h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I recently found out that a childrens channel on the local pay TV service in Australia (Foxtel), was going to scrap Tom and Jerry cartoons from their viewing timetable siting the high level of animated voilence was unsuitable aterial to be viewed by children.

Being 21 I grew up watching the likes of Tom and Jerry, Road Runner and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This has had little or no adverse on how I ended up.

I wish to hear your thoughts on the matter of banning "voilent" cartoons.

Children see violence everywhere.... Fairytales and respectively cartoons are the better way to explain to children that the world is actually a big, bad place and most likely they will not be too happy in it. Sounds a bit pessimistic, but that is exaclty what I am thinking right now....
I have a nice subject for debate
A friend of mine is the director of a TV show for children and its "soundtrack" contains a lot of Aphex Twin stuff, how do you think this affects the children (the average age of the audience of this show is 7-13)

Kids love violence and grue! (So my youngest assures me - he laughs hollowly at people who want to shield children from horror - he laughs especially at old stories of people bagging Dr Who for horror content.
That being said, I do think that movies and music can influence the way we think - just a lot more subtly than Foxtel appears to believe. Recent studies showing that heavy TV viewers believe they are at greater risk of becoming victims of crime show that - as do studies showing that viewers of Fox news have a pretty weird idea about the genesis of the Iraq invasion!

The best answer to this question can be found in the The Simpsons

In an episode from the 2nd series called 'Itchy and Scratchy and Marge' - Marge starts a campaign against violence in cartoons (specifically, of course, Itchy and Scatchy) which...

if you haven't seen it I wont spoil it. It is one of my favourite episodes as I loved the idea of a cartoon covering the issue of too much violence in cartoons.

Personally, being more serious, it seems to me that these large budget movies where CGI allow human beings to seem to be indestructable are much more dangerous. A cartoon is so obviously unreal, I do worry that it may be more difficult for children to differentiate fact from fiction.

CS

I wonder about games, RPGs and "first person shooters" as I believe they are called. My son loves them, and assures me that blowing away or beating up 'sprites' doesn't mean anything about his attitudes in the real world, but I wonder if some people do find it easier to contemplate RL mayhem as a result.
I am reminded of Gulf War 1, when what we saw on the Teev news was American sailors sitting in front of a screen firing 'missals' as if it was a game!

Childhood is extended unnaturally by "protecting" the tikes from
some things real while exposing them to so many "unreal" things.

Back in the bad old days when classical education was the thing,
boys trotted off to war with visions of glory in their heads instead of gore and girls stood on street corners handing white feathers to suitable lads who seemed to be shirking their duty.

The only way music and movies can influence children is if their parents are not paying special attention to what they see and hear. If a parent does not interact with their child and explain the differences between fantasy and reality the child is more likely to be negatively influenced by what is not reality.

I was raised during the era of the most violent cartoons and movies and music. But,I had a firm grasp on what was "real" and what wasn't. I also wasn't allowed to sit unsupervised for hours on end watching TV or playing video games.Ok, so the only video game was PONG at that time, kinda dates me but arcade style games were also coming on the scene.

It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children the real from the unreal. Let the Tv, movie, music and video game producers put out that which will make them profits but someone should adamantly and vigorously remind parents of their responsibility to their children.

If you think it's all too violent don't let your kids watch it. Or, be there for your kids and teach them the reality of it all.If parents don't step up to the plate they will be the source of their kids "unrealistic" morals!!!!!

Well, I think that the TV people are wrong. I grew up on a diet of Tom and Jerry and the Ninja Turtles, and now, if I see a cat, I run away in case it has an 'Acme Kate-Squigding Mallet' with it. And These cartoons also taught me: NEVER TRUST A BIRD WITH A SPEECH IMPEDIMENT. They alllways have dogs that will chase you away. O, and I always look down the toilet before using it in case any mutant turtles have crawled up from the sewer to fight the evil Shredder. So, no, I don't think cartoons are a menace to small children. They know it's just make believe

Mary Kate and Ashley for President and Vice-President!
According to their movies and CDs, they can handle anything!

I saw an interview with Ashley on TV last night. She says "you know" after every phrase! (Clever girl... not)

I hadn't thought about it untill reading this but there may be a point with CGI in movies because not the unreal looks so real. I'm am grown up and I've suffered through bad CGI (mortal kombat 1996) and am not fooled.

A child now though has quite possible only seen good CGI.