general media Is There Any Real Difference Between Family Friendly And Kid Friendly?

[Denim&Venöm 16,496]

I hear the terms family friendly and kid friendly thrown around for movies, shows, games, books and what not. But is there any real difference between the two? Both have the standards and complexity of the content being toned down to be "appropriate" for minors. Yet one says it's targeted specifically for kids and the other is a little different cause it's supposed to include the whole family, but is still toned down for the youngest of that family? 

Heck, isn't the -friendly suffix indicative of children media in general? There's no teen or pre-teen friendly. No adult friendly. No elderly friendly. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

For me, there's a big difference.

"Kid-friendly" means it's something that kids and only kids are targeted. These tend to not be so timeless and pander to kids. The Emoji Movie, most of Disney's 'quels, and crappy cartoons like Breadwinners, TTG!, and Sanjay & Craig come to mind.

"Family-friendly" means it's a child-friendly product to be enjoyed and loved beyond just kids. It has the flexibility, accessibility, interest, and timelessness that can be reached to people regardless of age. Current-era cartoons like FIM, Gravity Falls, SU, Miraculous Ladybug, and Adventure Time are some examples. For movies, most of Disney, Pixar, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda. The golden standard of educational TV for kids — Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, Arthur — reaches out to educate kids, but doesn't talk down to kids and are still beloved by them as they become adults and parents, too.

Edited May 31, 2018 by Dark Qiviut

[Kai-rouken 146]

1 hour ago, Dark Qiviut said:

"Family-friendly" means it's a child-friendly product to be enjoyed and loved beyond just kids. It has the flexibility, accessibility, interest, and timelessness that can be reached to people regardless of age. Current-era cartoons like FIM, Gravity Falls, SU, Miraculous Ladybug, and Adventure Time are some examples. For movies, most of Disney, Pixar, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda. The golden standard of educational TV for kids — Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, Arthur — reaches out to educate kids, but doesn't talk down to kids and are still beloved by them as they become adults and parents, too.

I feel like Gravity Falls can be a bit too "coarse" at times to qualify as "Family-friendly". Same goes for Adventure Time and its abundance of disturbing imagery. Both also have quite a few "mature" jokes slipped in too.

When I hear the term "Family-friendly" I immediately think of something that is wholesome, but also completely devoid of anything that would make parents raise their eyebrows if they were in the same room as their kids were watching it. Something like Animaniacs, for example, would be Kid-friendly, but not Family-friendly, at least imo.

[Megas 27,061]

I always had the impression that family friendly means that there are things made for both kids and adults to enjoy whether it be characters or jokes, and may include some questionable material parents would raise eyebrows over, like swearing or violence. Something like the original Shrek, had plenty of adult oriented humor, and would often include more swearing than most other family films, or the early seasons of Rugrats with more of those risque jokes(LONELY SPACE VIXENS). "Kid friendly" I usually had the impression that they'd they'd avoid having adult content out entirely(like swearing for example), and parents won't have to worry about bad habits if they left their kids alone to watch.

Of course the two aren't mutually exclusive, and writing plays a big part in it. You can have something considered family friendly, but that doesn't mean adults will like it. The Michael Bay Transformers films, despite it's PG-13 movie, despite having extreme violence, tons of adult themes, and half-naked women, is often considered a little boys movie, with adults finding them really obnoxious and juvenile, ugly visuals and finding it's story and characters really weak. On the other hand, Friendship is Magic is a kid-friendly show, but the show gets by on its writing, characters, lush visuals, etc., it succeeds in pulling in adults 

Edited June 1, 2018 by Whomps

[SharpWit 2,472]

Teletubbies, would be about as kid friendly as you can get, and I'm going to put Adventure Time as the opposing example for family friendly since it has some pretty dark moments but is loved by people of all ages.

Edited June 1, 2018 by SharpWit

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

Kid friendly is basically MLP G1 to G3.5

Family friendly is MLP G4

But I suppose that's all out the window now considering that parents let kids play Black Ops and those kids are MEAN!

Edited June 23, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Twilight Luna 30,940]

Its pretty much the difference between a G rating and PG. Kid friendly means you can have you kid watch it would out supervision or worrying about that like Sesame Street. Family friendly is for older kids but something that the entire family can enjoy without the parents bashing their heads against the walls like Toy Story.

[EpicEnergy 22,072]

I'm not sure now that I think of it, I guess one is just for the family to watch meaning that any age group can enjoy it, and that other is kid friendly meaning that kids can watch it without adult supervision.

[Splashee 28,537]

There is a difference, such as how a kid can be a family, but not the other way around.

I don't understand the 'friendly' part though.

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

Kid friendly is stuff that is free of most inappropriate content and is generally aimed to only entertain kids. Family friendly is similar but it isn’t afraid to throw in a subtle adult joke here and there.