This Horrifying Study About Animated Films Might Change How You Watch Disney Movies for Good

Recent study proves that children's movies have more violent images than most adult movies

By Jenna Mullins Dec 18, 2014 7:43 PMTags
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We now know that if we are going into an animated movie, specifically a Disney movie, we are in for major heartbreak. These kids' movies are supposed to be uplifting fun for the whole family type experiences. And then bam! A parent dies. Or a child is abandoned. Or a loving sidekick is killed off. It's madness, we tell you…MADNESS.

But it's just something we've learned to accept. We definitely prepared ourselves for Big Hero 6 before seeing it, so now expecting death and sadness is just part of our moviegoing experience when it comes to animated films.

But guess what? Now we have science to back up our pain. Science. Turns out, animated films are actually more violent than adult films, so expecting terrible things to happen is totally normal.

A recent study that was published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) found that compared to adult films, animated films meant for children have more "death and destruction" overall.

"Rather than being innocuous and gentler alternatives to typical horror or drama films, children's animated films are, in fact, hotbeds or murder and mayhem," Dr. Ian Colman and Dr. James Kirkbride state in their study called "Cartoons Kill."

When comparing them to adult films, they discovered that main characters in animated films were more than twice as likely to die and three times as likely to be murdered.

For this study, Dr. Colman and Dr. Kirkbride analyzed the top 45 grossing PG or G-rated animated children's films from 1937 to 2013, or to put it this way, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Frozen. Animated movie data was compared to the top two grossing adult dramas released in the same year, with films also tagged with "action" or "adventure" excluded because those are often viewed by kids. Some of the movies they pulled data from included The Exorcism of Emily Rose, What Lies Beneath, Pulp Fiction and The Departed.

Even though their research shows that animated films statistically have more death and violence and thus could be harmful for children to watch, Dr. Colman and Dr. Kirkbride also said that cartoons could serve as a way to teach kids about death and loss.

"It is also possible that such exposure could have a positive impact on children's adjustment and understanding of death, if treated appropriately," reads the study. "Films that model appropriate grief responses could help children to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of death."

So next time you want to throw in The Lion King for your kid to watch, think about showing them Saw instead!

Just kidding, don't do that.