Adventure Time is an American cartoon airing on Cartoon Network. It started airing in 2010 and tons of its staff went off to create their own cartoons inspired by Adventure Time. It is one of those cartoons people write off immediately due to its aesthesis. It looks crazy and childish. Underneath the comedic veil lays a show with a lot of depth, complex characters, a compelling plot and life teaching moments. Adventure Time is in fact, more than just a kid’s show.
You’ve probably heard people tell you that this is a show you should watch high or that you don’t need to watch them in order. Incorrect times two, don’t listen to those invalids. You don’t need to be high to watch this cartoon or any show for that matter and you do need to watch the episodes in order. The later episodes frequently call back to previous episodes and continue them, sometimes whole seasons later. It’s important to follow the episodes in order for the proper Adventure Time experience.
Adventure Time takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth, approximately 1000 years after something called the Mushroom War. The Land of Ooo is filled with candy people, vampires, wizards, mutants, magical creatures and one human named Finn. Finn is the main character along with Jake, a magical dog. There are multiple dimensions and pocket universes that add to the overall lore of Adventure Time. That creates the perfect world to tell complex and deep stories in. A story of a young boy trying to be a good person in a messed up world, a story of love, friendship, moral obligations and learning from making mistakes.
A lot of the actions, phrases and jokes are a double entendre that an adult or teenager would interpret differently than child would. For example, there’s an episode where a heartbroken Finn is wandering about, making out with the various female characters of Adventure Time. Just harmless kissing right? Well in actuality it’s metaphor for having tons of rebound sex after a relationship ends. Or when Finn had dreams of Flame Princess burning him and when he awoke he felt really, REALLY good. Suggesting that not only was he a masochist, but that Finn was having a wet dream. There are tons of little things like that throughout the show that you’ll probably notice as long as you’re paying attention. There are tons of more mature themes hidden within this toon.
Without spoiling too much, there are some pretty relatable sub plots that happen in this cartoon. Like Finn never knowing his real parents and dealing with that. But what needs to be mentioned is the show’s “craziest” character: Ice King. Ice King is a crazy old man with ice powers who constantly does extremely creepy, inappropriate acts like kidnapping princesses. He’s clearly not in his right mind but the reason behind it when explained adds a new layer to his character. Simon Petrokov (Ice King) was studying a mystical crown which he would occasionally wear. It would give him supernatural abilities but slowly it would eat away at his sanity. After mostly deciding to stop with his studies, the Mushroom War started. In order to protect a little girl, he would don the crown again. With his prowess over ice, he would be able to protect this little girl and the crown would teach him the secrets of ice and snow, helping him to survive the war. A lot of characters have these well fleshed out character arcs that add depth and deeper meaning to their thematic roles.
Adventure Time’s impressive characters, great universe and plot are superb but what is really impressive are the various life lessons they teach. These are usually presented though the bromance between Finn and Jake. “Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards becoming sort of good at something.” Meaning, not everyone is a born prodigy and most people who are good at something put in the time and effort to be good at it. They’ve failed multiple times and kept trying to improve until they were eventually masters. There are tons of life lessons like this such as: love can hurt sometimes, friends always help friends, science vs magic (a subtle stab at religion), everyone is unique, inner beauty is important and tons more like the inevitability that death will come for everyone. These lessons are presented in quirky, zany ways at times, but it’s there.
Adventure Time is a still admittedly directed at kids for the most part but it’s one of those cartoons that is deceptively deep with a cleverly delivered narrative and themes for older audiences. Great characters, a cool world, powerful life lessons, eccentric humor and a dope story are just a few of the reasons why you should give this show a fair chance.
You’ve probably heard people tell you that this is a show you should watch high or that you don’t need to watch them in order. Incorrect times two, don’t listen to those invalids. You don’t need to be high to watch this cartoon or any show for that matter and you do need to watch the episodes in order. The later episodes frequently call back to previous episodes and continue them, sometimes whole seasons later. It’s important to follow the episodes in order for the proper Adventure Time experience.
Adventure Time takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth, approximately 1000 years after something called the Mushroom War. The Land of Ooo is filled with candy people, vampires, wizards, mutants, magical creatures and one human named Finn. Finn is the main character along with Jake, a magical dog. There are multiple dimensions and pocket universes that add to the overall lore of Adventure Time. That creates the perfect world to tell complex and deep stories in. A story of a young boy trying to be a good person in a messed up world, a story of love, friendship, moral obligations and learning from making mistakes.
A lot of the actions, phrases and jokes are a double entendre that an adult or teenager would interpret differently than child would. For example, there’s an episode where a heartbroken Finn is wandering about, making out with the various female characters of Adventure Time. Just harmless kissing right? Well in actuality it’s metaphor for having tons of rebound sex after a relationship ends. Or when Finn had dreams of Flame Princess burning him and when he awoke he felt really, REALLY good. Suggesting that not only was he a masochist, but that Finn was having a wet dream. There are tons of little things like that throughout the show that you’ll probably notice as long as you’re paying attention. There are tons of more mature themes hidden within this toon.
Without spoiling too much, there are some pretty relatable sub plots that happen in this cartoon. Like Finn never knowing his real parents and dealing with that. But what needs to be mentioned is the show’s “craziest” character: Ice King. Ice King is a crazy old man with ice powers who constantly does extremely creepy, inappropriate acts like kidnapping princesses. He’s clearly not in his right mind but the reason behind it when explained adds a new layer to his character. Simon Petrokov (Ice King) was studying a mystical crown which he would occasionally wear. It would give him supernatural abilities but slowly it would eat away at his sanity. After mostly deciding to stop with his studies, the Mushroom War started. In order to protect a little girl, he would don the crown again. With his prowess over ice, he would be able to protect this little girl and the crown would teach him the secrets of ice and snow, helping him to survive the war. A lot of characters have these well fleshed out character arcs that add depth and deeper meaning to their thematic roles.
Adventure Time’s impressive characters, great universe and plot are superb but what is really impressive are the various life lessons they teach. These are usually presented though the bromance between Finn and Jake. “Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards becoming sort of good at something.” Meaning, not everyone is a born prodigy and most people who are good at something put in the time and effort to be good at it. They’ve failed multiple times and kept trying to improve until they were eventually masters. There are tons of life lessons like this such as: love can hurt sometimes, friends always help friends, science vs magic (a subtle stab at religion), everyone is unique, inner beauty is important and tons more like the inevitability that death will come for everyone. These lessons are presented in quirky, zany ways at times, but it’s there.
Adventure Time is a still admittedly directed at kids for the most part but it’s one of those cartoons that is deceptively deep with a cleverly delivered narrative and themes for older audiences. Great characters, a cool world, powerful life lessons, eccentric humor and a dope story are just a few of the reasons why you should give this show a fair chance.
Written by: Nya Hemmingz
I love this because all of it is true and I am a HUGE fan of the show!!
ReplyDeleteAdventure Time is SO good
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