Catoon Violence

Cartoon Violence

In the cartoon, All Dogs Go to Heaven, the main character, a dog, dies. When he arrives in heaven, he receives a watch that allows him to return to earth. After viewing this scene, Matthew, a five-year old boy, asked his mother when his dog would get her watch. Matthew's dog passed away over a year ago, but because Matthew, as well as other children, is unable to separate real life from fiction; he believed that his dog would receive a watch and return to him.

Many types of violence are viewed in cartoons and because they are centered on the interest of children, children are at great risk of mimicking the actions and attitudes the characters portray.

"Children spend more time learning about life through media than in

any other manner. The average child spends approximately twenty-eight hours a week watching television, which is twice as much time as they spend in school" (Baby Bag Online).

In analyzing the cartoons, "Tom and Jerry," "The Lion King," "Gargoyles," and "Pokemon," concerned people will see that the types of violence range from emotional abuse such as name calling, yelling, and put downs, to physical abuse such as bullying, pushing, punching, and kicking which is more violence than kids need to witness. Many different cartoons influence young minds towards violence, and with this in mind, we will give a detailed look at our findings.

Our first example, "The Tom and Jerry Show," moves so quickly that a person does not have time to really think about what they have just seen. The characters, Tom and Jerry, are in constant search from what will hurt the other the most. For example, Jerry, the mouse, throws a brick at Tom, the cat. Following this is Tom hitting Jerry with a huge rubber mallet. In one scene amidst the slapping and tripping of one another, Jerry takes a pair of scissors to Tom and before you know it, both the characters are bald and laughing about what they have just done. Viewing these scenes through the eyes of a child gives the idea that it is all right and even humorous to hurt one another. If a child has a dispute with someone, the proper way to handle it is to talk it out, not inflict pain and retaliate his or her anger with more violence.

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...attle, coaxing the fighters to continue. At the end of the battle, the victor of the match must continue to fight his next opponent and the victim returns back to his Pokemon ball with no concern for his wounds. The irony of the cartoon is at the end when the narrator proudly states how we have learned about honesty, bravery, and trust. What about the other lesson we have learned from this cartoon? A person's values are based on the ability to over power others with physical strength.

"Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that eight-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age eighteen and serious criminal behavior by age thirty" (CQ Researcher).

It is critical to our society to understand what effects cartoon viewing has on our own children. In order to stop the rate of violence in our society, we must acknowledge every cartoons influence on young minds towards violence, cause of desensitization, and leave children unable to consider alternatives to violence.