Sunday, 23 November 2008
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What's Wrong with You Disney? -Violence in Children's Movies
by Mama Fox 
Disney movies. Just about everyone loves them, children and adults alike. But sometimes I really wonder about what the heck is going on with them.
In most Disney one or both parents are dead. Seriously. There are a few, like 101 Dalmatians and Mulan, where the parents are alive and well but just think about it. From Snow White to Lilo and Stitch, parental units are missing in a vast majority of the movies. There's been speculation that it makes the character more lovable, like a victim in some way. I just think it's sad, especially at this point where H assumes there's a Mama and a Daddy for everyone, including plants. It upset him when I explained that sometimes the Mama and Daddy plants are far away from the Baby plants because of birds or wind carrying the seeds away.
But okay, the movies aren't scarring him for life or anything just because of guardianship. He is just concerned. What concerns me is the horrible deaths that occur to the villains. These are kids movies! Yet we have a shot gun wielding psycho that gets hung by vines in Tarzan and a giant "sea witch" impaled by the broken bow of a ship and then struck by lightning in The Little Mermaid. The not super "super hero" in The Incredibles was sucked into a jet engine. That had to hurt. Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame falls into the vast lake of fire (symbolism of Hell. Go Disney.) which actually mysteriously disappears by the time that Quasimodo makes it down to the street. Scar in Lion King is eaten by his hyena minions, with a somewhat graphic shadow showing his throat being ripped out.
A lot of the deaths aren't actually shown. Lots of shadow and "off camera". But it's still implied. Heck some of those deaths disturb me, especially the Tarzan one. Yes, my children don't have a solid view of death yet but why do movies insist on killing off villains, in horrific ways? Why can't they go to jail? Or exiled or even just ignored while the hero of the story rises above and lives a happy life, like in Cinderella.
As my kids get older I worry more about the effect of media on them. We worry about violence on TV and sexual content. I have turned the channel quickly or sent the kids out of the room if something comes on that I don't want them to see. But what about violence in the cartoons? Killing is already a very abstract idea to small children so showing it in careless ways makes it seem normal and maybe even required. Bad guy must always die. No second chances. I want to teach my sons compassion and mercy. I just wish there was more of that in movies. It's hard enough to find kindness in this world without getting mixed signals.
What are your thoughts of violence in kids movies?
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Comments (83)
I can't stand a lot of disney movies.
They urk me.
I think that sometimes it's a way to make the movie more interesting for the whole family. I do think they go to far sometimes, but there are tons of cartoon that I used to watch as a kid, and now that I watch them again I can pick out the "hidden" jokes for parents(like sexual references).
I think at times it helps give a more realist view of the world. There is violence, and maybe it's trying to subtly tell the children to be more cautious.
Think of it as an opportunity for an open discussion between yourself and your kids. Explain how it's not always necessary for the bad guy to perish, and contrast it with other contradictions in cartoons, for example, I'm sure you would never be completely irrational and angry or threatening as Triton is to Ariel, yes safety is a large concern but there's no reason to be unreasonable. Create an open forum between yourself and your kids about the subject and they can still learn from it in a positive way.
I think its a wonderful idea that they are introducing some reality in a childs life. Not everyone finds a prince, not everyone is a good guy, bad things happen to people, and people do die, go to jail and Animals have a circle of life. I think the fact that these images are shown in a less grafic, cartoony way helps the child grasp new emotions and rather than them having to learn what death is by a devistating blow in the family like a grandparent dying, they learn through a cartoon.
Lion king did a spectaculaur job, they had the begging and end to the circle of life, hell they even dedicated a song to it!
Way to go disney!
You should talk to your kid if it really bothers you. And a lot of those movies are based on fairy tales that lacked both parents, so that itsn't always Disney's fault. As for violence... Disney violence < the real world.
Those movies are fantastic. They're better than the ones they have out now. Every child should see the hand-drawn Disney movies of the 90s before they get too old.
