The fundamental difference between Soviet and modern cartoons

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Cartoon is not only a product of the media environment, but also one of the art forms that has great educational potential. The child spends a lot of time in front of the TV: up to several hours a day. And if you consider that preschoolers are constantly studying the world, then such an amount of time spent in front of the screen cannot pass without a trace.

Let us compare the educational potential of cartoons of the Soviet period and modern (created after 1991) full-length domestic and foreign cartoons.

Filling Soviet cartoons

The overwhelming majority of Soviet cartoons were of a moralizing nature, this morality was often frankly displayed. Modern cartoons do not differ in strict morality.

As the criteria for evaluating Soviet cartoons, let us take the educational potential in the areas of education and the main tasks; directions and tasks can be supplemented - we will take only a few of them. To solve these problems, we will select the appropriate cartoons (see table).

In terms of content, Soviet cartoons correspond to the age of children, are simple and understandable, cartoon characters speak a good, beautiful language, their actions can be taken as an example or anti-example that children can understand. Thus, Soviet cartoons contribute to the most general educational tasks, which means that they can be actively used both in the educational program of a preschool educational institution and at home.

Filling modern cartoons

Modern cartoons are difficult to systematize according to the directions of education, therefore, we take the following assessment criteria: genre component, aesthetic component, vocabulary, examples of behavior, humor, etc.

Plots of modern cartoons often contain completely non-childish components: tantrums, blackmail, fights, death, murder, funerals, races, non-repayment of debts, criminal showdowns, drunken gatherings, revenge, police sieges, loss of mind, trial by a criminal, love-erotic component.

For example, in the cartoon "Shark Story" shows the death of a shark and the funeral ceremony: burial, funeral service, expression of condolences. Or in "Treasure Planet" there is a terrible murder in outer space. And in "Shrek3" the death of the king-toad is shown for a long time and in great detail. In "Madagascar" penguins seize the ship and take the captain hostage, loudly hitting him in the face. In the same place, the grandmother furiously beats the lion. The king in "Shrek2" hires a hitman to murder his daughter's chosen one. And what a scene in a pub with drunken heroes of fairy tales and a transvestite ("Shrek3")! In "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent" the whole plot is twisted on a gambling debt, almost everyone, from Baba Yaga to the ruler - Prince, plays gambling games for money. Pets from "Season of the Hunt-2" arrange a kind of dog torture. All these plot lines do not fit into the framework of the genre of children's cartoon in any way.

The aesthetic component of modern cartoons is also at a low level: the characters are often just plain ugly.

The same Shrek - can you really call him cute? And the scary monsters and cyborgs from Treasure Planet, and the scary green Ninja "mutated in the sewers"? The cartoon "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" can be attributed to the "horror cartoon" genre, for this there is a classic set of horror guidance (night as the main time of action, battles three thousand years ago, curses, immortality, living statues with red eyes, monsters, exits to other worlds, endless battles, chases, fights, robberies, murders, jumping from high-rise buildings, etc.).

Modern cartoons contain a low level of speech culture: rude, slang words that are inadmissible for a child's hearing.

Examples of rude vocabulary are present in many cartoons: "brat", "stupid", "this bush looks like a fat woman", "don't poke your dirty, green sausage at me!", "Ass kissing training", "fool", ("Shrek"), "throw poop at the lecturer" ("Madagascar") "get out of here!" ("Hunting season 2"). Slang vocabulary is also represented in many cartoons: "losers", "me khana", "trump", "*** o", "shizovoy place" ("Madagascar"), "fell in love" ("Cars"), "drop dead "(" Hunting season 2 ").

But besides this, in modern cartoons, often raised non-childish topics are manifested in such expressions: "we will tell each other about love affairs", "do you want to have her?", "High elastic ass", "we are sexy!", "I wear women's panties", "You are a loving car, give it a rest!" ("Shreks"), "lovers are having fun" ("Shark story"), "marriage ritual", "you have sex?" ("Hunting season 2"). And in the cartoon "Happy Feet" the sage of the penguin colony named Lovelace declares that "he is forced to retire to his bed for amorous pleasures." Sometimes there are outright mistakes: in “Alyosha Popovich” the word “theirs” is pronounced, and the hero himself writes with mistakes: “sabrat”. Children will use this vocabulary, considering it real, alive, "*** oops." It is this vocabulary that can form the basis of children's speech culture.

Educational aspect of animation

Through cartoons, the child learns patterns of behavior, methods of action, algorithms for achieving goals. Unfortunately, in modern cartoons, this method is often aggression.

According to numerous studies, children who watch mainly foreign cartoons have an increase in cruelty and aggressiveness. After watching a cartoon, children most often remember the main characters with certain characteristics. Therefore, it is the types of the main characters, their main and essential characteristics, which are extremely important for understanding: Shrek ("Shrek") - ill-mannered, rude; donkey ("Shrek") and zebra ("Madagascar") - annoying, obsessive, talkative; Alex the lion ("Madagascar") - narcissistic; Alyosha Popovich ("Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent") - cowardly, stupid; Fun ("Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent") - selfish, hysterical, not respecting the elders.

