Abstract:

The current study deals with the ramifications of cartoons on children's behavior, burgeoning, personality development, and learning processes. The focus was on the role of cartoons in the development of constructive or destructive cognition and behavioral changes. The study was conducted in Multan- a developing city in Pakistan- by using a mixed approach. Data has been analyzed in an explanatory style. A sample of 105 respondents including children from ages 5-16 years and their mothers were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected by observation and structured interviews as well as probing and prompting techniques. Study reveals that boys were much affected by cartoons having violent and technological stuff while girls led in understanding themes. On one side they enhance Cognition, knowledge, thinking, and criticizing capability and social behavior; on the other, it affect their behavior, creativity, attention disorder, sensitivity, exhilaration preference, confidence, and choices of leisure time activity.

Key Words:

Cartoons, Cognition, Behavior, Construction, Destruction, Gender, Dream World

Introduction

Cartoons possess the paraphernalia attributed to the source of relaxation in spare time in addition to just amusement and are considered a frequent and accessible source of entertainment. With the vastness of media, plenty of T.V. Channels are available there that broadcast a non-stop variety of cartoons. Due to the crenel capacity of the human being our mental level is complex so we have the ability of inspiration, motivation, experience, and training that makes our mind very pliable. It is a fact that the process of human brain development is based on a dynamic blend of nature and nurture, so it requires much attention to select and arrange a healthy and active environment in which a child can flourish his personality. These natural and contrived factors have lethal effects on the mental, emotional, and behavioral growth, burgeoning, and stability of a child and govern the majority of his/her habits and actions to be affirmed. Watching cartoons is a part of external stimuli in a child's life and has a great influence on children's socialization, personality development, cognition, education, and health-related issues as well as learning of cultural values. 

Cartoons have a great contribution to the socialization process as ideas are shaped in children's minds that cannot only influence their behavior but also their interaction with others. Children notice how certain characters act in these cartoons or animated movies and how others perceive those characters, resultantly they start to act in accordance with what they perceive as the correct behavior (best fitted in society) or what attracts them more. While television provides entertainment and information about the outer world; it may also stimulate the audience in an infelicitous way and a repercussive manner (Mittal, 2013). The learning process is not confined to a specific scenario (bounded within the time limit, action, or specific phenomenon), instead, children can acquire and learn at any given ostentatious moment. It approaches that if children can acquire terrible and less appreciated behaviors from cartoons or likewise sources, the same logic holds that children also can acquire and possess the advantageous and acceptable ones as well (Rich, 1999). Time spent watching cartoons may take away children from vital healthy, and beneficial activities such as reading, home working, healthy playing, exercising, family and peer interaction, and social development.

In this research, the aim is to highlight the cartoon's impact on children's cognition, health, education, habits, behavior, and personality as well by focusing on questions like how cartoons affect our children's minds and what type of effects it residue on them, positive or negative? How do children's brains absorb and analyze scripts? It will also analyze the psycho-emotional aspirations of children, their attitude towards the real and imaginary world, cultural values that are affected by watching norms and values of other cultures through cartoons, and the role of gender segregation in matters like comprehension, social learning, and attitude change.

Literature Review

Television has become a significant worldwide social phenomenon nowadays. Televisions are more widespread than ever (Bushman & Huesmann, 2001) and work as a source of learning. Television may be beneficial for strengthening prosocial behaviors, such as gender equality and cooperation among ethnic groups (Rich, 1999). To meet the apprehensions about television's prosocial effects on children's behavior, Mares & Woodard (2001) conducted a meta-analysis and explained that it is largely considered to generate a social force of undeniable influence on children as well as adults. Due to the variety of daily available programs, which allure the viewers' attention, it is assumed to be the most popular source of entertainment as Mittal (2021) mentioned it is a major activity and which have greatly influences children and adolescents.