When I was five or six and watching the Disney classics, never did the thought cross my mind, "Where is the mommy and daddy?" or "Where did the bad guy go?!". I was more fascinated by the moral of the story, the heroic triumphs. Granted, I knew the concept of death at an early age because my parents were pretty honest with me ("Auntie is in the clouds with the angels because she's passed away" sort of thing). Violence in cartoons has never bothered me, and I would defiantly show the old Disney classics to my kids. And like mentioned before me, Disney takes old fairy tales which in many times, are a LOT more gruesome (read the original Grimm's fairytales). So, sure, let your kids be kids, but you can't shelter them from everything, so take the time to explain to them what is right and wrong.
We're corrupting children, damnit to hell XD!
But, that's the way that stories have pretty much always gone. Actually, a lot of disney movies are very soft compared to the originals. In Little Mermaid, the sea witch takes Ariel's tongue and keeps in, like, a jar. Then she steals the prince, and Ariel kills herself.
I think the witch kills the prince in some versions, too.
Actually, I found this article hilarious. Violence isn't something most people compare to Disney.
Well, Disney already tones down most of the violence in the stories as compared to the original version. The real version of "The Little Mermaid" was sooo sad (she drowned in a sea of foam)...
Anyways, I usually don't pay too much attention to the violence in the Disney movie, and after all, it's just cartoon (it's not graphic)
imagine if they were to actually tell stories like how they were :o anyone hear the TRUE little mermaid story.
be happy they modified them ^^
those death parts of the movies always bothered me when i was a kid. i didn't want to see any characters die, even if they were bad guys. i'd turn away or get a sick feeling in my stomach. why'd all those otherwise nice movies have to end with something awful like that? ick.
I remember being the most disturbed by Mufasa's death in the Lion King as a kid. I still don't like to watch that movie. Maybe it's because it was maliciousness towards a "good guy" though. I'm not too fond of certain Disney movies.
The violence is very tame compared to the original fairy tales...
If you really want something to gripe about, look at gender stereotypes. Those women are stick-thin, have big breasts and hips, etc. Do we really want to be showing our kids that THAT is the "right" image for women?
Or how about the fact that the majority of the girls need rescued by a man, and the ones who are the heros themselves then want to settle down into a stereotypical maternal role?
@vanyallama@xanga - I have to say that the real stories are far more interesting then the disney versions of them. Although who doesn't like a singing and dancing Crab :D
I really dont care about things like that. I wouldnt let kids watch something horribly gory or horrible but Disney... eh.
But personally, I cant watch the tarzan scene where clayton hangs himself. It actually took the 3rd time watching that movie for it to click in me what happened to him.
@Lil_Firefly_25@xanga - I totally agree
To me it was just a classic fairytale
Its just a story* that everyone should know
I never paid attention to the minor detail
Such as: cinderella her mother and father died
All shes left with is a stepmother and 2 ugly step sister
I just pay attention to the moral of the story & the story to cinderella life had a happily ever ending
This is a great post.
My girlfriend watches disney movies all the time and in The Lion King she actually cried [I have to admit i did too ^_^;] when Mufasa died.
When i was younger i went to the theater with my mother to see Pocahontas but i never got to finish it. Why? My mother got offended that they actually said 'skinheads' and all that stuff in the movie. Sure the kids didnt know what was going on but my mother did and she took me out of the movie before i got a chance to finish it.
My baby brother Raven is 3 and he loves The Lion King [just like his sister] and he can recits the whole movie [even the death of Scar]. The only bad thing is, is that he comes to me sometimes and says 'Sister. Where is Mufasa? He died?'. I always say 'Yeah. He died.' and i feel so bad about saying that to him -_-;;.
Now whenever something goes missing he asks me the same question: 'Sister. Where is ____? It died?'
Who do i blame for that? Disney? >_<
i grew up watching disney only, it was the only thing my mum would let us watch...and it doesn't affect my relationship with my parents.
if anything, it makes me appreciate their presence in my life a lot more cos it helps me understand not everyone has parents...
