Generations of Americans and other people of different nationalities round the world have been brought up to love and enjoy cartoon films. They are fun, enjoyable, admirable and magic. Kids, almost everywhere, give their parents all the peace they wish for when those films are on TV.
Millions of kids along with certain grown-ups await cartoon film sessions with great passion and fervor. If we consider” Tom and Jerry” cartoons for an instance, the notorious mouse Jerry manages every time to outwit his “opponent” Tom, play tricks on and poke fun at him. That is generally a great source of thrill and enjoyment for Jerry’s fans and audiences. Everyone loves Jerry, everyone takes sides with him and everyone expects him to ingeniously have the upper hand in all his encounters with Tom.
Some people may argue whether that is in the least realistic. The point, it seems here, has nothing to do with realism yet, some people in the US think that lessons their kids may get from this character may be quite misleading for their future life experiences. The picture painted in this particular cartoon is that of a world that is upside down, a world where your “opponents” are almost always less intelligent, less alert and less ready to take appropriate action at the right time and in the right place.
Another approach to the world for American kids, I was told, is clearly illustrated in the classical fairy tale of the wolf and the three little pigs. To put this in a nutshell, I quote: “Once upon a time there were three little pigs and the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes. Before they left, their mother told them “Whatever you do, do it the best that you can because that's the way to get along in the world. The first little pig built his house out of straw because it was the easiest thing to do. The second little pig built his house out of sticks. This was a little bit stronger than a straw house. The third little pig built his house out of bricks.”
One night the bad hungry wolf came along, he threatened to huff and puff and blow in the straw house if the first little pig would not let him in and that’s what the wolf did before he ate up the first little pig. The second little pig with the stick house met the same fate. The last one of them seemed to have taken his mom’s advice more seriously. He made greater efforts in building a bricks’ house. The wolf again threatened to huff and puff and blow in the house but did not succeed so he told the little pig that he would come down the chimney and make a feast out of him.
The last little pig, without delay, lit a great roaring fire in the fireplace and placed a large kettle on it, when the big bad wolf came down; he fell into the hot boiling water and met his terrible fate. The little pig, of course, lived happily ever after. Cartoon films are mainly for entertainment, whether kids internalize anything afterwards as a lesson is very much questionable however, I have met some people in the US who are more against Tom and Jerry cartoons and much for the three little pigs’ tale. What do you think?
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