A cartoon is a form of movie made by using animation techniques instead of relying on live actors, especially having some humorous content envisioned for children (Thompson, 2010). Its making involves filming a sequence of slightly varying drawings or models so that they appear to move and change when the sequence is shown (Khalid & Tarek, 2015). Cartoons are attributed as a source of relaxation in addition to just amusement and considered a frequent and accessible source of entertainment as (Lazar, 2017) mentioned it big part of children’s everyday activities and communication. Andrist, L et al., (2014) highlighted the use of video to foster the development of sociological imagination as an effective tool specifically, in illustrating interconnectedness and public issues capturing significant moments in a person's life, and enabling to understand the interplay between biographies and histories of individuals. Films and Videos have also been described to explore specific topics like gender, race, and ethnicity (Andrist et al., 2014).

With the vastness of media, plenty of T.V. Channels are available there that broadcast a variety of cartoons non-stop. Children's cognitive development has not yet reached the maturity level enough to completely discern, anatomize, and scrutinize all of the messages being transmitted to him or her by the media. This lack of cognitive development can be a barrier to appropriate emotional reactions to media messages (Vossen et al., 2014). Children do not have many prospects to illustrate the surrounding universe until they have developed many knowledge structures, and experiences and also confront different phenomena (Vossen et al., 2014). However, the matter of learning constructive or destructive activities depends on the content of the cartoons i.e. cartoons like 'Barney' can help some toddlers to stop the habit of crying whereas 'Blues Clues' or 'Dora the Explorer' may be helpful for sharpening children's mind and engross them in some brain activity (Zehra & Bibi, 2012) making children learning shapes or identify colors. Similarly, cartoons help in second language acquisition; allow enhancing lexis by bringing pieces of words, to become experts and people deserve a multiplicity of voices that explains the inimitability of cultures; learning prosocial behavior, and understanding the knowledge about technology, professions, etc. (DeFleur & DeFleur, 1967) work on learning about occupational knowledge and conclude that no significant difference can be found where each had the same opportunity to observe the roles however boys had more knowledge about the less-seeming occupation; may be the reason is girl's concentration on fashion, dressing, romance, etc. That shows that prosocial effects depend on the age of the audience and that is why younger children, specifically preschoolers, are observed much more likely to respond to prosocial behaviors (Mares & Woodard, 2001). However, vigorous operative thinking and progressive observation are crucial factors of social learning (Smith, 2004).

On the contrary much of cartoons have aggressive and inappropriate stuff; that highlights the identified TV-related violence in diverse activities including children's drawing, conversations, and play-time actions (Lazar, 2017). As Bushman and Huesmann, (2001) reported that 60% of contained violence, while only 40% of shows contained an anti-violence theme. Prosocial messages paired with depictions of aggression (Rogers et al., 2012) and scary images on telecasted cartoons may cause some serious mental issues including nervousness, depression, and phobias among children. Children do like to be frightened, but, not much (Cantor, 2001; Casura et al., 2022) depicted that through violent stuff children become emotionless and insensitive to the pain of others, are not bothered by violence, and are more likely to become aggressive. This aggressiveness is ceaseless in social circumstances as teachers complain that "some students are always picking up altercations and fights even in the classroom” (Zehra & Bibi, 2012). In socio-communal research, the impact of cartoons has expanded to new dimensions nowadays. Today, animation is utilized to convey preordained messages to the target audience, e.g. in fields of marketing and learning (Daniyal, 2013). Many companies manufacturing toys or children's accessories enhance their profit through animated movies or cartoons as cartoons are a source of advertisement for corporate companies. It can be said that cartoons are generally half-hour commercials for profit-oriented companies which not only attract children but also make them keen to purchase and use products. The last decade has seen an astronomical change in the genre of animated programs broadcast on television. We are in the midst of "toon-boom" (Ekwe, U. V. 2018).

Objective

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of cartoons in shaping the mentality, behavior, and personality development of children either constructive or destructive.

