Barbie movies being my absolute favorite thing to watch growing up, I—and I am sure many others—experienced the evolution of the animation styles of these films and endless numbers of kids’ shows like My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Paw Patrol, Totally Spies, and Boss Baby. Every time a new film comes out, I hate it more and more, not because of the storyline but mainly because of the visuals. In my opinion, the animation from 2001 to 2009, and maybe even until 2014, was the pinnacle of Barbie movie animations. Just as Monavich discusses, the development of technology has allowed the production of animations to be human-free through software programs. But is this entirely a good thing?

The overstimulation issue with modern kids’ TV shows has become a hot topic among parents, especially on social media platforms. Many have shared their experiences on the positive effects of swapping their kids’ screen time to watching 90s kids’ shows, saying things like “lower stimulations” and loving the “messages and creative exploration a lot of 90s shows teach.” One mom talked about how her son had irritability issues, trouble sleeping, tantrums, and short attention spans when he was given modern shows like Boss Baby. However, after the swap, she noticed that her child had a longer attention span, fewer sporadic and random tantrums, a wider range of vocabulary, and was generally a more present toddler.

Having simply looked at the different animation styles, the difference is pretty obvious. As technology progresses, animation has become technologically driven, faster-paced, and visually oversaturated. This is due to the demands of audiences, where high stimulation is needed to stay hooked and interested. While this technological advancement has proven to be efficient in the quantity of animation production, it has, however, impacted the quality of the animations, making them overly smooth, saturated, and stimulating, essentially resulting in a lack of detail. It could be said that the lack of technology in earlier times allowed for much more curated and high-effort films with more detailed storylines.

Lev Manovich. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Mit Press, 2002.

Luttrell, Zoie. “TikTok – Make Your Day.” Tiktok.com, 2024, http://www.tiktok.com/@zoie.luttrell/video/7210446778288688427. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

Brenda Tanu – 33740103