3 ms·

Main characters are more likely to die in children's cartoons

12 points by blowski 12y ago

proveanegative 12y ago
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathByNewberyMedal http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathByNewberyMed... comes to mind.
- blowski 12y ago
  Fascinating site, thanks.
stcredzero 12y ago
In Grant Morrison's seminal Doom Patrol run, he forwarded the idea that traditional children's stories and fairy tales were actually deliberately meant to traumatize children, to get them ready for harsh reality.
- dctoedt 12y ago
  > * traditional children's stories and fairy tales were actually deliberately meant to traumatize children, to get them ready for harsh reality.* In Peter Paul & Mary's concert album, Peter Yarrow introduced the hilarious satire "Blue" with a similar riff. [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2TZ_zQjMfQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2TZ_zQjMfQ
patio11 12y ago
This has been a running gag in my family since I was seven, when I said "Why does Disney think that two parents is too complicated?" I loved Frozen, but as soon as they introduced the parents I whispered to my wife "Bet you dinner they're dead within five minutes." "In a Disney movie?" "Three minutes, then." I think that, narrative-wise, this is partly because Disney basically always has a coming of age element to their films (it is a theme almost as common as true love) and the existence of live parents means that parents would be able to resolve the conflict in most cases. You thus have to explain the inability of parents to help ASAP. Killing them is the quickest way to do this. Presumably this is covered in Hero With a Thousand Faces, too.
dzdt 12y ago
This might be explained by "the parent problem" : if a story has a child protagonist that has to solve difficult problems, how can the story set it up so the parents aren't stepping in and solving the problems for their kid? A common answer is, kill the parents! See http://pcwrede.com/the-parent-problem/ http://pcwrede.com/the-parent-problem/ for a nice discussion of variations and alternatives.
normloman 12y ago
I'll add my hypothesis to the mix: Adult dramas can create layered emotional conflicts without needing characters to physically fight. Kids have smaller attention spans and a poorer ability to grasp emotional nuance, so cartoon writers have to create simple conflicts: Good versus evil, good guy fights bad guy. And with fighting comes more death.
reuven 12y ago
Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) made this very clear in an interview that I saw several years ago. He said that in order for children to be heroes, the first thing that you have to do in any children's book is get rid of the parents. Sometimes you can get away with putting the child in a place the parents cannot reach, but it's far more common to kill them off. Only this way can the child rise to the occasion, demonstrate leadership, and save the day. I hadn't noticed this pattern before he said that, but now I see it everywhere. Of course, in "A Series of Unfortunate Events," the parents die in a fire on the first page of the series. And then, as the books say, things go downhill from there... (I absolutely love that series, and so do my children, although it might be too dark for many.)

12 points by blowski 12y ago

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathByNewberyMedal http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathByNewberyMed... comes to mind.

blowski 12y ago
Fascinating site, thanks.

stcredzero 12y ago

In Grant Morrison's seminal Doom Patrol run, he forwarded the idea that traditional children's stories and fairy tales were actually deliberately meant to traumatize children, to get them ready for harsh reality.

dctoedt 12y ago
> * traditional children's stories and fairy tales were actually deliberately meant to traumatize children, to get them ready for harsh reality.* In Peter Paul & Mary's concert album, Peter Yarrow introduced the hilarious satire "Blue" with a similar riff. [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2TZ_zQjMfQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2TZ_zQjMfQ

patio11 12y ago

This has been a running gag in my family since I was seven, when I said "Why does Disney think that two parents is too complicated?" I loved Frozen, but as soon as they introduced the parents I whispered to my wife "Bet you dinner they're dead within five minutes." "In a Disney movie?" "Three minutes, then." I think that, narrative-wise, this is partly because Disney basically always has a coming of age element to their films (it is a theme almost as common as true love) and the existence of live parents means that parents would be able to resolve the conflict in most cases. You thus have to explain the inability of parents to help ASAP. Killing them is the quickest way to do this. Presumably this is covered in Hero With a Thousand Faces, too.

dzdt 12y ago

This might be explained by "the parent problem" : if a story has a child protagonist that has to solve difficult problems, how can the story set it up so the parents aren't stepping in and solving the problems for their kid? A common answer is, kill the parents! See http://pcwrede.com/the-parent-problem/ http://pcwrede.com/the-parent-problem/ for a nice discussion of variations and alternatives.

normloman 12y ago

I'll add my hypothesis to the mix: Adult dramas can create layered emotional conflicts without needing characters to physically fight. Kids have smaller attention spans and a poorer ability to grasp emotional nuance, so cartoon writers have to create simple conflicts: Good versus evil, good guy fights bad guy. And with fighting comes more death.

reuven 12y ago

Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) made this very clear in an interview that I saw several years ago. He said that in order for children to be heroes, the first thing that you have to do in any children's book is get rid of the parents. Sometimes you can get away with putting the child in a place the parents cannot reach, but it's far more common to kill them off. Only this way can the child rise to the occasion, demonstrate leadership, and save the day. I hadn't noticed this pattern before he said that, but now I see it everywhere. Of course, in "A Series of Unfortunate Events," the parents die in a fire on the first page of the series. And then, as the books say, things go downhill from there... (I absolutely love that series, and so do my children, although it might be too dark for many.)