Research Methodology

The study was conducted by using a mixed approach, focusing on qualitative design, quantitative research design was also used on the requirement of data. Data has been arranged and analyzed in an explanatory style. Information has been obtained by selecting children of age group 5-16 years having different socio-economic backgrounds, as it influences their preferences and activities, from the Multan city through purposive sampling. The total sample of 105 respondents including 65 Children having an interest in cartoons, their mothers (40), and a child psychologist were selected to get information for completion of the study. Data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews with the help of semi semi-structured interview guide while a probing technique was also used for the ease of respondents and to get more detailed information. Observation was also an integral part of the research. In order to remove doubts, all respondents were entertained one by one so that they might not be mystified and could easily respond as well as bring accuracy.

Results and Discussion

This section provides a brief explanation of the results and information gathered through field data and hence provides facts to comprehend the issue.  

Psychological Effects of Cartoons

Children consider cartoons real and start to learn and follow them on this learning stage they get impressions by everything that they watch, listen and observe around them. They start to imagine things in the same pattern as cartoons and walk away from the facts of real life. Children are unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality and tend to be influenced by their favorite cartoons and try to imitate them in real life. Some effects that cartoons leave on children's mentality are given below:

Cartoons as Cognition Development

Cartoon characters are fictional and their lives and actions are unreal however they contain hidden messages and intentions based on reality and facts of life. The snooping and thrill in cartoons let a child observe and start mental processing. There are many positive effects that can be noticed in this regard like children get information, knowledge of far places and the world, improved thinking and criticizing capability, recognition of things and to compare their identity with others. Cartoons develop children's cognition by enhancing vocabulary. Children start to pick, learn, and speak words and sentences at a very early age due to these cartoons. Cartoons also contribute to conveying the message in such an interesting way that children can easily understand and respond to that message. Curiosity, excitement, and interconnected actions in cartons can explore the real world via the imaginary world. Children of all age groups easily understood the message or the theme of the depicted story. Mothers were asked about their children's habit of questioning in regard to the different phenomena of cartoons and their relationship with real life. Although girls are faster in this regard rather than boys who focus on 

seeking fun and joy in cartoons. 

Cartoons as Concept of Having or Not

Children consciously or unconsciously start to compare their lifestyles with that dream world of cartoons. Mothers, especially of the lower class talked about the gossip of their children that they were inspired by cartoons and very often wished and asked about the same things, to build the same house in the future when they become dependent, to wear the attires and having a good meal, etc. Girls almost 85 % of both locales liked fairies i.e. Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Barbie Queen otherwise in domestic cartoons like Bheem and Doraemon they liked princesses called "Raj-kumari" due to their impressive living style, expensive dresses, jewelry, and decorations. When they were asked to girls if would they like to wear the same dresses or to live in such beautiful palaces they refused to gain them and said that they would like to wear their own. With the passage of time, as these little girls become frank and friendly with researchers, they are exposed to the reason for not wearing those dresses because they do not have such expensive dresses nor they can afford such things. They also talked about their mothers (who do not bring such clothes for them) and their economic condition which was not suitable to buy such things. Girls also angrily talked about the environmental condition and thinking of people who do not permit them to wear such dresses. They said 

“We are not allowed even to wear sleeveless shirts or trendy dresses how do we get permission to wear such moderate attire?” 

All of the above conversations reflect the sense of inferiority and the thinking of children about inequality of social, cultural, and especially economic standards. In this regard, the psychologist's view is that 

“Children do not express their feelings freely because parents discuss their economic problems before them and impose their own choices on children that keep them restricted from expressing themselves freely."

It also reflects the sensitive nature of girls that work as a driving force of their behavior not only for the selection of dresses but for all matters of life.

Another part of our society that is called the upper class reflects the different face of society where everything is available for the children in good amount and quality that children do not like to adopt the other one. Khurram, a child of class two, liked Doraemon cartoons and Sonyo was his favorite character because he belonged to a rich family; have a big house, imported toys, good dresses, and all the things that other children did not have. The same question was asked to Khurram to adopt the living style of “Sonyo", his house and dressing and he also refused to adopt it. The reason for denying is different as he refused all those things because he himself has a house that is bigger than Sonyo’s. He also said that 

“My things are better than Sonyo's things and large in quantity that's why I do not like to adopt them and you give those things to poor children”. 

