Animated movies and TV shows affect on children

To answer the question in short, I think that yes animated films and television shows have the power to shape the impressions of young children. When we are children we are all extremely impressionable, most things children see and hear tends to be modeled after something they saw done by someone else. When you are young most of the shows that are suitable for children that age are cartoons or animated movies. For me when I was young I think that I watched every Disney princess animated movie at least a hundred times as a child. (This is where I blame my silly idea of wanting to be a princess when I grow up!) So to use myself as an example, then yes animated movies and shows had shaped me into believing that I could actually be a princess when I grew up which I quickly learned was not the case.
Children seem to be the most impressionable because they are young and don't know what to believe. So it is easy to understand that the more children view any type of animated film, whether it is a Disney princess or the Tom and Jerry cartoons what they see on a regular basis can begin to loosely shape their actions. At the same time the cartoons are shaping their impressions and the way they act, it could begin to shape the stereotypes they believe in.