By Fatima Khan (with photos)
KUWAIT, Aug 1 (KUNA) -- Many children get attached to cartoon characters and insist on buying clothing and other materials that have the popular characters' printed on them, but these beloved cartoons could have a negative impact on a child's values and behavior.
Famous cartoons include the spinach-eating "Popeye," Disney's funny mongoose and warthog "Timon and Pumbaa," and "Tom and Jerry" with their endless cat and mouse chase.
Sadly, "Popeye" comes down to the classic story of two men fighting over a woman, while "Tom and Jerry" teaches violence and depicts mice as clean, smart and courageous animals.
Other cartoon series tell the love story of where boys sacrifice their lives for a girl. The "South Park" series is considered the cartoon with the largest number of bad words -- 160 in a 20-minute episode, eight in one minute.
Other cartoons teach smoking, drinking alcohol, stealing, lying, and other unethical behaviors that are unsuitable for children.
A study of 404 Arab children aged 5-15 shows that cartoons are the main reason why children to watch TV, while other studies show that a child views 20-25 violent scenes per hour in cartoons. One child in Kuwait was killed after he jumped from the third floor of a building, trying to imitate the flying "Batman."
Cartoons also make children aggressive and impolite, and can leave them trapped between the reality and values taught at school and home and the fantasy, killing, and total freedom they watch in cartoons.
Cartoons make up 5.73 percent of children programs on Kuwait TV, 7.66 percent of the Saudi channel in weeks days and 8.85 percent in weekends, 7.64 percent on Dubai channels and 50 percent on Oman TV.
There are other television channels that are dedicated children programs and mostly show cartoons. These include Spacetoon, MBC3, the Disney Channel, and 24-hour-cartoon channel Cartoon Network.
Copyright Kuwait News Agency 2008.
