The Washington Post
Republished with permission

May 24, 2000 -- Harvard researchers have found that 'G' rated animated movies have grown alarmingly violent in the past decade, exposing young children to significant amounts of turmoil.

"A G rating does not automatically signify a level of violence acceptable for very young viewers," wrote Fumie Yakota and Kimberly M. Thompson, co-authors of a study that will appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study examined 74 animated movies released since 1937 that had received a G-rating. Researchers found that every movie contained at least one instance of violence and 46 feature injuries or depictions of death.

Researchers were so alarmed by what they found that they recommended the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) consider changing its age-based rating system to one that provides more specific information about a film's actual content.

The study authors defined violence as "intentional acts…where the aggressor makes some physical contact that has potential to inflict injury or harm." Examples found within the study were extremely varied, from the premeditated murder of Simba's father in The Lion King to Tigger's boisterous roughhousing in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Social researchers have been investigating the effects of violence in children's programming for decades, but the Harvard study was the first to examine material spanning a period of over 60 years. It comes as no surprise to researchers that the greatest amount of violence in G-rated films was found in those films released during the past ten years, suggesting that industry ratings are becoming increasingly lax.

Warner Bros. Quest for Camelot topped the list, with 24 minutes in violent scenes. Several Disney features, including A Bug's Life, Aladdin, Mulan, Hercules, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame all ranked among the most violent films, with well over the average 9.5 minutes of violence.

The authors of the study have declined to draw any direct conclusions about the effects of such G-rated material on children. "It depends on how a child interprets images," Yakota said in an interview. "It's not clear how a child incorporates a video into (their) thinking."

Joanne Cantor, a professor of communications who has researched media influence on children, feels that children are more likely to be frightened by media violence than to imitate it.

"The reasearch I've done shows that the nightmares can last for weeks and months and years," she said. "I'd urge caution for any child under six for any movie that has violence in it."

Thompson feels the problem lies within the MPAA's rating system. "Not all animated G films are created equal," she said. "That puts the burden on parents to get information about a movie. Unfortunately, the rating system doesn't provide enough information about a film's content."

The MPAA's movie-rating system has been criticized numerous times since its introduction in 1968, but has only undergone slight modifications.

MPAA president Jack Valenti declined to comment directly on the study findings. However, he was quick to defend the MPAA's rating system, saying "Its worth noting that for the last 31 years the parents of America have given the voluntary rating system high approval marks," and that, in a recent MPAA-commission poll, "76 per cent of parents said the ratings were useful to fairly useful in determining their children's movie choices."