Flight of the Dragons had a huge effect on me, it was my introduction to critical thinking especially in the face of nonsense, and that you can love both and not be inconsistent as a person.
Even the Saturday Morning cartoons were horror stories. Spiral Zone! MASK! And the 'advertised to girls' shows weren't any better, like 'Rescue at Midnight Castle' or the Smooze from My Little Pony. The abandoned child from the 'Magic Mirror' episode of Care Bears. The list goes on.
Movies?
Animated: Fire & Ice, Wizards, Heavy Metal, NIMH, Watership Down, Grave of the Fireflies
Live Action: All the worst schlock you can imagine, even deeply weird stuff I enjoyed like 'Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn'. Every director suddenly finding audiences for their worst impulses.
Every Director of Children's Movies in the 80s:
In my childhood, there was this book that deeply challenged me, and left me with an aching need to share the trauma it induced. It was called 'The Torment Nexus'.
Interviewer:
That's the name of the movie! Coincidence?
Director:
Complete coincidence.
Other classics like Real Genius, with a smart guy vs the entire government's latest weapon, or Red Dawn, where a pack of idiots just makes a Russian invasion worse, or Wargames, w/ a hacker vs an ai that almost triggers nuclear annihilation...
Looking back, even when not outright trying to scare the shit out of us (Looking at YOU, Neverending Story), no director gave two shits about how kids LOVE to elaborate on stories... and how that led to some abyssal fridge horror. Everything that wasn't terrifying was simply one stray thought away.
I'd say it was better than the over thought, sanitised content that's produced for them today. The world is a terrifying place, fairy tales were always warnings and lessons. This sort of stuff was no different.
Comments
Oh look a funny animated movie with cats....
Animated: Fire & Ice, Wizards, Heavy Metal, NIMH, Watership Down, Grave of the Fireflies
Live Action: All the worst schlock you can imagine, even deeply weird stuff I enjoyed like 'Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn'. Every director suddenly finding audiences for their worst impulses.
In my childhood, there was this book that deeply challenged me, and left me with an aching need to share the trauma it induced. It was called 'The Torment Nexus'.
Interviewer:
That's the name of the movie! Coincidence?
Director:
Complete coincidence.