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An angry mob of townspeople shouts “Kill the beast!” as they gather with pitchforks and torches. A tiny, helpless victim is chased by a ferocious sharp-toothed shark. A beloved king is murdered by his brother, right before the eyes of his young son.
No, these scenes are not from the latest and greatest R-rated thrillers — they’re from G-rated animated films that are primarily marketed to children.
Despite assumptions that G-rated films are always good, clean fun, today’s animated features are increasingly full of violence, drugs and sexual implications that drive parents to take a second look at what their children are watching.
Recently released features such as Shrek and Toy Story are based on clever scripts with plenty of subtle jokes aimed at adults. And with the recent release of Disney’s Chicken Little, G-rated film content is being put under parents’ microscopes, according to CNN.
“Everybody is trying to reach out to as wide an audience as possible,” said Disney spokesman Dennis Rice. “[Chicken Little] may have some adult humor that goes over the heads of other audiences, but it’s never so colorful that it would affect the [Motion Picture Association of America] and how they rate the movie.”
Studies within the past five years confirm parents’ concerns. A 2000 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was the first ever to document violence in all G-rated films released on videotape.
Seventy-four films were documented, from 1930s classics to 1990s blockbusters. The study showed that in 60 years, violence in children’s movies had nearly doubled to an average 9.5 minutes per film.
“We’re not trying to discourage people from watching these movies or say that [they] are bad,” said researcher Kimberly Thompson of the Harvard School of Public Health. “We’re trying to encourage parents to be aware of what their children are watching and to engage in a dialogue with them about violence.”
Thompson said that not a single film was void of a violent scene. Researchers noted a progression of violent content from Bambi (1942), in which Bambi’s mother is killed by a hunter off screen, to The Lion King (1994), in which King Mufasa is killed on screen by his brother.
A 2001 study by Thompson’s team showed similar results, focusing on drug content in G-rated films rather than violence. According to the study, more than half of the 81 films reviewed featured alcohol and tobacco use.
Traditionally, strong elements have been a key player in animated films. Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny endured Elmer Fudd’s gun-wielding shenanigans, and Wylie Coyote seemed to feel that his life’s duty was to exterminate his beep-beeping arch rival.
But as animated films continue to evolve into more sophisticated, adult-oriented pieces, the animated world looks more like reality, said Elayne Rapping, professor of film history and theory at the University of Buffalo.
“We become increasingly desensitized, so movies have to be more and more viscerally exciting,” Rapping said.
Indeed, the desensitization of G-rated film audiences can easily be spotted. After all, Chicken Little’s allusion to Girls Gone Wild is just another pop culture reference, and the melons held chest-high by the female lead in Wallace & Gromit are just big pieces of fruit, right?
