Monday, March 31, 2014

Animation's Influence on Kids

I definitely believe that animated films and shows have an effect on kids and young adults, but not as much as people like to believe. When I was a kid, I watched shows like Tom & Jerry, and Looney Tunes. It never occurred to me that these shows were racist because back then I, and many other kids I presume, couldn’t wrap my brain the concept of racial or gender stereotypes. I watched those shows solely because I thought they were hilarious.


But, as I watch some of these shows now, I definitely understand some of the racial jokes and stereotypes that are associated with different characters. We didn’t discuss this in class but I remembered a show on the Disney Channel that was very much racist, The Proud Family. I never realized how racist this show was until I watched an episode online recently and every other joke was a racial stereotype. I don’t know if anyone is familiar with this show but when I was younger, I thought it was so funny because of the funny facial expressions the characters made, the way they talked, and the way they portrayed certain characters. Having watched it now, many many years later, I actually feel bad for laughing at the jokes that were on this show. Oops.



No comments:

Post a Comment