Viloence in Cartoons

Violence in animated film can be traumatic for children 
 
Children’s movies should be a “journey into happy fantasy” but instead children are often subjected to upsetting things such as the death or disappearance of a parent, something they should not have to learn about from the movie industry (Heavy Issues, 1994). Child development experts say that children under the age of seven can not tell the difference between the fantasy world and reality and may find violent scenes distressing (Thomspon, 1996). In Disney’s movie Bambi, the mother is shot by a hunter, resulting in her death and the young fawn has to find a way to survive without her. This traumatic event could be very upsetting to a young child. 
 
Some feel that lessons can be learned from these violent scenes 
 
Not everyone is completely opposed to allowing their children to be exposed to animated violence. Some believe that these movies contain lessons for children. Leonard Pitts, a writer for The Detroit Free Press, believes that we can’t change the fact that violence will always be a part of our lives so we must “change the way we and our children relate to it” (2000).  He uses an example from Disney’s The Lion King to illustrate a lesson learned from violence in animated films. Simba, a young lion cub witnesses the death of his father and mourns with unmistakable sorrow.  He feels that children come away from an experience like that learning that violence hurts (Pitts, 2000). 
 
Parents need to take an active role in selecting appropriate films for their children 
 
It is unfortunate that filmmakers are willing to expose young children to all of these questionable materials.  Today’s child is growing up in an increasingly violent world and children seem to be left to their own resources far too often.  It is also obvious that the film industry is going to continue to do this.  The bottom line here is that parents must take a more active role in monitoring what their children are viewing on a daily basis. Everyone has their own comfort level with regard to what they are willing to allow their children to view. Ones own morals, values and parenting styles need to be considered when making these judgment calls.  The important act of teaching a child values and showing them the difference between right and wrong lies in the hands of parents, who must come to recognize this responsibility and take action by becoming involved as much as possible when selecting appropriate films for their child’s viewing.