Demonizing in children's television cartoons and Disney animated films.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of demonizing in the two major media that young children use (television and movies). Two content analyses were conducted using the animated feature films (n = 34) of the Walt Disney Company and after-school cartoons (n = 41). Each was coded for the modeling of the use of "evil" words when referring to a person, e.g., monster, devil, demon, wicked. Seventy-four percent of the Disney films contained "evil" references, with an average of 5.6 references per film. Forty-four percent of the after-school cartoons contained "evil" references, with an average of one per cartoon. The results are discussed within the context of children's repeated exposure to popular animated movies and cartoons and their learning to demonize people who engage in perceived "bad" behaviors.