Violent Cartoons

I found this weeks article about cartoons fascinating. Although this blog is about fast paced cartoons I decided to look up a little bit of information about cartoons in general. I came across an article that discusses the violent influences in cartoons, which was first reported in 1914. The article goes on to mention incidences that have taken place in history where a child’s actions seem to have stemmed from viewing cartoons.  The article goes in depth about a court case where a family was suing because their child, Devin Grimm, who had reportedly watched 20,956 between the ages of 2 and 17, had lost touch with reality and lived his life just like a cartoon. The family was claiming that cartoons caused Devin mental anguish and reckless endangerment. At first the parents thought that when Devin was repeating things he heard in cartoons it was cute but as the child entered school, at five years old, they began seeing him do things that were dangerous, destructive and erratic. He didn’t carry on a normal conversation but would instead throw in catch phrases that he heard on cartoons. Devin was eventually institutionalized, but in the end, the companies that were sued were acquitted and lawsuits were thrown out.  Devin went on to be a writer for the animated series Duckman which aired on the USA Network.

I thought that this article was extremely one sided and it was pretty clear what the author’s intentions were in writing this.  The article didn’t really mention the fact that there could have been other contributing factors in this child’s problems but rather all of the blame was placed on the shows that he was watching. The examples that the article gave, that took place over time, were fascinating to me but I am still not convinced it is simply because of cartoons. I think there is also a very human side to this. It makes me think about parents who blame other children for influencing their child. I am not saying that kids don’t influence others but I think that often these parents fail to take personal responsibility for their own involvement and influence in their child life. I don’t know the answer. Is it the cartoons fault for things your child chooses to do or simply just admitting what your child might be; a daredevil, rambunctious, attention seeking, etc.?

Attached is the article that this blog is referring to and two YouTube clips depicting violent scenes in cartoons. Please be aware that there are curse words used in these clips as well as depictions of drug use, racism and sexism.

http://www.awn.com/articles/adverse-effects-cartoons-minds-our-children/page/3%2C1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rnDJ7Swn3c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqIBYsZNAU&feature=related