All his thinking shows the superiority complex of Khurram due to having all the facilities and a good standard of living. So, we can say that cartoons also became the cause of feeling the difference in situation, capability, and standards and promote complexes among children by comparing real situations with fantasy.

Cartoons as Exploration of Knowledge and Information

As cartoons are provided with a variety of content like technological, animated, domestic, professional, and fictional and show the attributes of different circumstances, they play a vital role in enhancing their general knowledge. Through cartoons, children know about different eras of the past, special historical events, and personalities along with the present by keeping in view their future. In daily routine, children spend more time in school memorizing the dates of ancient battles and the names of long-dead kings (DeFleur, 1967) but through cartoons, all this is shown in a very interesting and amusing way that children unconsciously memorize the main features of such incidents and history. In the cartoon "Doraemon”, Doraemon (a 21st-century robot) lets the children in the age of hunting and gathering, horticulture, agriculture, cultivation, science, and technology, Children learn about the occupations, living styles, dress patterns, norms, and culture of all these ages. 

Cartoons as Thinking and Criticizing Capability

In all types of cartoons, the concept of goodness and 

badness and the consequences of those acts of characters have been also shown in the form of reward or punishment. It was reported that children from an early age of 5-6 start to think and think about their actions and their outcomes. They also criticize the acts and characters that they feel are inappropriate. The children who cannot understand the theme become curious and ask questions to their mothers or siblings in this regard until they get satisfactory answers and then criticize or appreciate the act. Another thing that was revealed during the research is that children apply this liking or disliking process with bias. It means that they not only ignore all the bad attributes of the things/characters which they like most instead they also appreciate and praise them and criticize the other whom they do not like. Gender difference exists in this regard. Children of both genders take favor of their choices and disparage others. 

In “Bheem” cartoons, Bheem fights against evil to save the people from danger and to help them. He is the hero of children and many children also want to become like Bheem. When it was asked the children: If Bheem fights with others and beats them then why do you like him? They replied that he fights for betterment and to help the people, that is why we like him. Children do not like "Kalia”, Bheem’s friend, because they feel jealous of Bheem's good acts and fame and plan to defeat & replace him. They also ignore Bheem's habit of thriving Lad’do (a ball-shaped sweet made from Moty-choor) from “Tun Tun Massi” by saying that Bheem did it just as a naughty act and his intentions are not bad. Although they notice incomplete dresses and the habit of children not going to school in this cartoons and admire it as a bad act.  

In “Doraemon” cartoons the character “Jiyan" plays the same role as he threatens the children and forcefully makes them work for himself by abusing his power and large size. So, children talk about him in aggressive behavior. They also appreciate "Nobita" because he is a good boy by nature and is kind to all creatures but he often shows irresponsibility, disobedience, and abuses the Doraemon’s gadget the result of which he becomes the prey to any misfortune and has to face difficulties, they criticize him and said that:

 “It appears to be good to Nobita and now after facing this situation he will never do wrong acts”.

Similarly in cartoons, which are filled with thrill and action, Children note the reason for fighting, the surroundings, body language, and costumes (either suiting the character or not and appropriateness according to gender) of the character. Sometimes children become too emotional and start to perform the same act and adopt them or if they do not like anything they give recommendations about the tact of hitting or using any other way. When children watch cartoons their minds start to work and judge the acts, language, body movement, dressing, behaviors, etc. of the characters that are seen in cartoons and then they appreciate or criticize them according to their mind's capacity. However, change in thinking level is observed according to the age, mental capacity, gender, and entire environment of the children. 

