The priming theory holds that once a certain idea has been presented to an individual on enough occasions it will become a natural reaction or common knowledge to that person. The repeated exposition to that concept will prime their minds to act in accordance with the concept presented. In the American society cartoons are a popular pacifying device that parents use on their children, whether to occupy them, to console them, or just to amuse them. The consequences, though, are seemingly catastrophic and ill-fated as these children grow more and more desensitized to violence, sexual activity, profanity, and a whole slew of ideas and issues that are too mature for them to really even know exist. Many cartoons such as Tom and Jerry,The Simpsons, and Spongebob Squarepants portray violence against another character as commonplace and often times it never results in any sort of punishment or reprimand. How many times can a mouse drop a massive, heavy anvil or piano onto a cats head before it dies? The children who watch these types of shows often may never know that there is a limit to aggression. Without seeing negative consequences to negative actions, the kids of today's American society may grow up with a blurred view of the line that divides violence and play. Aside from violence, several other issues arise among habitual cartoon viewing, such as a distorted view of sex and gender roles through innuendos and the portrayal of men and women in specific ways that may or may not accentuate their sexuality or status quos of their respective gender.
Cartoons, however, are not the only source of priming for children that the media uses, it can also be manifested in advertisements specifically made for children. For instance, not very many ads in magazines for a child's toy would picture a young boy playing with a Barbie doll or a little girl wheeling around a Tonka truck that is carrying her Transformer figurines. This is because more often than not do we see stores selling their toys to gender specific groups of children, as a result young boys and girls grow up seeing the media set a standard for what is appropriate according to each gender thus often leading to masculine or feminine complexes that will guide these young people into life believing that they must act a certain way, buy a certain thing, or stick to a specific sideline with others of their sex.
In our time, the minds of children are being saturated daily with beliefs and ideas about who they must be, what they should act like, or how others should see them by the priming of the American media. They are emitting images, cartoons, and ideas that are working on these young people until they react the way that they are seeing the media portray. I do not personally believe that watching cartoons or having toys is unhealthy or damaging, unless those shows or toys are providing a distorted idea of what is acceptable or unacceptable. Much needs to be done to regulate the mainstreaming of certain cartoons that are said to be for children, high standards must be placed and revisions must be made, but in all reality these changes will never happen as long as the media and companies affiliated are making money and increasing in popularity. In which case we can expect to see no change in the attitudes of the children in our lives without serious correction.
Example of violence in cartoons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm6hZVCF9B4
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