Come Along With Me

Drew Tiritilli

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Adventure Time


April 5, 2010, was the first airing of a show titled “Adventure Time”, that would eventually fall alongside animated icons such as Dexter’s Laboratory, Phineas and Ferb, and Tom & Jerry. After the show’s first appearance on air it’s fan base rapidly expanded, and there was a quick demand for more. The show’s popularity credit goes to it’s creator, Pendleton Ward, for his unique style of writing and simplistic animation style. He took influence from role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and various other fantasy games. Unlike anything before it, the animated phenomenon was quick to catch the attention of multiple demographics making it loved by people of all ages. The westernized cartoon took place in the magical fantasy sci-fi land of Ooo. The two main characters consisted of a twelve-year-old boy named Finn the Human who would age throughout the show, and his best friend who was a magical talking dog, Jake the Dog, with the ability to stretch into any shape or form. Every episode Finn and Jake would go on an adventure to defeat evil throughout the land of Ooo. The show used this monotonous story arc pattern to teach the importance of adventure and friendship. Overtime Ward, used this style of writing to slowly reveal a larger more intense story that would later become the show’s main attraction.

The show received multiple prestigious awards whilst on air; Peabody Award, two Prime-time Emmy Awards, Kerrang! Best TV Show Award, People’s Telly Award, and many more. However the show’s glory would not last forever. After the show’s astounding eight year run time it would come to an end as the final episode aired on September 3, 2018. Many fans think the final episodes hold some very important messages that should be recognized. The final episode focused on more mature situations that differed greatly from the original messages the show delivered. Some of these topics resembled important life changes like settling down, while other messages preached about problems in today’s society like inequality among the LGBT community. When the show came to an honorable end, the iconic credit theme, Come Along With Me,  played the show out. And with that, the show found its resting place among the greats.

Where does this leave us now in terms of media aimed at children and young adults? What is the importance of these progressive messages and why are they being targeted at the next generation of people? In an interview conducted by Polygon on the day of the final episodes day view with the show’s executive producer, Adam Muto, he was asked about the openly lesbian characters and how he felt about the overwhelming positive reaction from fans. “It was something that is important. When it showed up in the storyboards, it made sense. You just have to do it enough so that it’s not a new story, and then it will just be something that happens. Hopefully it’s not important in that way. Hopefully it’s not something that we even need to comment on, even.Muto emphasizes on how the idea of openly addressing a character’s sexual preference just made sense to the writers, and how when something is done enough times it should be seen as something that normally takes place. He continues to talk about how he hopes it’s not something that should be important because it is taking place. The early years of a person’s life are often the most influential and the impact this message has on a younger audience allows them to grow older and enjoy life with a more progressive mindset. The show’s viewers often see these messages as subliminal and a frequent occurrence on the show to help them grow more aware of the concept with an open mind. This idea of an open mind is something that children will carry with them throughout school and life helping spread positive messages and acceptance. Welcomed acceptance is something the writers of “Adventure Time” have no problem expressing in the show whether it’s Finn helping an ogre who is different than others and self conscious (season 1, ep. 23) or Jake learning life from the shoes of someone else by losing his magical powers (season 5, ep. 2), “Adventure Time” will always have lessons to teach.