Cartoons as Dreaming World

Superheroes in cartoons have miraculous powers, minds, and techniques that cannot be possible in the real world. Similarly, fairytale-like stories also exist behind this concrete world. Children start to think about the dream world and start to rely on it after watching this world. They become unaware of real-life situations and cannot understand and handle the matters of their lives effectively. During the research, it is revealed that children start imagining themselves the same as characters. Many children talked about becoming strong and energetic superheroes and solving all their problems suddenly when they became older. Similarly, girls see the dreams of becoming "Raj Kumari, Barbie queen, snow white, Cinderella, etc. living in castles, having beautiful precious dresses, and living a luxurious life. Children aged 5-12 are much affected in this regard because they are free from every tension and any type of mental burden as well as due to the maturity level that is in process and cannot differentiate between the dreaming world and realities of real life so colorful and twinkling dreaming world attract them more. Their work is to eat, sleep, play, and spend a bit of time getting an education. More than that they get relief from others in many matters that also strengthen their thoughts for the dream world. On the contrary, children aged 12-15 start not to rely too much on the dreaming world of cartoons as they become mature and understand the realities of life.

Cartoons as Attention Disorder

Many mothers were talking about the habit of their children whose minds were engaged in thinking about cartoons they said: "They become totally absorbed in cartoons while watching but after that time when they leave T.V. cartoons still proceed in their minds all the time". The following table shows the perceptions of mothers in regard to remaining children under the spell of cartoons. 

Table 1.

Perception of mothers about remaining children under the spell of cartoons according to gender difference.

Categories Boys Girls Total

Yes 20.5% 8.0 % 28.5 %

No 12.5 % 26.5 % 39.0 %

To some extent 17.0 % 15.5 % 32.5 %

Total 50.0 % 50.0 % 100 %

Source: Field data

 

The above table shows that 39 % of children are not affected by cartoons in the matters of proceeding thinking affiliated with cartoons in which the girl ratio is prominent. Of the remaining 61 % of total children, 28.5 % of children are greatly influenced by cartoons mentally of which only 8 % are girls and the remaining 20 % are boys. Other 32.5 % of children are those who remain under the spell not all the time but often practice it, here too boys are leading with a 17 % ratio.

 During the research work, it was observed and noticed that children first make conditions for watching cartoons or get a C.D. disk of cartoons of their required and favorite cartoons before doing any task such as homework, helping their mother, etc. If mothers agree with their condition then while performing the task they think and talk about the cartoons that divert their concentration from the work. Mothers also used the word "blackmailing" for the children. They said that now children blackmail us "If you want to perform the task by us then you have to permit us to watch cartoons". It is noticed that if cartoons are cast on TV and children do any other work while watching cartoons (children who do not go to any academy or tuition often do their homework before TV sets) they forget what are they doing and get absorbed in cartoons. Although children from age 5-12 years were much engaged in this act which ratio of the boys was more than that of girls.

Cartoons as Creativity

Through observation, it is revealed that Children who watched learning programs got engaged in some creative work rather than cartoon viewers. Learning programs have contents by which children learn to make drawings, color techniques, recycle extra things, and make productive things with less expense. Children after age 10 started to engage in such activities. Boys took a greater part in creative works than girls. The surrounding environment matters a lot as no children were found in the Nasrat colony who had an interest in making products; their maximum involvement was to decorate “charni" (model of the birthplace of Jesus) in their houses on the occasion of Christmas otherwise they did not do any creative work. Comparatively, S-block's children, especially boys made even technical things like torch lights, small fans, motorized boats, etc. Habib and his friends often make different things with the help of materials from their expired toys or other things in the house. They all friends also take (a part of) their pocket money aside and use it to buy things for the completion of their products. His mother told him that he made a ship that was charged by the battery and worked like a motor boat. The battery was charged through cells. He had also made torch lights and other things.

Cartoons as Exploration of Mind

In the matters of exploration of children's minds, un-educated women argue that cartoons explore the minds of children as they see different things, manners, events, and the way of living with others but educated women were of the view that cartoons explore minds only the extent of relating them with surroundings but their output comes out limited to the content of cartoons as they use same sentences, words and asking about those which have relativity with cartoons.

