Growing Up Sucks: Difference between revisions

This is no longer the case. Many modern Western Animation shows, and some books, insist on reminding the viewers that childhood doesn't last forever. Not only will this be implied throughout the show's narrative, the [[Kid Hero]] themselves will probably be all too aware of this fact, and refer to it openly, with varying degrees of acceptance or dread.

 

 

[[Wistful Amnesia]] is often part of this growing up process as well. To maintain the [[Masquerade]], various magical/scientific agencies will ensure that the hero [[Victory-Guided Amnesia|remembers nothing of the adventures he had as a kid]]...or of the allies he made and [[Mentors|The Mentor]]/guardian who looked after them, often delivering a [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|less than idealistic]] [[An Aesop|moral]] on the transience of friendship.

 

See also: [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids]], [[Kid Hero]], [[Coming of Age Story]], [[Competence Zone]], [[Death by Newbery Medal]]. Contrast [[Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday]] which uses the advent of adulthood as the ''start'' of an adventure... unless you [[I Just Want to Be Normal|just want to be normal]]—then growing up still sucks. Contrast [[Not Growing Up Sucks]], [[Old Flame Fizzle]].

 

 

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', Gohan is one of the most powerful characters when his "hidden power" is unlocked. Later in the Buu Saga he is terrible at first and cannot beat Buu even after his "special training". Vegeta lampshades this by claiming "he was stronger when he was a kid".

* ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' does this consistently, starting with the cast's entry into high school and ending with their graduation, when the girls set off for different colleges. It's more optimistic than other examples though—Chiyo-chan notes "Even though we've graduated... we're still together. All of us."

* Older ''[[Magical Girl]]'' series seemed to imply that their adventures and fantastic powers were simply metaphors to give them the strength to become... [[Stay in the Kitchen|normal Japanese women and wives, who naturally shouldn't have powers greater than their husbands]] so they give them up. This seems to have created enormous cognitive dissonance, and some recent [[Magical Girl]]s avoid this angle. This ''would'', however, help explain some of the more questionable bits of ''[[Mai-Otome]]''...

* The ''[[.hack]]'' games and animes have tried to put this Aesop into the mix, in a manner that's somewhat painful. The original series goes into detail how the AIs are [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|people too]] but then adds that previous protagonists have "grown past The World" and have essentially abandoned them to later genocide. [[So What Do We Do Now?|Hey, they had to go to college]].

* Simon from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' could undergo an example of this, even though he obviously gets adjusted to the ever-changing world around and the changes within himself. Name ONE instance where someone isn't affected even a ''little'' bit {{spoiler|by the death of a mentor!}}

** ''[[Kiki's Delivery Service]]'', where Kiki loses her ability hold a conversation with her cat familiar Jiji. She initially takes it as part of the larger problem of losing her magic, but when she regains it she finds that she still can't speak to him. The loss is thus implied to be simply a part of growing up. (The Disney translation decided that was too depressing and added a line of spoken dialogue to avert this trope.)

** ''[[Spirited Away]]'', where Chihiro's memories of interacting with the river spirit Kohaku were suppressed as she grew out of infancy. The movie also heavily implies that her whole adventure in the spirit world begins fading from her memory as soon as she leaves it.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Played straight at first in ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' in which the fifteen year old Peter Parker is told by Nick Fury that he will belong to him once he turns eighteen. For some time he assumes this means he will be a prisoner but when he later confronts Fury, he learns that the man actually meant he will be a member of ''[[The Ultimates]]'', a famous team of government funded superheroes, which obviously means Peter will have a well paying and exciting job waiting for him that will also allow him to keep his personal vows. Although the implication remains that all superheroes are being strictly regulated and have fewer civil rights than nonpowered individuals.

* Every Christmas, [[Archie Comics|Archie and friends]] get a visit from a fun-loving elf named Jingles whom only they and people younger than them can see. Because the grown-ups don't believe in Santa Claus and other such creatures, they can't see him.

* In ''[[Finding Neverland]]'', James Barrie firmly believes that life is better as a child than as an adult, and tries to stop Peter Llewelyn Davies from growing up so quickly. Given how much more fun James has acting like a child than acting as an adult, he has a bit of a point.

* The film ''[[Hook]]'', an unofficial sequel to ''Peter Pan'', zigzags the trope by showing exactly why, while Growing Up Sucks, it's a necessary part of life. Instead of whisking Wendy's granddaughter away to Neverland, Peter instead chooses to stay in the real world with her, and finally grows up, forgetting his adventures in Neverland and becoming a rather boring lawyer with a family of his own (married to Wendy's granddaughter, natch). He then returns to Neverland to rescue his children from Captain Hook, and has a grand time reliving his childhood adventures, but eventually realizes that he can't get this life back, and his children need him to be a responsible adult. On the other hand, he also comes to a realization that being a stuffy adult is not actually being "responsible", and that he still needs to retain some childlike enjoyment of life (as symbolized by his [[Cutting the Electronic Leash|trashing his cell phone]]).

