- Registrado
- 23 de Feb, 2019
This thread is for posting instances where a cartoon for younger audiences (or anime, or whatever) displays domestic violence or abuse within a family/relationship.
Right off the bat I want to mention that examples like Family Guy (where Meg or Chris get literally murdered), which heavily leans on dark-humor, and where everyone & not just one character usually gets beaten up as well all the time, is arguably off the list for these two last reasons. Happy Tree Friends would be another example, not aimed particularly at kids and where the violence is more gratuitously delivered across everyone.
I want to remind that this is the purpose of the thread, and that even though cartoons are not suffering, it is sometimes jarring to see such scenes for a kids' show, specially when you revisit it years later.
Growing up I used to watch an anime called "Crayon Shin-chan", which for the most part was aimed at kids, but being a japanese creation, means that it had to have some "what the fuck are you doing?" moments. Nevertheless, it was a comedy & slice of life series that a lot of kids would watch, but there was something dark in it, something that now seems not right.
So it is for some reason a commonly accepted standard in society, that when a man or boy is hit, specially if done by a female, it can be dismissed without a second thought even if done in real life. In this anime, it gets translated into actual child and marital abuse; without further ado, I present you Misae Nohara, mother of Shinnosuke (or "Shin Chan", a 5 year old), and wife of Hiroshi Nohara.
- [Misae Nohara, circa 2002]
One of the ways this woman would mistreat her son is through direct physical violence: the most common example is when she literally punches Shin Chan in the head, leaving him a visible bump, sometimes going as far as causing him several, one on top of each other, something dangerous for a child and specially at that age.
- [Exhibit #1: child abuse and neglect]
It is interesting that the anime for the most part, tries to avoid showing the moment of impact, and instead displays a flashy image with the japanese word: "げんこつ", meaning in this context: "clenched fist" or knuckles", an insight to the brutal punishment delivered to this poor kid.
The second way Mrs. Nohara abuses Shin Chan is by performing what is colloquially known as a "nuggie", but with both fists and lifting him in the air, potentially damaging his neck in the process.
- [Exhibit #2: child abuse and neglect]
However she does not stop there, she also punishes her husband in a multitude of ways, sometimes to coerce him into something. Now it is understood that Mr. Hiroshi is not a man of the utmost moral character, however he is by most standards a good father that at most will make mild lewd comments, or get slightly drunk at night (after work, customary of japanese culture: "nomikai"). This is however not a justified reason for being beaten up, and in this exhibit, you can appreciate the damage done to him.
- [Exhibit #3: domestic violence/marital abuse]
All in all, we can conclude that Misae Nohara is an abuser of a not particularly subtle degree.
Next we have a classic in cartoons: "The Simpsons".
Now, we all know this series addresses adult themes and does have dark-humor (e.g: during the Halloween specials, where cartoonishly gory scenes are displayed), but for the most part, that's not the case & is aimed at a younger audience as well.
Throughout the series we can see Homer strangling Bart for no good reason, even when the level of violence for that episode is not high for other characters. There are plenty of occurrences of this, and it might be a jab at actual abusers in the real world in a comedic/parody way of doing things, but when it happens so often that it establishes itself as a common theme in the series, that parodic nature fades out.
Notice the force that is applied onto Bart's neck, blurring the frontier between fatal, and non-fatal strangulation, which nevertheless could cause brain damage if done for too long, trauma to the thyroid gland and surrounding areas, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
- [Exhibit #1: child abuse and neglect]
When I was a kid I used to feel so bad for Bart (and Shin Chan up there), even while knowing it was a cartoon, poor boys...
Right off the bat I want to mention that examples like Family Guy (where Meg or Chris get literally murdered), which heavily leans on dark-humor, and where everyone & not just one character usually gets beaten up as well all the time, is arguably off the list for these two last reasons. Happy Tree Friends would be another example, not aimed particularly at kids and where the violence is more gratuitously delivered across everyone.
I want to remind that this is the purpose of the thread, and that even though cartoons are not suffering, it is sometimes jarring to see such scenes for a kids' show, specially when you revisit it years later.
Growing up I used to watch an anime called "Crayon Shin-chan", which for the most part was aimed at kids, but being a japanese creation, means that it had to have some "what the fuck are you doing?" moments. Nevertheless, it was a comedy & slice of life series that a lot of kids would watch, but there was something dark in it, something that now seems not right.
So it is for some reason a commonly accepted standard in society, that when a man or boy is hit, specially if done by a female, it can be dismissed without a second thought even if done in real life. In this anime, it gets translated into actual child and marital abuse; without further ado, I present you Misae Nohara, mother of Shinnosuke (or "Shin Chan", a 5 year old), and wife of Hiroshi Nohara.
- [Misae Nohara, circa 2002]
One of the ways this woman would mistreat her son is through direct physical violence: the most common example is when she literally punches Shin Chan in the head, leaving him a visible bump, sometimes going as far as causing him several, one on top of each other, something dangerous for a child and specially at that age.
- [Exhibit #1: child abuse and neglect]
It is interesting that the anime for the most part, tries to avoid showing the moment of impact, and instead displays a flashy image with the japanese word: "げんこつ", meaning in this context: "clenched fist" or knuckles", an insight to the brutal punishment delivered to this poor kid.
The second way Mrs. Nohara abuses Shin Chan is by performing what is colloquially known as a "nuggie", but with both fists and lifting him in the air, potentially damaging his neck in the process.
- [Exhibit #2: child abuse and neglect]
However she does not stop there, she also punishes her husband in a multitude of ways, sometimes to coerce him into something. Now it is understood that Mr. Hiroshi is not a man of the utmost moral character, however he is by most standards a good father that at most will make mild lewd comments, or get slightly drunk at night (after work, customary of japanese culture: "nomikai"). This is however not a justified reason for being beaten up, and in this exhibit, you can appreciate the damage done to him.
- [Exhibit #3: domestic violence/marital abuse]
All in all, we can conclude that Misae Nohara is an abuser of a not particularly subtle degree.
Next we have a classic in cartoons: "The Simpsons".
Now, we all know this series addresses adult themes and does have dark-humor (e.g: during the Halloween specials, where cartoonishly gory scenes are displayed), but for the most part, that's not the case & is aimed at a younger audience as well.
Throughout the series we can see Homer strangling Bart for no good reason, even when the level of violence for that episode is not high for other characters. There are plenty of occurrences of this, and it might be a jab at actual abusers in the real world in a comedic/parody way of doing things, but when it happens so often that it establishes itself as a common theme in the series, that parodic nature fades out.
Notice the force that is applied onto Bart's neck, blurring the frontier between fatal, and non-fatal strangulation, which nevertheless could cause brain damage if done for too long, trauma to the thyroid gland and surrounding areas, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
- [Exhibit #1: child abuse and neglect]
When I was a kid I used to feel so bad for Bart (and Shin Chan up there), even while knowing it was a cartoon, poor boys...
