imagination. Fairies, vampires, witches, ghosts. Otherworldly things that brought something different to our everyday lives. We grew up thinking we could do and be anything. It furthered our imagination. 

    This isn't limited to just shows. Movies, Books, and even some of the content we were watching on YouTube provided much of the same. Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and Percy Jackson. Even Minecraft roleplays in all their crazy, weirdness. All of these forms of media were magical and arguably complex for kids' media. 

    Now, this is not to say that every form of kids' media needs to have magic involved with it. Nor am I saying that we are missing magic completely from kids' media. I am saying that good kids' media that involve these elements are few and far between. And it's affecting children's imagination and creativity. It also seems to sort of be affecting their aging. 

    Something I've noticed with my younger brother is that he, for some reason, knows a lot of the same references and media that I do. For reference, I am a junior in college. A part of that is due to the fact that kids don't entirely have their own spaces ( a post for another time), but also, I've noticed that supposed kids' media includes more adult-like, reality TV, realism content. Baddies and Love Island are two of the shows that culture has seeped into kids' media.

    This is not to say that the internet or other places were completely safe when I was a child. That is far from the truth. Still, we had enough media that was willing to push and encourage our imagination and creativity (and was actually meant for us). There were no limits, and it honestly brought us joy. Joy and a sense of creativity that have luckily followed us into adulthood. 

    Magical media seems to be making attempts at coming back. Varying opinions about the Percy Jackson series aside, it is a great example of this. A young, diverse show that gives a magical place to children, much like the books did. Not to mention that Ryan Coogler is developing an Animorphs series. Introducing a whole new generation to the IP. 

    Essentially, all I'm really trying to say is that the kids need magic. Even in small ways, it's beneficial. Their creativity, their imagination, their ability to dream big, and their ability to simply be kids. Magic in media benefits all of it. It can shape them in important ways (as all media can and we'll eventually talk about media trusting and caring about the intelligence of its audience. 

    Kids need magic, let's bring it back. 

~Amiyah