As a kid, I both read a lot and watched a LOT of TV. When I go through the list of all the shows I used to be dedicated to, I wonder how that could have been. I guess because when you actually look back on it, episodes were super short and so were seasons. Time feels strange because of this. Also I guess when you’re a kid you perceive time as much longer. But anyways, since I can think of dozens of things I would consider formative (they’re all important!), I’ll just list what I can think of and expand on a select few If you spot any you also were a fan of, I’d LOVE to discuss.
Books
- Harry Potter
- Hunger Games
- Percy Jackson
- The Clique (this one is super funny to think back on)
- Anything by Beverly Clearly
Television
- Disney Channel oldies like Lizzie Maguire and That’s So Raven
- H2O (this one was truly formative in that nearly every time I get even a drop of water on my body, I wonder how I would survive this life if I was like the girls in this show and turned into a mermaid)
- Adventure Time
- Avatar the Last Airbender
- Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (Nickelodeon in general)
Movies
- Studio Ghibli!! and Disney movies ofc
As for what I’ll expand on, I think in my early childhood, some of the most influential TV shows were the cartoons that were targeted towards girls and had the classic combo of girl friends that banded together for one reason or another. These included (but are not limited to) Sailor Moon, Powerpuff Girls, Winx Club, DoReMi Magic Show, and Totally Spies. Before going to school, my life was evidently pretty confined to my family. I think part of what resonated with me with these shows was that I could relate to them with my sisters. We would always have to assign who would be who and sometimes argue over it too. I distinctly remember for the Powerpuff Girls, Stephanie was Blossom, Mary was Bubbles, and I was Buttercup. Stephanie was the oldest and the leader, so her role was natural. Some of it I can’t even remember the reasoning for but it’s very clear to me who is who and that it can’t be any other way. I remember rejecting the Buttercup assignment later on (she’s like the super grumpy, aggressive one), but now I think I can’t deny it.
I remember having one friend in church who loved Sailor Moon and watching it at my house because we had a lot of the episodes on VCR. A lot of the episodes and plot aren’t clear in my mind, but there’s a sense of importance that’s without a doubt nostalgia driven. Like a part of me deep deep down that knows my childhood needed it and all the others too. Because of this, it’s hard to articulate why it was formative. Unlike the things I got into when I thought my childhood was over (like middle school) but now realize still qualify as childhood, I have less of a distinct memory of why things meant what they did.
The general memory I have is of playing games with my sisters where we were in these worlds and that was everything to us :’) My mom always tells us how lucky we are to have sisters (because she didn’t have any) so I think she also encouraged these games we would play.
@aboni hahaha you thought buttercup was a boy?! 😵 but that’s fair, she has a lower voice than the rest Did you watch Ed edd and eddy?? We always though that one with the black cap was a girl bc it looked like long hair 🤭 @naoni that’s funny that your mom had a day in it all too 😂 and yeahhh we can talk about it duh! @erin nooo I actually don’t recognize this one! But looking at the graphics I’m sure i would’ve gone cuckoo bananas for it I love that name for the game hehe @emma yeah if you’re buttercup youre edgy for sure ! Teen titans was another classic <3
Old Disney was the shit! Even when I watch some of those shows now I still feel like they're somewhat relatable. Same with cartoon network. I don't have any sisters either but at school I remember people used to think Buttercup was the "edgy" one kind of like Raven from Teen Titans so if you were Buttercup it meant you were edgy lol.
Did you ever watch WITCH? I feel like that falls into that genre of girl gang friends shows. You have a lot of overlap with my sister, who was really into PPG and Sailor Moon too :0
I miss playing elaborate make believe games with my siblings (we used to call them "Games When We're Them" when we would pretend to be characters from a TV show or something) :') this post reminds me of good times
Julie is an only child?!! Anyway, it’s crazy!I’ve watched literally all the same cartoons as you! And my sisters and I did the character “calling” thing (if we started a show together and we thought someone was cool we would yell “I call her/him!” as soon as possible so that we could “have” them (like for the PPG Aboni was Blossom, my older sister was Bubbles, and I was Buttercup (but that was contentious cause my mom said that we weren’t who we called except Aboni but that’s another story). I loved doing that tho, it was fun :). Also, can we please talk about ATLA! I wanna hear your thoughts on the shows/your fav characters.
This sounds so nice. Me and my sisters too splitted ourselves into the PPG. I was Blossom, Naoni was Bubbles, and Day was Buttercup. Naoni wanted to be Buttercup growing up (we thought Bubbles was too weak). And we believed for the longest time Buttercup was a dude lol, good times. It’s interesting though that some of the shows you watched I too watched but didn’t have as much of an impact in my childhood as yours! Crazy