These heroes become “friends” of children (and in the form of toys as well), it is they who become guidelines for imitation and models of behavior. One of the favorite heroes of children, Shrek, repeatedly hysterically declares: “I don't care what people think of me. I will do what I want! " The prince from "Ilya-Muromets" constantly emphasizes his status: "I am a prince: I can do whatever I want," and also walks around the table, falls asleep with his face on a plate. And the young girl Zabava is capricious and lazy, rides around the neck of her own hunchbacked grandmother.

But for children, the main character of the cartoon is definitely a positive hero. This means that the child perceives him entirely and completely as "good", the child is not yet able to determine the entire complexity of the hero's nature, assessing what the hero does "good" and what is "bad". Therefore, the child takes everything that the beloved hero does for granted.

Modern cartoons are positioned as light, funny, humorous. But the humor presented in cartoons is often angry, rude, stupid, superficial and primitive, it does not reveal the inner comic of the situation.

For example, situations with infliction of pain are shown with humor: Shrek on a hill receives a blow below the belt ("Shrek"); the bird burst from singing so that the princess could take eggs from her nest for breakfast ("Shrek"); the bird was distracted and crashed into the wall ("Shrek3"). Humorously humiliating situations are played up: a kiss on the fifth point ("Shrek"); the prince, the emperor and other representatives of the government are constantly stepping in excrement, then in a bucket ("Ilya Muromets"); in Madagascar, a zebra gives a giraffe a rectal thermometer, which he first takes in his mouth, then spits in disgust. And all these situations are shown with a claim to humor.

Bad manners, incorrect behavior that violates all norms are presented as ridiculous: burping, farting (all "Shreks"); the donkey throws off the blanket from the naked Shrek and exclaims: “Oh! Would you buy yourself some pajamas! " ("Shrek2"); women's panties thrown to the lion by enthusiastic admirers ("Madagascar"). Thus, children learn that it is possible to laugh at pain, humiliation, bad manners and vulgarity.

Thus, modern cartoons have dubious educational potential, or even anti-educational potential, disorienting the child. Soviet cartoons are simpler and more understandable for children, it is easier for preschoolers to understand them, which develops the thinking of children. Modern cartoons are too complex, sometimes even an adult can find it difficult to understand them. Such difficulties do not develop the child's thinking, but lead to superficial thoughtless perception.

In Soviet cartoons, the correct, beautiful speech sounds, which conveys the gamut of feelings and emotions of the hero. In modern cartoons, the voices are the same, the level of speech culture is low, and speech is poor. Soviet cartoons contribute to speech development, and modern ones - to its lag.

Soviet cartoons are diverse, unique, each character has its own character, emotions, voice, author's music sounds in these cartoons. Modern ones remind the stamping of the genre: similar stories; similar heroes who speak with the same voices, laugh in the same way, jump, fall; similar sounds. In modern cartoons, there is a lot of aggression and irritation, and they are often created by positive heroes.

Children get positive emotions through cartoons, rejoice, empathize, cry. Preschoolers are very impressionable, and can not always distinguish "reality from the creations of the imagination." Therefore, children begin to trust the cartoon, accepting it as part of reality, to perceive the values and attitudes that it contains. Cartoons "play an important role in shaping perceptions and the world."

For children, art is a form of cognition and mastery of the world, it is an older friend who shows “what is good and what is bad”, what consequences and punishments can follow wrong actions, what positive results can follow right actions. A child learns through cartoons, learns a lot of new things: new phenomena, names, words, humorous situations.

Children socialize by learning how to behave from cartoon characters. Children initially learn by imitation. Therefore, highlighting their favorite cartoon characters, children begin to imitate them, behave like them, speak their language, apply the knowledge gained in the cartoon.

They begin to ask their parents for things depicting their favorite characters, and dedicate their first school essays to them. There is no doubt that for effective parenting, a child needs to be provided with good role models.

Cartoons are understandable for a preschooler, since they explain many processes to the child in an accessible form, introduce them to the world, and satisfy cognitive and emotional needs. Cartoon is the most effective educator from the art and media environment, since it combines word and picture, that is, it includes two organs of perception: sight and hearing at the same time.

Therefore, the cartoon has a powerful educational potential and is one of the authoritative and effective visual material.

But since often modern teachers and parents do not take cartoons seriously enough, underestimating their influence on the child, a situation arises when the child looks at everything. But a cartoon can contribute to the formation of a child's personality, and can, on the contrary, hinder. If the cartoon contains anti-upbringing potential or is not adequate for the child's age, then the influence of the cartoon will still be there, and it may not lead to the intended results at all. The negative influence of the media on children who do not yet know how to be critical of the phenomena of the outside world can be dangerous. In order to neutralize negative influences or not to allow them at all, and to strengthen positive influences, it is necessary to introduce cartoons into the factor of “targeted educators”.

To do this, it is necessary to assess the educational potential of cartoons and use them purposefully, introducing cartoons as an additional means of forming any qualities in the programs of children's institutions, as well as give recommendations to parents for home schooling. And also to reveal the negative potential so that the parents protect the child from him or learn to work with him, revealing the essence of this negative. If cartoons are not transferred to the category of purposeful and controlled educators, then they will affect the child in a chaotic and negative way.

Cartoons contain educational potential that promotes or hinders the cognitive, aesthetic, emotional-figurative development of preschoolers and younger students. This applies to all cartoons.

Most Soviet cartoons contain educational potential that can be purposefully used for training and education, modern cartoons most often contain destructive anticultural potential that does not satisfy the solution of educational problems, especially moral, labor and aesthetic education.