 

== Korean Animation ==

* The Korean animated film ''Mari iyagi'' ([[My Beautiful Girl Mari]]) is about the beautiful [[Dream Land]] the main character and his friend would go to to escape their boring hometown as children. There, they meet [[Cute Mute]] Mari and a humongous yellow lab. In the dreary, rainy "present" the main character is returning to his hometown to "find something," but he can't quite remember the dream world nor Mari, his first love.

 

== Literature ==

* This is often added as an [[Anvilicious]] coda to adaptations of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' and such.

** Although at the end of ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', the story turns to Alice's older sister who thinks fondly about her younger sibling and how she'll grow up one day and even though she won't have fantastical dreams anymore, she'll be able to give other children fantastical dreams and "make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale". It's not so much Growing Up Sucks as Growing Up Is Inevitable But It Doesn't Have To Suck If You Don't Want It To.

* Piemur, a boy soprano in the ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' series, finds that growing up sucks for fundamentally biological reasons—his voice breaks and he loses his central position in the Harper Hall choir, and is transferred into the drum tower (basically the communications centre for the then-technology scarce Pern) until the Master Harper, Robinton, can decide on his future. While Piemur ''does'' remain critical to Harper Hall operations, it's mainly in his later role as an adventurer/spy, rather than as part of the sheltered, music-centred life he'd enjoyed until then.

* In ''A Coming of Age'' by [[Timothy Zahn]], people are born with powerful telekinetic powers, and lose them at puberty. Adults keep them in line by controlling all technology and knowledge (even reading), but kids can [[I Believe I Can Fly|fly under their own power]], so it's clear who has the better end of the deal.

* A major theme throughout ''[[The Pale King]]'', but especially prevalent in Chris Fogle's chapter.

* Prominent in [[H. G. Wells]]' 1911 story ''The Door In the Wall'', where the narrator's childhood friend, now a stuffy lawyer, laments over the green door to Eden that he cannot enter now that he's grown up, and as it appears less and less frequently, all the regret over not making the decision to enter the door leads him to {{spoiler|commit suicide by walking into a deep construction dig.}}

 

 

(beat)

'''Troy''': Bet if we went two pillows higher in the corner we could vault the ceiling, bump up the square footage. Make this a blanket fort for ''men''. }}

* Epitomized in this monologue from ''[[Night Court]]'': " I don't know what's real anymore. When I was young, my mother told me Santa Claus was real. But when I got older... she told me he wasn't. One book says Jesus is real; one book says he isn't. We're living in the greatest country in the world... and we're murdering each other in the streets. What did they expect when they made us believe in the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny then gave us the nuclear bomb to play with. Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle is a lie like all the rest, the astronauts killed the man in the moon, growing up took care of the rest."

 

== Music ==

* A major theme in [[Nightwish]]'s work from ''Century Child'' onward. A recent major example is ''I Want My Tears Back'' on the album ''Imaginaerum''.

{{quote|Where is the wonder? Where's the awe?

I wish to see the lost in me. }}

* One of the most famous examples is Menudo. In order to keep them appealing to young girls, they kept the band members young. They did this by putting a kill switch on all members' time in the band. Usually it was turning 16, but also getting too tall, beginning to shave, or having your voice change guaranteed you'd be bounced out of the band, no questions asked.

== Web Comics ==

 

** Looks more like a hypothetical "School Is Hell" trope with a dash of [[Teens Are Monsters]].

* In ''[[Digger]]'', {{spoiler|the Shadowchild}} is forced to admit that growing up ''hurts.''

* Illustrated rather [[Tear Jerker|poignantly]] in [http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=232 this strip] representing [[Kate Beaton]] interacting with her younger self.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

 

** Actually, one episode implies that he ''is'' unique. While Cosmo and Wanda have a hallway in their miniature castle dedicated to their past godchildren (good and bad each), they have an entire ''room'' dedicated to Timmy. Of course, one could also argue that they may do this for whatever child they're currently caring for, and Timmy will just become another single portrait in a hall.

** In the [[Trapped in TV Land]] movie, Timmy is shown to grow up to {{spoiler|be almost exactly like his cheerfully oblivious father, turning the care of his kids over to an insane, Vicky-esque robotic babysitter, though the memory wipe may be to blame for his failure to learn from his father's mistakes. On the bright side, guess who his children's godparents are?}}

[[Category:Cynicism Tropes]]

[[Category:Magical Girl Tropes]]