animation not for kids is for kids
While we have seen examples of animation aimed at a more mature audiences over the past few classes, Waltz With Bashir, Persepolis, and Logorama, which have more of an underlying narrative and darker/mature themes than one would usually find in a "children's medium", the more mature elements have worked with the story to tell it. Other things we have watched, like the shorts from South Park and Beavis and Butthead are also put into this category of animation that is not for children because the subject matter and language are not 'appropriate' for children to see. However, the people that are most drawn to these types of shows, in my experience at least, are middle school aged kids that think they are cool/edgy for watching something that is considered adult, but this train of thought is also incorrect to a degree. The majority of the humor content of these types of shows rely on cursing as much as possible and anatomical humor, which is what the majority of middle school aged kids find funny, not necessarily adults.
I would agree that the content and humor isn't exactly appropriate for young children, but it's pretty appealing to middle-school aged kids because it's "for adults" and kids that age are usually looking for ways to be more grown-up/mature, so watching things that they're technically not allowed to, like you said, makes them cooler or edgier or whatever. I think you're right in saying that some of the humor is pretty immature and not appealing to all adults, but also I think the not-for-kids label is more like hey, maybe don't show this to a five year old because they'll have terrible nightmares or because you don't want them running around cursing in school, and doesn't necessarily connotate a higher level of maturity than animation-for-kids.
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