Are Cartoons just Cartoons?

To many of us cartoons do not seem very harmful, yes we know that too much screen time is not very healthy for children as it leads to obesity and that too much screen time decreases the sight. However, how many of us actually spend time understanding the shows kids watch and what they are saying. Each show has a hidden message that they send out to kids, they shape our child’s understanding as they are constantly listening to their subliminal messages. Among the messages these shows spread are how should the world of the child and parent look like, by looking and deciphering some of these shows, you will be amazed and shocked at the same time to find out how these shows put the parent-child relationship.

Every individual is born into a household where a loving mother and father is present, hence they are the first people you see when you are born. As time progresses one grows to recognise the role his parents play in his/her upbringing and wants no one except them. However, through the introduction of televisions and cartoons which a child starts to watch and adapt to, children take cartoon shows and characters as a mere friend because he or she feels they can relate to it as they often involve a character who learns about the world around them. These shows teach a child who are new to the world things such as how to count, name things, differentiate between good and bad such as not to bully or say bad things.

This seems well to some people as they believe their child is interacting with probably a character who is the same age as the child or a fluffy and cuddly character such those in Sesame street or Peppa pig and Charlie and Lola. Although this may sound good to some it has a dangerous long lasting effect; these shows destroy the educational background children receive from their parents as parents are the rightful teachers of a child in their early years. Parents are the ones who should be teaching a child how to make friends, how to count and what is right and wrong as this leads a child to learn how to engage socially and verbally as they are communicating with an actual person while receiving love and respect from their parents if they do not get it right the first time. This juxtaposes with these TV shows that turn children into kids that are not able to communicate socially and verbally as they interact with a being that cannot communicate with the individual present in the show. It isolates them from the real world as they do not know how it functions and how to address people of this world unlike the make believe world they adapt to. These conditions sound very threatening and dangerous as they destroy a child’s early stages of development which allows him to communicate with the world he or she are new to but sadly that is the least of TV’s destructive and chaotic nature. These deadly effects of preschool cartoons destroy children within the preschool and early school period, however the entertainment corporate owners such as Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and many of the other entertainment corporations that air or produce cartoons have made shows and cartoons for each age group. That means that once a child has outgrown preschool shows, they already have new one’s ready in place and that means the disasters are always worse than the previous option.

These shows that are created for kids who have gone beyond the junior years and are near to the age of adolescent are very deadly as they portray a very negative picture of parents which children start to perceive of their own parents. Many of these shows portray child protagonists who are at the centre of everything and seem to be able to out-whit their parents. Some take a step further and present them as lacking intelligence, and over innocent and believing every lie their child brings forth, in other words they are presented as ‘Stupid’ in comparison to their child who is smarter, cunning and ready to make quick decisions. Shows that present these shocking images are Peppa pig, Johnny test, The Fairly Odd parents, Dexter’s laboratory, The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy, Codename kids Next-door and many more which present kids as the smarter beings and parents as second class people. Now we shall choose some of these shows and examine the above statement in terms of the content of these shows.

If we take Dexter’s laboratory we see a young boy, Dexter who is a super genius with a secret lab in his room, this lab is not known as existent by his parents who deem him an ordinary child. This allows him to go about with his own experiments and do whatever he wants with this knowledge as seen in ‘Old man Dexter’ where he altered his age to watch a movie which his parents refused due to his age. He uses their ‘ignorance’ and belief of Dexter being normal to do what he wants and violate what he wants and his main objective is to keep the lab a secret as seen in ‘Photo finish’ where Dexter races to find photo’s Dee Dee took of his lab. Here children are taught to keep secrets from parents instead of sharing them with their parents and asking for their opinions. This show also highlights the importance of bedrooms being a source of secrecy where parents do not intervene in or should not intervene and it is here where secrets should be kept just as his laboratory, this is also seen in ‘The Old Switcharooms’. In ‘Coupon for Craziness’, Dexter goes off with a scientific family as he perceives his own family unworthy and incompatible to the way he lives. Although Dexter realises in the end that nothing is better than your own family even if they are different to you, it already sends the notion of being distant from one’s parents and family just because they do not like similar things or what one’s friends like and it is here where kids start to develop a lack of confidence in their parents. 

Such ideas are why some children do not like their parents to take them to school or to been seen outside with them as they may consider them not up to date with today’s world and what kids their age like or what would be considered ‘cool’.

