The first children’s animated series in the world that deals with sexuality in an educational way, “Sex symbols”, presented at the Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, was created by Valencian Paloma Mora and aims to help children who are beginning to take an interest in sex and cannot find answers adapted to their age.
The starting point of the project, still unfinished, was the lack of adequate content for children from 9 to 14 years, the same audience to which it is addressed, since “there is no series that deals with the subject with a didactic approach,” says Efe Paloma Mora.
“We saw that, from the age of 9, they begin to investigate sexuality and on the Internet they only find pornography,” he adds.
According to Mora, this causes confusion in the minds of preteens that leads to identify sexuality with the model of submission of women to men perpetuated by the pornographic industry.
The writers contacted doctors specializing in sex education and family planning to learn about the relationships young people have today and the problems they face.
Contraceptive methods, erections or changes from a child’s to an adult’s body are the focus of some of his most frequent doubts and each chapter has its own organs in charge of explaining them to him.
“Sex Symbols” sought to give voice to a figure other than the paternal one. And, in addition to informing, it wants to entertain: “It tells stories in the form of comedy and in a natural way, which is the perfect language to reach young people,” explains Mora, a 49-year-old Valencian.
The pilot chapter has as protagonists the ovaries, which explain the phenomenon of menstruation in a didactic and humorous way.
In addition to the organs, “Sex symbols” has four fixed protagonists who explore the different themes through their personal experiences, each with a distinctive character and physical attributes that allow children to see themselves reflected.
The profile of an all-knowing, introverted or intellectual child will star in each chapter, which will last about 7 minutes.
“In a subject like this, which is still taboo for televisions, a pilot chapter was needed to show the style, the characters, but also to stop treating it as a delicate matter,” Mora added.
The project, produced by TV On Producciones, will cost 1.8 million euros (1.98 million dollars) and already has half of the funding, all Spanish.
Mora’s goal is to finish the series throughout 2020 and his presentation at the Cartoon Forum aimed to try to get the remaining budget.
This meeting, inaugurated this Tuesday, is the most important animation for television in Europe and celebrates its 30th anniversary until Thursday.
It heads the forum France, which presents 25 productions, while Spain, one of the countries with the largest representation, proposes five series.
The 2D continues to lead the productions of the Cartoon Forum, but in terms of format, the “transmedia”, through which the story unfolds through different platforms, continues to gain ground, and several of the projects presented will also be seen on television, mobile phones, tablets or video games.
The series selected for the event, a total of 85, add up to more than 500 hours of broadcasting and are mostly aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11, while those for adult animation are around 10%.
This year, some 1,000 professionals from the sector, including producers, investors and television channels from 24 different countries, meet in Toulouse to promote collaboration and co-production. EFE