I am not afraid of being proven wrong in considering, and therefore considering ourselves, the generation born between 1970 and 1975 to be happier and more beautiful. We were happier because we had the comfort of television content that was not harmful, quite the contrary... We owe a lot to the cartoons of those years because they conveyed subliminal messages about the difference between good and evil. And helping a child understand the concept of good and evil is no easy task.
Our cartoons succeeded where school teachings probably failed. The images surpassed our teachers' explanations. The good leader, the hero who fought monsters at the cost of his life, episode after episode, represented what we most desired, namely to be heroes ourselves, to save our friends and our parents, to identify with good triumphing over evil.
The list is long, from Grendizer to Great Mazinger, from Steel Jeeg to Gundam, from Casshan to Polymar, from Baldios to Daltanious, not to mention Getter Robo, Bem, and the fantastic Tiger Mask. Lady Oscar, Charlotte, Heidi, Candy Candy.
But all the stories were aimed at making good triumph. Put like that, it sounds like I'm making an eschatological, religious reference, but far be it from me to portray our heroes as saints. They were simply an aid to our growth, giving us a sense of justice and loyalty. Today's younger generations have no examples to look up to. From Winx onwards, the degeneration that has accompanied the childhood of the new youth has seen the participation, not too implicitly, of cartoons devoted to hedonism, superficiality, and banality. Perhaps, or rather, probably, not everyone today has reached the peak of happiness and carefreeness of those years (those who did not make it, those who have experienced misadventures and pain, those who stopped earlier), but those who are still here should close their eyes for a moment and abandon themselves to the exploits of those who, fighting monsters and robots, swordsmen and adversity, improved our lives, albeit for a short time.
