The Media: Your Child's New Teacher

By: Julie M Cohn
On average, there is five times more violence exhibited during Saturday morning cartoons than there is during prime time. (AAP Committee 1995) These cartoons, along with other forms of media, can distort a child’s perception of real life situations. The entertainment industry has found ways to represent violence in a glorified manner. Attractive actors are shown committing violent acts without being penalized. Victims recover from these brutal encounters in an unrealistic amount of time. Because of the violence relayed in today’s media, young people have become more aggressive and have learned to use actions instead of words.

The average American child will see 200,000 fabricated acts of violence by the age of eighteen. This violence can be seen throughout the media. Many of these forms of entertainment (cartoons, video games, toy commercials, etc.), which contain adult content, are strictly geared to children under the age of eight (AAP Committee 1995). These young audiences can be negatively affected by what they are watching. After viewing the rated G movie, The Little Vampire, some children whimpered with fear. A trailer to the PG movie, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, caused many preschool- aged children to run out of the theater crying.  Even the fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel, exhibit violence. Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother is devoured by a wolf, and Hansel and Gretel force a witch into a hot oven, where she is burned alive.  The television show Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles relays an improper attitude that fighting is fun (Steyer 74, 75, 78)
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