Parenting Article

Violence and Pain in Movies, TV and Cartoons.
Is there a Difference? How does it Affect Children?

I am not a fan of cartoons but I did like certain ones as a child. As the youngest child of many siblings I had very little control of the remote. I was subjected to watching a cartoon rabbit get hit over the head with a hammer and such repeatedly and never die. (I could have left, but why? I got to watch TV.) I never thought these situations were funny, but I never thought the rabbit was in danger. I knew it was animation. On that same token as a kid I saw a television comedy where a science experiment went awry and no one was hurt. In a silent movie I saw a bumbling cop fall off a moving police wagon and I never worried for his safety. I did not take it seriously. But I was horrified when I saw a person getting bitten by an alligator in an action/drama. This seemed more real to me. With the popularity of reality shows today and live snippets on the internet if I saw an actual person getting bitten by an alligator I probably would have had nightmares if I was a kid. But if it was a cartoon scene I doubt I would have given it a second thought. So the question is, are cartoons which show violence, like the bombing of a gofer hole or seeing someone get hit over the head with a pan, bad for children to watch? Well, I do not think it is the best thing in the world for them to watch. You do not want your child to get desensitized to violent acts. But even if they did watch them a normal child of ten knows about pretend. He should not be able to get away with whacking another child over the head with a baseball bat and claim, well I saw it in a cartoon and the cartoon character did not get hurt. Note the word: Cartoon. The average child of ten knows the difference between a cartoon and a live human. Likewise, at nine I knew in real life if you shot a gun at someone that person could die, but in a movie an ACTOR would not get hurt. It was make believe.

I liked Abbott and Costello as a kid. I still do. I know they do not really get hurt doing their slapstick routines. They are performers. Characters in a movie. But children should abhor violence and not think actual pain is funny. I do not like any TV show where people turn in home videos where it is an actual situation where an individual falls over something, hits their head and so on. This is not imagery. Reality is not suspended. These are REAL people in REAL situations. Why is this supposed to be funny? It is not. If you watch home video TV shows with your child where people trip down stairs, bump their head, ect. and one day you bang your head and your child laughs whose fault is this? Why was it funny when a real person banged their head but not you? Another point, what would happen if a child who likes attention watched a TV show where a man on a home video slipped off a high trampoline but got up and everyone in the TV audience laughed? If this child did such an act himself for attention I would feel badly if he got hurt. I could see his point if he said, "Well the guy in the video did not get hurt. And people laughed." I would think it was a very unwise thing to do, but I would feel sad he did such a thing for attention.

Now as a child I could not see myself slipping off a trampoline for attention. But I also could not have seen myself jumping off a low hanging roof to show off either. However, growing up I had hyperactive friend who I would not have been surprised if he would have tried either, for attention or for a dare. In both cases he would have known the danger, he just would have dismissed the thought that HE would get badly hurt. He liked to take risks. I believe some children are more prone to engage in risky behavior. Even if you limit what they watch on TV. My friend's parents were careful with what he watched, but he still was curious. He would not think twice about opening up a phone to see how it worked. As far as seeing violent gory scenes on TV, if he could sneak a peek at another friend's house he would. Would this make him more prone to act out aggressively than if he did not see them? I think it depends on the child. If you have a child who tends to be aggressive and expose him to violence, then my belief is yes. But I think he would be more prone to hit if he sees his parents fighting and hitting than if he saw this type of behavior on the screen.