Not the target demographic

So you've probably noticed that a lot of books that are ostensibly for "young adult" (like Twilight, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, etc.) are quite popular with adult adults. Or maybe you noticed how My Little Pony gained a large following of people who aren't 10 year old girls. Anyway. These are examples of things which are targeted at one demographic that end up finding a home in the hands of one or more unexpected groups.

What are your thoughts on this? Should people stick to media made for their own demographic? Are demographics, or other categorizations very accurate? I can't think of other questions, but feel free to take this topic wherever it goes.

Given that you're asking this on a Pokémon forum full of mid teens and young adults, I don't think many people will agree that media fitting their demographic should be stuck to.

While I don't watch anything directed at children or whatever since I'm not very interested in it any more, I don't really see why people should be bothered just because they're not the target demographic. If they enjoy it, they enjoy it. *shrug*

...unfortunately it's not that easy in practise because of social pressures and all that. But still.

I find my self agreeing with Razor Leaf. The target demographic is who the creators intended people to enjoy their creation NOT a guideline for who SHOULD enjoy it. Well that's my two cents.

Razor Leaf said:

Given that you're asking this on a Pokémon forum full of mid teens and young adults, I don't think many people will agree that media fitting their demographic should be stuck to.

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Well, most of us who are older got into Pokemon when we were younger than we are now so at the time we were the target audience.

But yes, people shouldn't me made to follow the things that are being targeted to them, but what about when something like Twilight (to use an unpopular example) gets called great, exceptional things because it's found popularity with older people?

For me, the big thing in this area is animation. When I was younger, I was a big fan of more 'adult' cartoons like The Simpsons; now that I'm older, I'm becoming a big fan of more 'child-oriented' cartoons like Phineas and Ferb, Adventure Time and Gravity Falls. The things that I like now about all of these shows will probably be wildly different to the things I liked (or would have liked) when they aired when I was younger. And yet the overall quality of them means that I'll probably always like them for their multiple layers of humour, poignancy and animation.