Children's cartoons deadlier than films for adults: study

LONDON (AFP) - Children's cartoons depict death more often than films for adults, and their main characters are more than twice as likely to be killed off, according to research released on Tuesday.

The study found the main characters in children’s cartoons were two and a half times as likely to die as protagonists in films for adults, and were almost three times as likely to be murdered -- often in violent ways.

Important characters overall die in two-thirds of cartoons aimed at children, compared to in half of films for adults, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal.

"Rather than being innocuous and gentler alternatives to typical horror or drama films, children’s animated films are, in fact, hotbeds of murder and mayhem," said study researchers Ian Colman and James Kirkbride.

The study analysed top-grossing children’s cartoons from "Snow White" in 1937 to 2013’s "Frozen".

It compared deaths of main characters with the two top-grossing films for adults released in the same year, not including action or adventure films marketed to children.

It found the parents of main characters were five times as likely to die in children’s cartoons than in films for adults.

Notable deaths ranged from shootings in "Bambi", "Pocahontas" and "Peter Pan", stabbings in "The Little Mermaid" and "Sleeping Beauty", and attacks by animals in "Finding Nemo" and "Tarzan".

Films featuring animated cars and toys were not included as it was not clear that the concept of death exists for such characters.

The study found no evidence that the level of violence had increased since the 1937 release of "Snow White", in which the evil queen stepmother tumbles off a cliff after a pursuit by angry dwarves.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Childrens-cartoons-deadlier-than-films-for-adults--30250028.html


-- The Nation 2014-12-17

**** SNOW WHITE SPOILER ALERT ****

Beep Beep...........................................the Road Runner escapes again.........

Beep Beep...........................................the Road Runner escapes again.........

And Wile E Coyote still survives the 500 metre drop with boulders on his head.

I have tried to track down who actually wrote that piece of crap and I can't seem to find where it came from.

Edited December 17, 201411 yr by billd766

When we were kids we didn't need to be told don't try this at home, and we didn't have some idiot social worker saying it was the tv's fault. These days however....

When we were kids we didn't need to be told don't try this at home, and we didn't have some idiot social worker saying it was the tv's fault. These days however....

+1....Different times, different world...

When we were kids we didn't need to be told don't try this at home, and we didn't have some idiot social worker saying it was the tv's fault. These days however....

These days however the businesses, banks and the world is run by people who grew up with all this violent crap on TV. There is more than a little resemblance to the violence,cheating and selfgratification promoted on TV in our daily real life.

Don't think it will be much better when the "Grand Theft Auto" generation take over running things.

Tom and Jerry was much better before some idiot said it was too violent.

When we were kids we didn't need to be told don't try this at home, and we didn't have some idiot social worker saying it was the tv's fault. These days however....

In a society that promotes higher learning and scholastic degrees, there seems to be a proliferation of lawyers, professional bureaucrats, politicians, social scientists, "human caretakers", etc.

They need employment and seemed to have embarked on a lengthy and lucrative program of regulation, nannying and taking care of those that could, most likely, take care of themselves.

That's not to say there isn't a need for taking care of the vulnerable, indigent and needy. I don't know the answer. I just see the results.

I like Zap Comic books, myself. I think the biggest tragedy of kids watching cartoons, is the plethora of ads marketing sugary products. There are $25,000/month execs doing all they can to get kids addicted to sugar. It works great. Go to any mall in the US, and over 90% of all men and women you see are seriously fat.

When we were kids we didn't need to be told don't try this at home, and we didn't have some idiot social worker saying it was the tv's fault. These days however....

In a society that promotes higher learning and scholastic degrees, there seems to be a proliferation of lawyers, professional bureaucrats, politicians, social scientists, "human caretakers", etc.

They need employment and seemed to have embarked on a lengthy and lucrative program of regulation, nannying and taking care of those that could, most likely, take care of themselves.

That's not to say there isn't a need for taking care of the vulnerable, indigent and needy. I don't know the answer. I just see the results.

Higher education? Since the Mid 80s it's been a dumbing down process.

Beep Beep...........................................the Road Runner escapes again.........

And Wile E Coyote still survives the 500 metre drop with boulders on his head.

I have tried to track down who actually wrote that piece of crap and I can't seem to find where it came from.

lighten up , its a cartoon

and ACME supplied all the gadgets , and maybe the boulder too

They came to this conclusion after looking at Disney? Good job they're too out of the loop to have checked out Japanese anime. What next, violence in Minecraft?

I dunno about you guys, but watching Road Runner never made me want to go out and shot someone. The movies that glorify gangs and gang violence are actually pretty bad for the mentality of kids.

Back when we were kids it was all about hallucinogenic recreational pharmaceuticals . . .

My son loves Ren and Stimpy and we all grew up with Wiley the coyote. These people need to get off their high horse.