Psychologists said that "this limitation of mind is due to our behavior which we perform before children, we want that they think and talk about the things for which we allow them and in which we have own interest. We expose our wishes, thoughts, and choices, and act on them, resultantly their minds start only to obey and follow their elders and limited things. Freedom of exposure should be given to children and should be appreciated when they relate things even with cartoons”  

Cartoons as Lack of Sensitivity

Almost all cartoons have aggressive and violent content. Characters fight with each other in very brutal and belligerent ways by using different techniques, tools, and objects. Excessive watching of such actions reduces the threat of violence, quarrels, and fights and makes them habitual of watching such actions. Now children want more actions and thrill in cartoons. It was observed that while watching cartoons, children became too excited by watching action scenes. They started to make noise beating other characters loudly and also performing violent actions like punching, kicking, hitting, etc. When it was asked by older children about sensitivity they said that if they watch cartoons they had seen in their childhood like Thunder Cats, The Mask, Lion King, etc. they do not feel satisfied and are not amused by them instead they want more and more aggression and action in cartoons. All this discussion shows that more aggressive seen make children hard-hearted, unable to feel the pain and trouble of others and they become harsh, rigid, and senseless

Behavioral Impact of Cartoons

Cartoons and Lack of Confidence

People's perception of cartoons and children's confidence was distressing. According to them, cartoons have a great contribution to the decrease in the confidence level of their children. Less interaction with others makes them shy and reserved and their confidence gets reduced time by time. Psychologist's view in this regard was totally different from common people's perception. In her view, parental behavior, the situation of circumstances, and the attitude of people, either appreciative or under-estimated, toward children's habits, activities, and learning lead them towards an increase or decrease in confidence.

Cartoons and Sense of Loneliness

Wildly cartoon-watching habit engages children in their own world. Time, that children spent with friends and family members in the past, is now spent before TV and increases the distance between children and affiliated relations. Resultantly, children feel happy and remain comfortable alone. More than that, now children feel itchy in gatherings or if people spend a bit of time at their homes. They feel hesitation while meeting with others and like to remain alone. The same situation exists in many homes of the locale. After some time children were asked their mothers about the departure of guests. In the same way, children also shun visiting other's home and if they had to do so they ask their parents to go home after a short period of time.

People’s Concentration towards Action & Excitement

Today, People like to see imaginary content in movies filled with action, thrill, and excitement. They dislike the old passive themes of movies based on domesticity, family values, etc. Maybe it is because of their upbringing as they were raised as a child to like the action cartons.  Many mothers were saying that as they never got to see these actions, so now they find it to be enough exciting. While in matters of action and thrill, youngsters' point of view was that:

 “When we watch cartoons to regenerate the good old memories, we find it boring and want more action and thrill than before.” 

Such actions and agitated scenes attract children to imitate them. 

Cartoons as Increment of Violent Behavior

Cartoons which are seen nowadays, have the contents that have warfare action. These actions make children overexcited. Cartoons have much content that creates violence among children. In Tom and Jerry, both characters use different harmful machinery and objects to beat each other, in "Oggy” Cockroaches and cats called “Billa" tease and torture each other. In Doraemon cartoons, “Jian" is a healthy and powerful boy who uses his power to threaten other children, take work with them, snatch toys for playing, and be praised for himself and his songs. Other cartoons like Bheem, Ben-10, Spider-man, Thunder Cats, Puffy Girls, etc. have superheroes who use their powers against evil and for the betterment of people but such cartoons also have violent and destructive content at a large scale.  

The basic purpose of the actions related to fighting in cartoons is generally to eliminate all bad things from the earth by using the power of superheroes but small children are not able to understand the contextual meaning. When they see that the power and fighting of superheroes prevent all others from danger and difficulties and give success in achieving their target, they consciously or unconsciously practice it on younger ones and lastly, it becomes a part of their nature. Actions, fame, and style also attract children to become heroes in their lives.   

