Opinion: The Truth About Modern Day Cartoons

Change is inevitable, so they say-we all agree to this fact. A lot more has changed not just in the way we live and work but also to what we watch. This change comes with a lot of repercussions and ramifications to some extent, although we can’t rule out the fact that we have some positives on the way too. A little kid walked into my house a few days ago. I was busy working and my TV set was off. Jane didn’t care about what I was doing-all she wanted was to watch her favorite cartoon. I was shocked that she knew all the cartoon channels. “I want Jim jam” she would say. After a few minutes, we would be changing to the lion king and many more.

I love kids and this made me take some time to remind myself of those days when I could visit a friend who had a TV set in their home just to catch up on some cartoons. It was the good old days. We loved watching cartoons just like Jane is at the moment. It minutes,hits me hard and I decide to focus and watch the lion king, which we later change to the little mermaid and many more. As we watch these cartoons in utter silence, I am hit with the reality that it is true a lot has changed in the production and content of cartoons.

When these changes occur in cartoons, it isn’t just disheartening but dangerous, as it comes with many repercussions on the minds of these young boys and girls. What has really changed? Let us have a look at what the 90s cartoons had in-depth. During our days, mickey mouse running adventures and Winnie, the pooh’s honey search, were the main key cartoon players. It was an adventure series in search of something. These adventurous cartoons seem to be long lost.

I would gladly say that the cartoons of our days were innocent yet meaningful. They were simple cartoons; the fake Scooby-Doo ghosts were adventurous cartoon series just the way they were meant to be. What is up with today’s cartoon? They are not just animated moving figures, but rather a disturbing and dangerous series far from being innocent. Has this affected our kids and the way they behave? It is said that human beings, preferably children, are imitators of what they see. No wonder some are corroded from what they see on these cartoons.

For instance, an ugly, naughty cartoon character called Shinchan portrays some ill characters. As a character, he takes offer his pants for no apparent reason and shows off his buts to his friends. It is such a bad act to the extent that as a parent; it becomes hard to reason out with your kid why he or she should not do it yet they have seen it done on TV. In the past, most cartoon characters were fully packed with positive values that the producers wanted to communicate.

We are able to strike the difference between what is communicated in modern-day cartoon animations and what was present in the early ’90s. In the early days, values were the main production focus of cartoons. It was an open play where most people what to grow and impart to the younger generation with valuable knowledge and values that would change their lives for the better.

Shinchan calls her mum a fat lady in a Hindu translated word. What would this teach to our children? Cartoon characters are these days filled with irritability and such aggressiveness in whatever they do and this is transferred to our children. As a parent, you wake up in the morning that so and so “one of your sons” is aggressive to his friends or even brother. Where would he or she have learnt this aggressiveness from? Cartoons have made little kinds to become irritable, aggressive. They are hallucinating maniacs who want to be glued on the screen to watch the same episodes or series over and over again. It is so sad that young children no more about cartoon series than they know what class they are in, let’s face the truth.

Cartoons of these days are filled with a lot of acts that are not the right content for the younger generation. Cartoons like “The Little Mermaid” have sexual acts widely and openly displayed to our children. Ben Ten, for instance, has been a widely watched cartoon series in the recent past-what lessons can we draw from what is displayed on the screen? As a character, he struggles to fight everyone from the start of the series to the end. The main quest that comes to my mind is, is life all about fights? Do we have to solve everything through fights? Can’t we teach our children social values that can be portrayed by cartoon characters?

It is no doubt that the current generation of young adults are fury driven. Most of them cannot make the right decision without confrontation and what have you. It is miserable that the depiction of this age has such genuine reactions on a child’s mind and there is little we can do about it as it appears that the period of guiltless inventiveness has seen the graves. The animation creators probably won't be prepared to change the content they produce, however it lies in our grasp to fend off our children from the threat of not all innocent kids's shows. Parents should be aware of the effects of this cartoon series on their children.

It is all advisable to check the content of what you want your children to watch way before making it available at their disposal. Raise them to know what is good and what is not valuable to their lives. After all, they are your kids and you are their parents. Play your role well, read books with them, act for them, and let them learn from you-you are the best real model they will ever encounter.