Children awash in images that make them think violence is cool and the world is scary

This installment: Violence and children, with some thoughts by George Gerbner, Jackson Katz and two cartoon animals of the desert

February 5, 2001

Part 1: Violence and men
Part 2: Violence and women

By Marcie Young
Hard News Cafe

EDITOR'S NOTE: Children witness between 25 and 30 acts of violence when they watch one hour of cartoons, according to George Gerbner of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Ninety-nine percent of homes in the United States have a television. Although children watch about 25 hours of television a week, Gerbner said television sets are on for nearly twice that -- seven hours a day. It is from constant exposure to television and movies that make children think the world is a violent and unsafe place, he said.

• • •

Three, two, one -- action.

The coyote tried using bombs to catch the roadrunner. He tried grenades. When those failed him, he turned to guns, dynamite, knives and 10,000-pound weights. Still nothing could help him catch the bird. The bombs exploded while the coyote held them in his hands, the weights smashed his body into the hard desert sand, and the guns fired at point-blank range into his face. The coyote was never injured for more than a few seconds.


In this 33-minute Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner video there were 59 acts of violence. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a popular movie and cartoon in the late 1980s and early 1990s, more than 150 acts of violence filled the screen in an hour. Today video games such as Street Fighter tell children that fighting is a part of life, said Jackson Katz, an anti-violence educator and media analyst.

In his educational film, Tough Guise, Katz said violence is something that television networks and motion picture companies validate through the programs shown and the movies released. He also said the problem isn't something the media alone has created.

"The root of the problem lie àeverywhere, deeply embedded in what passes for normal culture -- part of the normal training, conditioning and socializing of boys and men," according to Katz's co-written web page at http://www.jacksonkatz.com.com.

Shows that teach children positive ideas, such as Sesame Street, are a rarity in children's programming, Gerbner said. Programs like these, most of which are broadcast by PBS, make up about 6 percent of children's television shows. Although Gerbner said the educational programs are great, he also said there aren't enough to balance other kids' shows.

Regardless of educational value, children aren't just watching television programs and movies that were created for them. According to Gerbner's educational movie, The Killing Screens, children are watching more prime-time television, which is geared toward an adult audience and contains about five acts of violence and hour.

Carlos Chapa, a 12-year-old seventh grader from Salt Lake City, said he watches about eight hours of television a week. Among his favorite programs is Comedy Central's South Park, a cartoon where the main characters swear almost every line and at least one person dies each episode.

"It's just cool," Chapa said, "and funny."

This, however, is what Gerbner calls "happy violence." It teaches children (and adults) that violence is silly, fun and entertaining. And when kids see funny, crime-fighting, giant turtles, as in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they think violence is exciting.

"Ninja Turtles is the single most violent program ever produced," Gerbner said.

Both the movie and the television cartoon, however, show the turtles cracking jokes and fighting crime with their nunchucks, swords and other weapons.

And when programs show violence in a funny way, children are blinded by the harm it can do, said John P. Murray, a professor at Kansas State University. Children who watch programs with lots fighting tend to be more violent than those who don't, Murray said in Teach the Children, an educational film about children and the media.

Gerbner, however, said shows such as He-man, Roadrunner and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles survive because of global marketing. Since violence is cheap to sell around the world -- it looks the same in every language, Gerbner said -- movies and television shows have to have fights and murder to make money.

"Violence is a common ingredient injected into programs because it travels well," Gerbner said.

He called it the "global marketing imperative" because violence is easy to produce and can be used to spice up any program that is becoming a little boring. And when shows become popular, the program isn't enough -- action figures, plastic swords and ninja gear begin to sell out around the country.

From these cartoons, children are learning violence is necessary to be tough, Katz said. Cartoons, however, aren't the only types of media that are telling kids that violence is fun, silly, cool and manly.

• • •

Three, two, one -- action.

The hot iron came crashing through the ceiling onto the robber's unprotected head. He was stunned and burned by the weight and scalding heat. Although the iron left a bubbling imprint on his head and knocked him to the ground, the pain quickly went away. But the robber got up, and continued to prowl around the house. A little boy holding a BB gun at the robber's head giggles at the intruder's shocked face.


Kids get the idea that violence is fun from all different types of media. They see it in television programs, in video games and in movies such as Home Alone, which was released in 1990 and was followed by two sequels. In this show, children are learning that violence is a hilarious way to solve a problem. When Kevin, an 8-year-old, is left alone in his house while his family goes on vacation, two robbers break into his home. Rather than calling the police, Kevin depends on an old gangster movie and the images he has of what a "real man" should be.

Katz, however, said the images the media is sending about what a "real man" should be are wrong. Boys learn from television shows such as G.I. Joe and He-man that men are supposed to have big muscles to fight with, Katz said. As a result, he said boys learn to put up a front that is based on extreme ideas of masculinity. This idea, which Katz called the "tough guise," emphasizes toughness and physical strength.

The media's influence is constantly around -- from infancy to adulthood, Katz said. With this constant exposure, children begin to learn what their roles in society are, he said. Boys learn from muscleman cartoons that "real men" are defined by the strength and size of their bodies. Girls, however, learn that women are expected to be thin and small. When women are smaller in fictional television shows and movies, children begin to see that men are physically stronger, which relates to power, Katz said.

This is a problem, however, that Katz said can be fixed through education. By teaching children that "real men" can also be sensitive, they learn that masculinity isn't just about being physically strong.

"We have to show [young males] that vulnerability, compassion and caring are also part of what it means to be a real man," Katz reported on his web page.

But without this education, children are learning that violence gets people what they want, Katz said. Every day 15 kids are killed by other children in the United States. Although Gerbner said children's programs are more violent than regular television, he also said real world killings probably aren't a result of too much violence in the media.

"If media violence were to lead to violence, we would all be dead," he said.

Instead Gerbner thinks the more serious problem is what he calls the "Mean World Syndrome." From the violence kids see on television and in the movies, they begin to think that the world is a scarier place than it is, according to Gerbner's research.

Gerbner and Katz, however, agreed that parents and schools are capable of educating children about the realities and the myths in the fictional media. Katz said violence on television is expected, and because of this parents don't think about what their children are watching.


"The parents themselves are a product of the media culture," he said. "They think 'I watched Three Stooges as a kid and I didn't go hit people with a hammer.'"

Gerbner, however, said parents can put a hold on the influence television has over their children by encouraging selective viewing. This means changing the roles television and the media play in daily life. Gerbner encourages parents not use television as a reward or take it away for punishment. By doing this, he said parents only teach their children that it isn't important what they watch, but how much they watch.

He also said that parents need to take the battle outside their homes. By demanding schools to teach media literacy, parents are challenging television's role and the power it has over society, Gerbner said in The Killing Screens.

"If it seems impossible, it means it's worth doing," Gerbner said.