I agree with you about the violence. However, they are a lot less graphic than everything else. Some children are a lot more sensitive than others. I think you just need to judge what your children can handle. There are lots of options without any violence. And, really, I don't think most kids even care that much.
Besides the violence.. What about the blatant racism in Dumbo? I bought it a year ago, after not seeing it for years, and I was just shocked. I guess as a kid you don't even pay attention. Really, who cares about the men putting up the tent??? There's a flying elephant, and that was all that mattered. :)
@thinkin_up_dreams@xanga - I guess I don't remember the movie, because i do NOT remember that in it.
But, I guess that proves what I was about to say.
Looking back, it being at least 5 years since i'd seen a Disney Classic. I remember the Incredibles death, because I was older when I saw it... and I remember how Ursula died in the Little Mermaid, but every other death, haven't ever popped into my memory, when I reminisce about those movies. So... I really don't think it ends up affecting your kid(s) in the future.
I definately agree that in older childrens movies and old cartoons there is a very significant amount of violence. maggie really likes tom & jerry right now and theres lots of banging people on the head, chopping heads off.. just stuff that I think is peculiar for a kid to watch. Now, that being said.. im not going to keep her from watching them...I feel its my responsibility to teach her the good from the bad and if at any point i feel like television is influencing her more than me, then maybe i would restrict tv time but i would try to focus more on how i could better communicate with her.
In one of my honors English classes in college we did a unit on fairy tales. The brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson's traditional fairy tales were dark and, to me as a college student even, scary. We looked at fairy tales from South American countries, too, and some of those were even more bazarr and scary. Go look at some of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's older and shorter works. A lot of them are his own versions of the original fairy tales of his origins. Point it, Disney is very mellow and tame compared to the originals. And I do think it's good to introduce children to this kind of death in the way they do. As someone else said, it may potentially soften the blow when a family member dies. But I will say, Mufasa's death in the Lion King always makes me cry.
@wolvenchic@xanga - Yes! Took the words right out of my mouth...in so doing Disney manages to slowly introduce things that, regardless how much a parent tries to shield their child from learning, they will be exposed to. As an adult seeing these things you make more out of what those "shadows" implies but children are just looking at the "bigger picture", so in the end I agree that it's alright.
I think what we forget - is we are the parents - and just because something is from Disney, and or in animated form, doesn't necessarily (sp?) mean or children should see it. I finally threw away our Sleeping Beauty tape because everytime the witch called up all the "powers from hell" I'd cringe and wonder why I was letting the kids watch such trash. A lot of those movies are rated PG too - that should give us a clue. There are good movies out there. As our children's guardians/protectors, I think too many parents have become too lax on what their kids are watching.
yes - I know I already posted, but a couple more thoughts on this matter come to mind - 1st: In an interview when The Hunchback came out, Jason Alexander said he would not allow his kids to see this movie (He did the voice of one of the gargoyles) I don't know how old his kids were at the time or honestly if he even has kids and was saying IF he did - he wouldn't.
2nd: All the violence - and sexual inuendos are a way (IMO) of desensitizing us and our kids. Have you noticed we live in a world that it takes more and more to shock us? Ever hear the story of the frog in boiling water? Anyway - I'll leave it at that, otherwise I could post a whole blog on this myself.....(and maybe I will) It was a great post by the way!
I watched ALL of the movies you've listed and then some. I'm 19, in college, happy with my life and perfectly normal. The thing about Disney movies is that so much of it is above kids' heads... all of those "hidden messages" (about Hell and such) so it doesn't much matter.. makes it a little more interesting for the parents to watch, probably. And I don't know about you, but from the start kids kind of learn that the "bad guy" never wins in the movies.. what do you expect them to do with the bad octopus in The Little Mermaid, put her in underwater jail? I was glad when she was gone, she scared me! :p