Here's a little forum activity, hopefully you all will find it fun. Here's the challenge: take a story originally aimed at children and rework it to appeal to adults. Pokemon, a Dr. Seuss Story, a Disney movie, any TV cartoon show, are suitable starting materials. The point of this exercise it to examine which themes and other elements should be changed to target a different audience. So please comment on why you changed what you did, or what in general you think needs to be changed.

If you want you can go the other direction, taking a grown up story and making it something that would appeal to kids 12 and under. Is this easier or more difficult? Why? Or, if you can think of two works which are basically a children's and adults' version of each other, you can analyze them as a pair.

(Disclaimer: fanfiction and stuff that violates copyright is not permitted in this forum. So, state what your starting point is, but twist it enough to make it original, unless it's a fairytale or something, which is public domain.)

Thoughts:

First I think about the element associated with audience age. These are some concepts people have that allows them to judge whether a story is created for kids or adults.

Message:
Kids: Judgemental, behavioral (What you should do, what you shouldn't do)
Adult: Can be experiential, biographical, intellectual

Problems:
Kids: Solved problems
Adult: Can handle unsolved or insolvable problems

World:
Kids: Isolated or random, but black and white
Adult: Interrelated, events not classifiable by a scale of good/bad

Rewards:
Kids: Clearly defined, fulfilling
Adults: rewards can be undefined, can be unfulfilling

Content:
Kids: Pertaining to what kids can relate to
Adult: Pertaining to what kids and adults can relate to

Characters:
Kids: Exaggerations, simple emotions and relations
Adults: Can handle subtle differences and complex emotions and relations

Visual / Presentation:
Kids: Colorful, high constrast, big items
Adults: Can handle subtle differences in color and details



Why do shows that appeal to kids usually don't appeal to adults?

Reason 1: Because the world and message depicted are too simple to benefit the adult mind. They either already know the message, or knows that the message is wrong or unapplicable.

What does it take to convert a story from one audience to another?

Plan 1: Identify the elements in each category and change those elements to the suitable position on the spectrum. Keep enough elements the same so that it can still be recognized as the same story.

Dry run:

Story: Saving Private Ryan
Conversion: From adult to kids

I think the easilest thing to convert is the world. Instead of using the historical setting, use a bloodless hypothetical fairy-tale world. Like the world of Toy Story. Imagine Woody is is Tom Hanks and they set up to search and save Buzzlightyear. But after a journey to find Buzz, Buzz refuses to return because the moving boy left behind something that is even more important (than toys). Woody and other decide to help Buzz defend and retrieve that item. And they all make it in the end.

I think I am convinced that it is much easier to convert a story that appeals to adult to one that appeals to kids. Because when you convert it this way, you only need to dumb it down. It is easier to remove than to add to a design. The resulting story may appeal to both audience, because all adults were kids and kids would naturally ignore the part they cannot understand. For the same story, the adults are going to understand more, but the kids also understand enough to enjoy it.

Sounds interesting, here is my attempt-

Robin Hood, the myth rather than the specific story (because I don't remember it well enough). I believe it is public domain, apologies if not.

Story:
At the start Robin is a brave individual, but not over-endowed with intellect. He sees everything in black and white terms of right and wrong. He wants to join the crusades, but his father won't let him.

Analysis:
I want to give Robin space to grow through the story. I think adults will find it more interesting for him to experience internal change rather than just becoming the hero.

Story:
Robin's father dies of natural causes. Robin attends his funeral and goes through all the normal rituals of the time for a bereavement. Then he joins the crusades.

Whilst he is away the Sheriff of Nottingham is trying to raise money for important development work (an irrigation system or some such) improve the productivity of the district. The peasants are angry about this as they believe that they cannot afford the higher taxes necessary for his plan. There is civil unrest and the Sheriff attempts to maintain law and order but in some cases over reacts. This makes the situation worse.

Analysis:
I want to make the Sheriff more real than the boo-hiss villain of the original. I'm trying to get to a position where there isn't really a good guy or a bad guy, just conflicting opinions.

Story:

Sir Guy is trying to mediate between the two sides when Robin returns. Sir Guy has taken a neutral position and as such is disliked by both sides. He believes that both sides have merit and wants to find a compromise.

Analysis:

Again trying to move the bad guys away from the pantomime villains of the original. In this case Sir Guy is going to end up being attacked from all sides which will leave him looking like a very strong character if he comes through it. I hadn't intended this when I started writing, but I like the way it went.

Story:

Robin is severely shaken by the crusades and is re-evaluating his views on morality. When he hears about the events that have happened while he is away, he is relieved to find a cause he can believe in that appears, to him, to be a clear fight between right and wrong. His old, absolutist, personality reasserts itself as he joins the peasants and becomes an outlaw to try and thwart the Sheriff.

Analysis:

I want Robin to have the opportunity to grow here and fail. It sets up the rest of his journey to learning about moral grey areas.

Story:

Marion is torn between the two sides. She moves between them, first working for one and then the other. She is repulsed by Sir Guy, seeing her own indecisiveness reflected in his neutrality. She is drawn to Robin because of his absolute certainty.

Analysis:

This is the bit I was least sure about when writing. I don't want it to appear that Marion is indecisive because she is female On the other hand I do want a character that flip flops between the two sides and Marion seems best suited to the role. I think it will be fine as long as the things she does for each side show her as a very strong character. Also, she is right to be indecisive. The certainty in their own causes are flaws in Robin and the Sheriff. The only flaw with Marion being indecisive is her belief that she should pick a side.

Story:

That's more or less the set-up, the rest of the story would be playing out that conflict. I don't know where it would go from here, there is a lot of possibility. It's starting to feel like it should end in tragedy of some kind.


Thoughts on the exercise -

Depends on what you mean by "appeal to adults". I tend to agree with Wai almost exactly when talking about what would appeal to an ideal adult audience However, what actually seems to appeal to the majority of adults is basically a kids story with more swearing. In some cases kids stories themselves are extremely popular with adults, Harry Potter being a case in point. That being said there is an audience for intelligent, complex stories, just not as large as it should be.

Hmm, was expecting to have more to say in this section, guess I should have called it "Thought on the exercise". Oh well.