The fairly odd parents is another show that has similar traits to Dexter’s laboratory, here we also see a young ten-year-old boy Timmy who despises his parents who oftenly work late as they leave him with a tormenting babysitter Vicky. Here he believes his parents do not want to listen to him and in ‘Channel Chasers’ he runs away into the television to become part of shows where kids have no respect for parents as parents are shown to be the enemy. Towards the end he realises that he needs his parents and they send a message saying they want him home, they reconciliate and put Vicky behind them. Again the same issue arises, we have a peaceful happy ending but the build up till the end is where the negative impact sits. Throughout the entire episode reconciliation could have occurred, Timmy could have told his parents about his situation and something could have happened but rather he took the stance ‘My parents don’t know my situation so they don’t know what I’m going through. They just don’t understand’. This stance of Timmy is upheld by many kids and teens today, instead of negotiating they tend to state that their parents don’t understand the issues upheld by teenagers such as themselves because they are not teens or kids so they wouldn’t be able to understand. Shows such as these tell kids that since parents do not understand you, take matters into your own hands and solve your problems on your own. However, the child tends to end up in a bad situation in the end as they run away from those who had more experience than them and could have guided them through their tough time. By looking at such a negative idea portrayed by such shows we see how kids are given negative connotations about their parents. The question that also lies is why Timmy has Godparents to share all his problems and secrets with while aiding him with his issues, this sends kids a negative picture of who to share your problems with. This teaches children to share their problems with external people who can do them more harm than good as they are not the loving parents who would give the sincerest of advises in contrast to those external people who would never do the same thing.    

But one show that requires tackling is Codename Kids next door, this shows takes the parent-child relationship to an entire new level. This show presents a group of kids under the age of thirteen who possess a secret organization in which they fight adult tyranny, here the adults that present this tyranny are the parents who do not give kids the right to do what they want when they want to. Parents are presented as oppressors rather than protectors and lovers of their children and their safety, however the question that should be asked is what do these kids present as tyranny and oppression. The answer is everything good, brushing your teeth, eating vegetables, cleaning your room, going to school, doing your homework and so much more things that are necessary in life. These kids fight for the opposite of this and thus they fight parents who want them to have a good life and future. This show teaches kids that your parents do not know what’s good for you and embrace your decisions as the right thing even if it is wrong because your parents should not be deciding your life, you should. This is extremely dangerous as parents cannot help their children with useful advises as a child is already told in this show that they are ‘Tyrants’ who want to dictate over you and want to see you miserable as they do not care about you. Rather it presents for kids to share their lives with fellow kids because you are all on the same boat and you all live the same life and understand each other better. However how can a child confine their secrets or ask advice from a child who could one day cut their friendship from them and use those secrets to abuse or throw them of a tangent as they do not know what is good for their fellow peer and friendship is not guaranteed. Thus it is the parent who should be listened to as they are the only people in the word who want them to be better than you and accomplish what they could not and to see such loving people as an enemy is a disastrous thing as parent-child relationship would thus be cut.

The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy also have their fair share of negative advertisement along Making fiends. If we start with Billy and Mandy it present children as the dominant commanders of the house, this is advent in Mandy’s personality as she orders her parents what to do and they are her humble servants who fear her. They cower towards hear and cannot even look her in the eye, she is presented as cruel and heartless child who seems to be a spoilt kid and demands everything to go her way. Her cold, spine-chilling personality teaches children that they can be fowl mannered and demand what they want, it also teaches children that everything they have is their right and things in life are only a privilege and that they can get it without please or thank you.

Making Fiends follows a similar story line where Vendetta, a girl in the show over runs her town with creatures called fiends and the town’s inhabitants become her followers. People in the town cower before her and fear to do the slightest mistake in fear that a fiend may devour them. Vendetta had also shrunk her parents to the size of a mouse and locked them up in a cage so she would have no one to answer to, leaving her independent. Her parents are shown scared of their daughter as they are dependent on her for food and to take them to see the fresh air. Vendetta’s character is similar to Mandy but takes a step further to show children that they should live independently from their parents and they do not need to answer back to them. It teaches them that the only way to get things in life is to be fowl and merciless instead of possessing polite characteristics.

These are not the only shows that present these ideas, there are many shows out there that do this, the question that lies here is that how can parents monitor what their kids are watching and keep their kids safe from these messages.

1)    Watch the shows with your Kids

Watching these shows with your kids helps you see what they are exposed so you know where they get their attitudes from if they talk back or seem to disrespect you. It also shows you how much danger your child is as these shows are having a negative effect on his/her character, it also shows you why your child may be against your judgements and decisions.

2)    Tell your kids that these are just shows

Telling your child that these are just shows is very important so they do not imitate these shows. Children are young and get their character by imitating the world around them and these shows will only corrupt their understanding of the world as many of the things practised in cartoons are not accepted in the real world. Tell them how the real world functions as this child is real and should live a real life, not one filled with false fantasies as in the real world practises of characters such as Mandy and Vendetta would not be accepted.

3)    Tell your kids how important you are to them

Let’s face it, no matter how tough you are, you still depend on your parents. Many people take their parents as a privilege and that they are forever going to provide for them. Tell your kids that there are many kids out there who are orphans and have lost their parents or have parents that are terminally ill and cannot do for them the things you do for them. Also that whatever happens to them that you are the only person who will be by their side as no matter how much friends they may have, they may leave them one day. Thus that makes you the most important thing as Friendship, fame, money are all fleeting but family is forever and that parents are the only people in the world who really want you to achieve something in this wide world.

I hope that this blog was useful and gave an insight into how much danger children are exposed to by just watching a little cartoon on TV or on the internet and how we can save kids from this unrealised danger.

Thank you