I learned so much from cartoons......

do not shot a shotgun down a Rabbit Hole trying to get Bugs Bunny ,

it will do through the hole and come out the other side and shot you in the butt !

So many things like this I learned from Cartoons and it has helped me live a long life and not get crushed by an Anvil

But I was never really sure about Barney !

So watching something going on, like violence, for several hours every day will not have any effect on anyone???

Sure, not everyone will become a mass murderer or a violent wife beater. Same as not everyone will run out and get a McDonald every time they see their add on TV.

The point is that it will most probably not have a good effect on anyone but will influence a portion of the population and their behaviour could affect all of us.

I love Road runner. It's OTT even for a fantasy. The movie Bambi, however, I found absolutely traumatic and I never let my kids watch it. Old Yeller, although not a cartoon, was also pretty unsettling.

So watching something going on, like violence, for several hours every day will not have any effect on anyone???

Sure, not everyone will become a mass murderer or a violent wife beater. Same as not everyone will run out and get a McDonald every time they see their add on TV.

The point is that it will most probably not have a good effect on anyone but will influence a portion of the population and their behaviour could affect all of us.

Ah say boy Ah say boy, did you grow up thinking rabbits and roosters could talk?

So watching something going on, like violence, for several hours every day will not have any effect on anyone???

Sure, not everyone will become a mass murderer or a violent wife beater. Same as not everyone will run out and get a McDonald every time they see their add on TV.

The point is that it will most probably not have a good effect on anyone but will influence a portion of the population and their behaviour could affect all of us.

I agree.

I know a guy who watches porn everyday.

As far as I can tell, the guy never gets laid!

I love Road runner. It's OTT even for a fantasy. The movie Bambi, however, I found absolutely traumatic and I never let my kids watch it. Old Yeller, although not a cartoon, was also pretty unsettling.

Watership Down. Never recovered from that.

Edited December 18, 201411 yr by MJP

There are lots of alternatives for the younger kids though, Disney Jr, Nick Jr. and Treehouse (Canadian). And the deaths in the old Disney movies are always shown moralistically with the appropriate grieving and sadness.

Whereas Japanese and other Asian films are just pure gratuitous mayhem where there is no distinction between good and evil. Even the heroes are possessed by dark forces, Asian cartoons are banned in my house, but we have plenty of DVD's that are educational and no one dies at all.

There are lots of alternatives for the younger kids though, Disney Jr, Nick Jr. and Treehouse (Canadian). And the deaths in the old Disney movies are always shown moralistically with the appropriate grieving and sadness.

Whereas Japanese and other Asian films are just pure gratuitous mayhem where there is no distinction between good and evil. Even the heroes are possessed by dark forces, Asian cartoons are banned in my house, but we have plenty of DVD's that are educational and no one dies at all.

Not just deaths in movies. Also the hyper-sexualization of the young and all the subliminal messages. Disney is one of the worst offenders...

This clip is unfortunately titled but the content is revealing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGvIkc0tdpI

Edited December 20, 201411 yr by Choctastic

The scariest is that it has arrived, a childhood of scary games on a computer. That your parents never had access to in their child hood, and even now they are not interested in computer games.
My son confessed to me what he could play on his computer at the age of 5
And I thought he wasn't quite up to those skills on a computer.
It is so bad I cannot share.

Edited December 20, 201411 yr by MJP

Parts of the Wizard of Oz are downright scary for kids. When Dorothy goes to pick an apple in the orchard, and the trees all become angry and start throwing apples at her. Every time I get ready to pick some fruit from a tree, I get a memory flick of that. The message at the end was good, though. When Oz manipulater shouts; "disregard the old man behind the curtain!" ....that part should be watched by all Thais.

I love Road runner. It's OTT even for a fantasy. The movie Bambi, however, I found absolutely traumatic and I never let my kids watch it. Old Yeller, although not a cartoon, was also pretty unsettling.

Watership Down. Never recovered from that.

I agree, the memories of that haunt me still. Brilliant book and the cartoon adaptation is also good but really scary

There are lots of alternatives for the younger kids though, Disney Jr, Nick Jr. and Treehouse (Canadian). And the deaths in the old Disney movies are always shown moralistically with the appropriate grieving and sadness.

Whereas Japanese and other Asian films are just pure gratuitous mayhem where there is no distinction between good and evil. Even the heroes are possessed by dark forces, Asian cartoons are banned in my house, but we have plenty of DVD's that are educational and no one dies at all.

I sort of agree but to try and join the dots and say that violence in children's cartoons begats violence when they are older is moot IMO. Violent crimes were way higher before the advent of modern TV and 'video nasties'. There was real concern about this in the 1980's (thanks Tipper Gore et al) and they even managed to make music and film companies self censor with content labelling and the overall effect was nothing really.

I remember the thing that scared me most on tv was an episode of Doctor Who with the Cyber Men. I hid behind the sofa. 555