Cartoon Violence…The Issue of all times

One of the social effects that cartoons, particularly foreign cartoons can have on children is related to violence. I know you may have heard enough of that issue, but I believe violence is a very vague term that has to be narrowed down into clear points.

Many cartoons were criticized because of the violence in them. In fact, it is not the violence that made researchers concerned, but the repercussions violence has on children. I did one of my research papers on the social effects of cartoons on kids and I remember reading that American Saturday morning cartoons in the USA contain 20-25 violent acts every hour. However, I believe that it is wrong to use the term violence unless we specifically mean it. Not all rapid movements and excitement can be related to violence.

Let's classify violence into 3 types: violence, action and high action. I think violence is the aggressive acts in a cartoon. High action is through quick movements, sound effects, high music while action itself is not related to violence. Solving mysteries and going on exotic adventures are: action that attracts the child without the integration of violence and with no aggressiveness. I believe such classification breaks down the very broad term of violence and makes it easier for us to specify what kind we mean.

In Egypt, children are familiar with many popular foreign cartoons that contain violent actions and scenes as the American Batman and Superman and the Japanese Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon. What's dangerous, I believe, is not that children become exposed to violent shows, with bloody scenes; what's more dangerous is when a cartoon show presents violence as an attractive behavior that can be modeled or imitated by the child. Some cartoons teach children that violence is humorous and funny. As a result, children practice this violence in their play so as to cause laughter at the person in pain. Take the famous cartoon Tom and Jerry, children always laugh at Tom cat that is always in pain because of Jerry mouse's tricks. Consequently, children may practice these tricks to produce laughter and fun.



Violence is not only in actions but it has also expanded to include words. In many foreign cartoons, there is a great deal of what is called bad language, including insults and inappropriate terms like when Captain Maged tells his opponents "Damn on you, I'll defeat you".. This may also be of great impact on children especially if they try to apply this language in their daily interactions. So, in short: when we talk about violence in kids' cartoons we have to ask ourselves:
• What kind of violence do we mean?
• How is it presented in the show? subtly or clearly?
• Are children motivated to model this behavior?
• Is this reflected in their social activities (e.g. when they are playing)