How far can a Cartoon go?

Elizabeth Ruvalcaba, Staff Writer

When you think about kids movies, you imagine princesses, superheroes, and animal sidekicks. But what you don’t expect is an underlying controversial topic. In recent years, animators have decided to take political discussions to children’s cartoons, causing many people to praise the progressive filmmakers and others be outraged by their inclusiveness.

Movies can be an easy way to introduce touchy subjects to children. If you expose subjects to children right away then they might not understand the message you are trying to get across. If you introduce ideas through something that kids gravitate to, you have a higher chance of getting your point across.

A good example is Zootopia, a Disney film that addresses racism. Instead of directly showing people getting discriminated against because of the color of their skin, the film shows prejudices the two main characters face since they come from two different worlds; one being a prey and the other a predator.

Officer Judy Hopps believes that foxes were dangerous individuals and mistrusted all predators. Nick Wilde thinks bunnies are fragile and Judy couldn’t possibly be a real cop. But eventually, throughout their search of a missing otter, they discover that what their beliefs were far from the truth. This sequence of events is a much simpler way for children to learn to not believe stereotypes.

Although children are young and can’t comprehend serious issues at their age, they should still have some knowledge about what is going on in the world they live in. An issue children should be allowed to learn about is global warming . A great way for children to learn about this subject is through The Lorax and Wall-E.

Both movies show what can possibly happen to our world if we don’t take care of it properly. The Lorax emphasizes how important trees are in our ecosystem and Wall-E showcases how consuming too many products can turn our planet into a wasteland. Since children cannot understand complicated statistics about climate change, these movies can help them gain basic knowledge about the concept.

This subject will affect their future more than ours and they have the right to make their own decision.

The main reason people get angry over touchy subjects being confronted in movies is because it goes against their belief. They believe some of these topics are bad and children shouldn’t be exposed to them.

This is why there were outraged Finding Nemo fans when a Finding Dory Trailer showed Disney’s first same-sex couple. The outraged fans claimed the film was inappropriate since that scene went against their religion.

While they have the right to their own opinion, the filmmakers have the right to include their beliefs in their work. They have a business to run and they know what’s best for their company.

At the end of the day, if you don’t like a film or what it stands for, it falls upon a parent to decide if they should take their child to see it.