In recent years, television programs and movies have been moving away towards the “norm,” and children-oriented movies and shows are no exception. Although there has been backlash, each of these following examples have succeeded in their perspective fields as some of the best among film and cartoons.

"Steven Universe" is the best example to start off with. The series revolves around the titular character Steven Universe who lives and is raised by three aliens called “Crystal Gems” due to his mother being one of them. In the show there is a gem, Garnett, who is actually a fusion of two gems named Ruby and Sapphire. Ruby and Sapphire, who are female like the rest of the gems, stay fused together because of their love for each other is so strong the two refuse to separate. In the episodes where the viewer sees both interact not as Garnett, the two kiss right before fusing back into Garnett. It is obvious that the two are a lesbian couple, and it has been confirmed to be true. The LGBT community has praised the show and its creator Rebecca Sugar for allowing lesbian representation in the kid’s show.

Sticking with the LGBT representation and actually the Cartoon Network channel, the popular "Adventure Time" shows the characters Bubblegum Princess and Marceline having a past relationship, and that the two love each other dearly. Once dating but now broken up, we see how the two were in the past during this romantic relationship between the two characters. Other shows that have given representation to the LGBT community are "Clarance" and Disney’s "Good Luck Charlie," both having gay and lesbian couples in an episode.

Moving towards gender, the blockbuster movie "Frozen" is a film about one sister trying to help the other sister with her magical powers. Although there is a romantic subplot between Anna and Kristoff, mostly the love between sisters moves the plot along. With two female leads that are, how should I say, “strong, independent women,” the movie goes against the general princess movie. There is no doubt that Elsa and Anna are meant to be role models for young girls who are fans of the movie.

Now, the biggest movie event of 2015 and possibly the decade, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is about three characters named Finn, Rey and Poe. The catch: they are an African American man, a woman, and a Hispanic man. Despite including Han Solo and Adam Driver, the “new generation” of the "Star Wars" heroes has no white men as the leads in the film. Going against many people’s opinions, such as having a woman as a Jedi and an African American as a Stormtrooper, the film did amazing (almost two billion), and the cast was praised for their acting in the film.

As we can see, pushing the boundaries can give amazing products that children can view. Children’s programs allow kids to see representation of different people they interact with in their lives and representation of people they can relate with. These people exist, so there should be programming that has characters that are gay or different races. I believe that there are no agendas being pushed but representation because there hasn’t been in the past. Children are very accepting of different people, and being in environments that allow them to see these programs help them grow up to be accepting.