Animated Aggression: Shaping Childhood Behavior
Emotionally charged scenes and vivid visual presentations in cartoons affect children by fostering strong emotional stimulation and active engagement with what is happening on screen. Children naturally learn through imitation, so when they watch characters acting decisively—even aggressively—they may perceive such behavior as an acceptable and desirable way to achieve success or experience victory.As noted in one source, when a child watches a cartoon, they naturally identify with its characters: "Observing a deadly animal fight, an adult crosses the boundaries of humanity, allowing themselves to experience pleasure in killing.
And what does a child experience when watching a cartoon?Naturally, they identify with its characters. Such are the laws of perceiving a work of art. By identifying with a creature that successfully overcomes others, the child gradually adopts aggressive behavior patterns rewarded with a sense of triumphant victory. It is as if a peculiar groove of aggressiveness is formed in their psyche—a well-worn track along which their feelings routinely move. But isn’t there always a battle between good and evil in cartoons? Warriors defeat dragons, and Ivan the Prince defeats Zmey Gorynych. Is there any difference between traditional fairy-tale cartoons and the new generation of Western 'masterpieces'?" (source: link txt)It is also worth noting that modern cartoons often exploit certain aspects of a child's psyche by making them experience pleasure from images where aggression is portrayed as a means to an end. This is achieved through skillful use of audio and visual elements, which contributes to the repetition and reinforcement of these aggressive behavior patterns: "Why does fixation on aggression occur? Unfortunately, every person harbors a hidden sadomasochistic complex, and modern Western cartoons exploit this by making a child experience pleasure when a cartoon hero inflicts pain on someone. This is cleverly stimulated by the combination of audio and visual sequences. The repeated exposure to such scenes causes children to fixate on aggression, leading to the development of corresponding behavior patterns. Catharsis and the personality changes planned by the artist occur precisely at the moment when the characters of the work (for example, Pokémon) destroy their opponents. Yet, in traditional cartoons, the details of killing were not emphasized… and such scenes were generally not shown to very young children." (source: link txt)Thus, emotionally intense and vivid scenes contribute to children internalizing behavior patterns where aggression is rewarded, which in turn reinforces their desire to emulate such actions. This is connected both to the unique way in which a child’s psyche is formed and to the powerful visual and auditory stimuli that establish lasting emotional associations with aggressive behavior.