Violence in Tom and Jerry

The violence in “Tom and Jerry” is in my opinion not shocking and I find it interesting to watch. Violence is what makes up “Tom and Jerry”, this is mild violence and it is important to note that there is no verbal communication. Music has replaced this and runs fluently through the cartoon. I think this reduces the amount of violence because the viewers have to make up their own idea of what Tom or Jerry are thinking. At the end of “Tom and Jerry” there is often a moral involved in the story, this makes the violence less serious and often at the end Tom and Jerry become friends. The violence is more typical because you can often predict what is going to happen next, this involves the viewer a lot more. The violence is not likely to influence a young child as it is very unrealistic and Tom and Jerry are always fine after they have just been badly hurt.

If we compare the violence in “Tom and Jerry” and with “The Simpsons”, “The Simpsons” appear to be a considerable amount more violent than “Tom and Jerry”. “Tom and Jerry” has much more typical cartoon violence in it, for example, in one episode Tom is holding a bomb and plans to throw it at Jerry and Jerry catches it and throws it back Tom’s way. “Tom and Jerry” is less realistic than “The Simpsons”. And example of this is a mouse being physically able to beat up a cat. “The Simpsons” on the other hand has a much more realistic approach to the cartoon, for example, stereotyping is used for the typical American, woman, boy etc. I think “Tom and Jerry” is aimed for a younger audience because of the sound effects and more typical cartoon violence while “The Simpsons” is aimed for a greater age group. “The Simpsons” has more verbal communication therefore giving a greater range of understanding. “Tom and Jerry” is open to much more interpretation of what goes on.

Overall I think “Tom and Jerry” has milder violence and has less influential qualities. Although some scenes are violent this is redeemed by the music that often includes an authentic sound that links back to the violence that has just been produced. I enjoy “Tom and Jerry” and feel the violence is more often funny than shocking and I am not surprised that it is one of the most popular cartoons to date as it is so original and every show is unique and has a different moral to the story.