Upon the release of “Wicked: For Good,” I noticed two things; Elphaba was always too good for Oz and people hate fun. When any highly anticipated movie comes out, the respective fandom goes to see it – a very normal occurrence. What I don’t think is normal is the rejection of movies or media that are deemed ‘childish’ by the masses.

CSUN student Ava De La Cruz shared her thoughts on this matter.

“I think that the feeling of whimsyness is paired up with being a kid and that only children are allowed to feel really excited about things. So, I think when people see others getting really excited for stuff like ‘Wicked,’ they see it as childish,” De La Cruz said.

Media, in whatever form, is made to be consumed, period. Yes, they might be focusing on one demographic, but that doesn’t stop others from gravitating towards a franchise. Bronies, the adult fandom for “My Little Pony” (MLP), definitely wasn’t the target audience. Yet, their love for the characters and cartoon resulted in the fourth generation of “MLP” being the most successful.

This happened because of whimsy. Bronies didn’t allow for societal norms to deter their love for the multicolored ponies.

Oxford Languages defines whimsy as playfully quaint, fanciful behavior or humor. Notice how the definition mentions nothing about age. The ability to be playful and humorous exists in all of us, but some of us chose not to indulge in our whimsies out of fear of standing out. The world has been moving towards a less whimsical state for a while.

Josiah Corbin, CSUN student, explores where all the whimsey has gone and if our current society is a factor in the decline of this.

“I do think that it is society pushing it away,” Corbin said.” I know that certainly in the ‘80s with a lot of very fantastical, whimsical movies, a lot of fantasy, a lot of magic, there’s a lot of getting away from adulthood and going back to your inner child and at least in movies, that has been reversed nowadays where there is a rejection of that.”

Generation Z grew up on Barbie and Bratz dolls, Webkins, Club Penguin, Rainbow Loom and playing outside until the street lights turned on. Now, we see ten year olds shopping at Sephora for expensive skin care products that most of us did not know existed at that age other than what we saw in our moms’ bathroom cabinet. Childhood that was once shaped in exploration and creativity is now being anchored in extremely curated online content.

De La Cruz also shared her love for bright and vibrant colors, even if society may view it as childish.

“I’ve been dying my hair for the past, I wanna say, three years now, and it’s just really fun,” she said. “And just bright colors because, back to social media, like, the whole 2016 makeup trends with like all of the vibrant blues and greens, and now we’re in an age of more neutral and clean girl aesthetics. It’s like doing really colorful things like makeup is in the past kind of.”

Through the rise of social media and platforms like TikTok, younger generations are being exposed to a broad variety of content that has a widespread effect on their childhood. Each scroll pushes a narrative toward a version of adulthood they think they should be emulating.

Is this where the origin of whimsey is fading? Did we accidentally leave it all around 2016, where we all had the perfect balance of social media, going outside, being openly expressive and not caring how we were perceived?

The truth is, it’s no one generation’s fault, but the society in which we live today. Whimsey didn’t vanish with childhood or trends. It is a direct result of the current society that rewards appearance, seriousness and self curation more than enjoyment.

So, where did all the whimsy go? Nowhere. Whimsy is something you carry in your heart and choose how to express it.