2021-03-31
Saint Paul
The Influence of Cartoons on Kids
Over the last decade or two, cartoon violence has shifted dramatically, along with cartoons in general.
No longer are cartoons the mindless zaniness that you and I grew up with.
The shows my own kids watch now have complex characters and plots.
Take “Dragon Riders,” for example.
It was first a movie, and now a series.
One of the characters is voiced by the hilarious T.J. Miller — and while the character Rough Nut’s lines are hilarious, they’re not always appropriate for my 5 year old to repeat.
But my son does repeat T.J. Miller’s lines, and in proper context. And my son has seen these episodes so many times that he no longer watches the show, so there’s no “taking it away” at this point.
Or another favorite for my kids, “Spirit Riding Free,” about young kids in the Wild West.
The lead character, Lucky, is a free-spirited young girl that loves horses.
Lucky is rebellious and stubborn. And I can see this reflected in my 8 year old daughter’s behavior. It’s not appreciated.
But ultimately, it’s been our choice to allow these shows that have an influence on our kids’ behavior.
So we’re reaping what we sew.
Is “Cartoon Violence” a bad thing?
It wasn’t too long ago that Tom & Jerry, the cartoon cat and mouse, had to be altered to remove a baseball bat during a chase scene.
Speaking with my mother-in-law about contemporary cartoons, she made the point that silly cartoon violence was understood to be unrealistic.
No one expected a cat to hold a baseball bat, for example.
Those cartoons also didn’t model back-talk from children, or snide side comments that hurt more than they help.
Cartoons of old were designed to be simplistic and over-the-top.
When it was a cat doing something outrageous, everyone knew it was outrageous.
(Plus, there was no moralizing involved with those simple shows — that was left up to the parents, away from the boob tube.)
Violence still exists in today’s cartoons, but it’s different.
It now involves (cartoon) people, not cartoon animals.
In “Dragon Riders,” entire towns are burnt down. Battles are waged. People die.
Contemporary cartoon characters, with their complex characters, fight with and manipulate one another.
In “Spirit,” cousin Julian models how he bends the will of others for his own gain.
These cartoon situations are much more similar to real life than any wordless cartoon cat chasing a mouse.
And so the results of those cartoon interactions show up in real life.
Of course, these are relatable to human experiences (other than the dragons themselves). The kids will come across similar emotional and situational problems in their lives.
And as I said, we chose to allow our kids to watch these shows.
But the kid are not learning our ‘preferred ways’ to handle these situations when they arise. And that’s on us.
The impact of television, with the flashing lights and fast action and catchy tunes, is far greater than I ever imagined.
As a result, we’ve cut back drastically on their allowed time for television — and there wasn’t much to begin with.
But I do miss some of those inappropriate T.J. Miller lines.
Jeffrey