A bit serious but I think it's interesting how many scarier villains in older kid's shows resemble real life predators more than most villains in their shows do. Dick Hardly, Freaky Fred, part of what makes them unnerving is how.. real they feel compared to other villains. They feel like an actual threat, even now as those kids have grown older.
I also think that serves a purpose, and more modern cartoons should do this as well. It gives an example of a bad guy that's real, giving kids things to look out for, showing kids that people like that in real life probably aren't right.
ACK SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT I GUESS THIS GOT BURIED IN THE NOTIFICATIONS 😭🙏
YES!! I love this topic! I love discussing things like this- Those kinds of villains just hit different. They're not goofy, "I'm gonna punt a kid across a football field and they're okay afterward" they're "I'm going to make you feel absolutely violated without ever being in the room with you" and that's so fucking creepy. Theres a different kind of hatred for those kinds of characters. Makes for much scarier villains, WHICH SHOULDN'T BE ALL THE TIME that'd just traumatize kids, but I think kids should be introduced to that kind of creepiness in a safe cartoon so they know how to recognize it in real life if that makes sense? Like oh no! This guy is acting like Freaky Fred! He might try to shave my head! Courage was scared of him, I am now scared, you know?
Modern cartoons just, dont do this? They dont really do much of anything besides flash bright colours and junk- not all of them? but the ones I've seen my little cousins gravitate to are like that. I think cartoons should continue to teach lessons like that so kids will have a better idea of what to avoid rather than cheesy bad guys. Like you said, they need to know how to look out for real bad guys, unfortunately