Table 2

Percentage of viewers of cartoon type and their relevance to gender

Type of Cartoons Boys Girls Total

Technological 14.0% 01.5% 15.5%

Fairy tails 08.0% 42.5% 50.5%

Violent 18.5% 06.0% 24.5%

Animals related 09.5% 00.0% 09.5%

Total 50.0% 50.0% 100.0%

Source: Field data

 

The above table shows the percentage of total respondents children Fairy Tails are the most watched cartoons with 50.5 % but this is due to the biases of the percentage (42.5%) of girls' choice. The percentage of violent cartoons is 24.5 % in which the ratio of both boys (18.5%) and girls (6%) are included. Many technological cartoons also comprised violent content i.e. Ben Ten, Thunder Cats, etc.; the difference between both violent and technological cartoons is only the way of expressing or representing violence which is why in both types of cartoons boys' ratio was high.  Animals-related cartoons with a 9.5 % ratio show that girls have no attraction to such cartoons because such cartoons also have actions and thrill. If we separate the biases of girls with fairy tales then violent cartoons were most frequently watched cartoons by young children.

Boys become more violent than girls but this violation reduces after age 12-15 because after this age they are engaged in social activities, spend more time outside, and learn the difference between real and actual life. Girls more understand the theme of the story than boys. Girls spend more time with family; and understand the sensitivity of matters of daily routine. However, matters of comprehension, adaptation, and picking from cartoons depend on the nature, I.Q. level & environment of children.

Cartoons and Attitude with Elders

Another change in children's behavior is not listening to elders. During cartoon watching when the mother/elder calls them the answer is "Wait till the end of this episode". After that episode, some of them left and listened to their elders but the majority became absorbed in other episodes or turned the channel and started watching other cartoons. With the passage of time, this becomes part of their habit. People of Nasrat colony believed that children could learn much better things and good attributes from cartoons but respondents from S-block resisted it. Mothers were asked about cartoons that either promote ethics or just encourage corporate interest. 76.92 % of mothers of girls stated that cartoons do not promote ethical teaching and & 71.79 % gave the same comments about boys. On the other hand, 38.46% of mothers of girls and 28.205 % of boys favor the argument that cartoons promote ethical teaching. The above statistics show that the majority believed that cartoon companies only work for their interest. They also said that instead of learning good attributes cartoons became the cause of taking them in the wrong way against the values and ethics of our own. 

Cartoon as Gender Discrimination

Gender stereotypes are a huge social phenomenon that affects both genders and maybe harmful ways. The exposition of dominance, ferocity, aggression, fighting physical strength, etc. in cartoon movies, is indulged in the minds of young children especially boys that these are the only acceptable characteristics they can associate with masculinity. Consequently, in case of not displaying such masculine attributes, some stereotypically feminine qualities like "weak", "emotional", and "insecure" are labeled to them and make them insulted and shameful. The situation becomes worse when some boys are even called "a GIRL" for not acting as strong or dominant. The above description also says a lot about women too as it portrays how society thinks and behaves with young girls and women. They are associated with characteristics like weak, emotional, insecure, cowardice, pusillanimous, etc. and for some bizarre reason, this is bad. Cartoon movies need to regenerate the gender role to start associating kindness and compassion with masculinity as well as bravery and courage with femininity. This way, maybe the cycle of gender expectations will end.

Conclusion

Children's minds are at the learning stage; they deeply observe and adopt things by considering them accurately. So, when children watch cartoons they unconsciously get influence from them. Almost all cartoons have violent content that makes children aggressive, belligerent, destructive, and insensitive. Parents said that the content of cartoons are same as of adults nowadays. Children noted that things; ask questions and rehearse that are not appropriate both for their lives and society.  It also brings change in dealing with social circles, behavior, hobbies, cognition, and physical care. Children of 05-12 years were more addicted to this hobby because they follow continuous plots and recognize motivations and consequences due to the enhancement of cognitive ability and attention span. As children's learning ability is enriched at this age it is considered a critical period for understanding the influence of cartoons on their personality, behavior, and socialization. Parent's supervision and interest in their activities and their motivation towards productive and creative work can prevent children from negative aspects and can lead to a healthy and successful life. Spending some time with children supervising their activities and discussing the differences between good and bad acts may lead them toward a healthy and productive life.

References