I've watched cartoons since I can remember.
Animated shows have provided me with insights and words to talk about experiences I didn't know how to address or didn't how to make sense of.
Over the last decade, I've seen cartoons that illustrate our reality through carefully crafted stories that couldn't exist in any other medium but animation.
Here are three of my favorite ones and the impact they've had on my knowledge and views on a variety of topics:
Bojack Horseman and mental health: I didn't think that the story about an anthropomorphized horse in an alternative Hollywood, where humans and animals co-exist, could be such a complex narrative giving deep insights into the human psyche and mental illness. Through its main character's constant downfalls and vicious cycles, the series explores complex topics as unresolved trauma, systemic abuse, and media representation. I love this series.
Steven Universe and emotional intelligence: Steven Universe's superpower is solving conflict through dialogue and empathy. And that's what he uses to save the world from an alien race wanting to destroy it. Also, her dead mother belonged to that same race. The only cartoon that helped me improve my emotional IQ.
Adventure Time and the cycles of life: A very odd experience at first turns into a profound exploration of the concept of rebirth, the prevalence of good and evil, and how we go through the different seasons of life. An experience that I don't think can be replicated in any medium other than animation. I thoroughly enjoyed it.