Why do so many kids movies contain tragedy?

[NewJeffCT]

I just want to know why? In older movies like 'Bambi' & 'Old Yeller', death was there. And, in more recent movies like 'Lion King' and 'Finding Nemo' it is there as well. I heard 'Ice Age' is like that, too.

I've bought some movie DVDs for my 2 year old daughter, as she likes the songs. But, I got a big concerned when she said, "Lion King sleeping" after he had just gotten stampeded and was lying there. Granted, she's not old enough to understand yet, but it got me thinking.

[NYC]

1. Children's fairy tales are gruesome.

Some children are frightened by them.

I think the tragedy in modern stories just follows the pattern set by old fairy tales. (I think someone should change that.)

[BrklynLiberal]

3. That 's right. Inf act, some of the older versions were a lot more

gruesome than the ones we are familiar with. Grimm's Fairy tales really were very grim. They are based on archetypal stories meant to teach lessons, and in most cases they were meant to be harsh stories. Not sure when they became "children's" stories.

[NYC]

5. I bought a large book of unedited, nicely illustrated

Grimms Brothers fairy tales as a gift for a friend whose child turned 3.

The child would cry, cover her ears and refuse to listen. That lavish book turned out to be a waste of money.

So, I read a few of the stories, and as an adult, I thought they were horrid.

Some of the frightening stories were used to frighten a child into submission. Have you heard of the Noon Day Witch? "If you don't behave, the Noon Day Witch will get you."

When I was a child, if we didn't behave we would be "sold to gypsies". As an adult, I wonder why a gypsy would pay good money to acquire a brat.

[JVS]

8. To eat the brats, just like they do in Wisconsin

[NYC]

11. Had I known that, I might have been frightened.

As things turned out, I never did get sold to the gypsies.

[JVS]

2. Because they need some meat to hold the plotline to coherence

othewise it's just gonna be two hours of "the happy sunshine shooting out of my ass show"

[Lautremont]

4. Dramatic events help drive a plot forward

in a compelling way. High stakes and heavy dramatic currency keep people engaged at whatever age.

[DrWeird]

6. I think kids can appreciate drama just as much as anybody.

If not more so.

When I was three I watched Han Solo get encased by carbonite. Jesus, now THAT was high drama.

[China_cat]

7. When do we wake up and

realize that 'protecting' our kids from all the realities of life is keeping them from learning coping skills that don't depend on pulling a gun?

Things like Bambi, and Old Yeller teach about the world as is. Finding Nemo addresses the 'lost child' and a parent's fight to find him. Kids can take that lesson for themselves if they should get lost.

And the old Grimm's fairy tales are wonderful object lessons. If you stay on the path and do what's right, bad things won't happen to you. My grandmother read them to me at bedtime.

For those who think these are awful and terrible and should be banned, which is worse? A fairy tale on a black on white page, where the evil is vanquished by the good and has to pay a price or Freddy Kreuger who keeps coming back in living bloody color and only his victims get to pay for anything?

[zbdent]

9. Sequels - Bambi 2: Under Fire

"They killed his mother. Now he's out for revenge."

With Robert DeNiro as Thumper . . .

[JVS]

10. When I heard that "My Girl 2" was coming out my first reaction...

was to say in an ominous preview voice "Thomas J's Revenge" I figured he was going to fuck up those bees who killed him

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. As a child I wasn't TOO bothered about tragedy in the "middle" of a plot

Like Bambi etc.

Now, tales like The Lead Soldier, The Little Mermaid, or The Little Match Seller (were those titles correct? I'm translating from Portuguese) are just depressing. I immediately decreed the author(s) of those to be jerks. Around age 6 or so.

Ditto for some Disney short about a whale. And another about a sailing cart in the Wild West. Why oh why?