Infographic 2: The Evolution of Disney

Moral messsages within children’s films

This week I went to watch the film Zootopia, the film follows the life of a bunny called Judy as she sets out to achieve her childhood goal of becoming the first bunny police officer. She passes her officer training and is sent to the huge and exciting city of Zootopia, where she is led to believe predators and pray are equal, and anyone can be what they dream to be. She soon discovers corruption within the city and with the help of her fox side kick she is able to use her unique talents to solve it and restore harmony.

Whilst watching the film I began to discover a number of moral messages within it. From the very beginning Judy was told she should give up on her dream of becoming an officer and ‘settle’ as a traditional carrot seller. However this only seemed to give Judy more determination. I saw this as a very important message as it was telling the audience not to settle and give up on your goals as anything is possible if you work hard.  

The theme of stereotyping was also brought into the film. Judy is given fox spray by her father to keep her protected from their most common predator, however she actually becomes partners with a fox by the end of the film. She is also treated differently to the other police officers due to her size, as the other officers are animals like hippos and rhinos. Judy proves the officers wrong by solving all of their missions and finding the missing animals, she becomes the new face of the police force in Zootopia. The film is able to show the negativity of stereotyping and that everyone is an individual and cannot be categorised by who and what they are.

This film then led onto me thinking about other child films and their moral messages. A great one to start with is Cinderella, she is treated awfully and taken advantage of, however she takes it all without a fight. In the end she is rewarded with The Prince, although the story may not be realistic, it shows that good things happen to good people and just because you may not have the finest things in life it does not mean you cannot be happy.

Another good example is Beauty and the Beast, it teaches children that beauty is not all about a person’s looks, it is what is inside that counts. This message is often forgotten within this society as now looks are seen as very important,  even within child films you don’t often find an average looking princess they all seem to project beauty, which Disney is often criticised for.

There are also films like The Lorax, which teach children about helping the environment. It seems very important to teach children about recycling and being eco-friendly as they are the next generation and can help make the world a better place. I think having moral messages within children’s films is a wonderful idea, if a child is taught to follow their dreams and not let stereotypes get in their way, the future generation could be amazing.

Infographic 1: Facts about Batman

Batman vs Superman, suitable for children?

This week I went to watch the new film Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. I do not normally tend to watch this style of film, as I have never been one to watch superhero cartoons and read comics. I’ve always found the films tend to drag and have none stop loud noise and fighting. I did find myself enjoying some aspects of the film, I liked watching how both Batman and Superman were able to use their different skills and powers to fight the villains, but overall the film did seem to drag and I left the cinema with a throbbing head.

When watching the film I noticed a number of children that appeared under the age of twelve sat in the audience. The film has been given the certificate of 12A for the cinemas, which allows children of any age to watch the film, if under 12 they had to be accompanied by an adult. Whilst watching the film I found myself feeling scared and uncomfortable at a number of scenes, the film included lots of violence, weapons, murder and mild language. I left the cinema wondering how and why superhero films were accepted as suitable films for children.

In toy shops they sell costumes for children to dress up as their favourite superhero or villain, they also sell console games so children can fight and behave like superheroes. Although superhero films and merchandise can be enjoyed by adults as well, it appears many stores target their superhero merchandise sales at children. I began to wonder what these films and games could be teaching children, it appears within many of the films the only way to resolve a situation is to use your ‘powers’ in violent ways and make enemies suffer. This film also had many guns and knives used as a way to stop the criminals, which could be seen as teaching children they need these items in order to be like their idol superheroes.

It seems since the release of the film Deadpool superhero films are becoming more adult aimed, rather than a film that can be suitable for the whole family. Warner Brothers are releasing another version of Batman vs Superman, which will be R-rated due to it involving even more violence. This decision has been made due to the success of the R-rated Deadpool and its huge success.

Although I felt the film was not suitable for children; there were certain aspects of the film that had been noticeably toned down as they could have been a lot more graphic or explicit. When a character was punched or hit they didn’t have blood squirting out of them or limbs hanging off, which would have made the scenes a lot more traumatic and unsuitable for a younger audience. There was also little sexual nudity and the language was not explicit, all these aspects make it more family friendly. However the film was majorly filled with fighting, anger, machinery and unsettling scenes which cannot be seen as a ‘child friendly’ film.