12-year-old boy sets himself on fire just like the cartoon on TV did
- A boy set himself on fire just like the cartoon on TV did
- The boy succumbed to his injuries
- Research says that cartoons and children movies more than adult films propagate and instigate violence
- Parents should not allow their children to watch cartoons unsupervised
FollowA 12-year-old boy allegedly set himself afire after watching a cartoon film on television and later succumbed to his burns. The impressionable power of television, movies, cartoons cannot be forgotten. Like movies, even cartoons should be viewed unsupervised
The Balapur police in Hyderabad received information on June 1 that Jayadeep Madugula was found in flames at around 10 am on the terrace of his grandparents' residence on the city outskirts. He was immediately shifted to a private hospital where he was given first aid. Later the boy was admitted to Osmania General Hospital where he died on June 3 while undergoing treatment, sub-inspector Vishnuvardhan Reddy said.
"The boy's grandfather says that the deceased shouted that he (the boy) is also burning like a character in the cartoon film. But we are not sure if the boy committed the act to imitate any cartoon character," Reddy told PTI. "We also don't see any reason at this point as to why he took this step," Reddy said.
A boy who should have been in Class VII considering his age, does sound big enough to understand that what happens in cartoons is not the real life. But we can never be too sure. This incident calls to mind the time when Shaktimaan was really popular with the kids. The maroon caped crusader was so popular with the children that they started jumping off balconies and high-rises hoping that their dear hero would come swooping in to catch them. We all know how those flights of fancy ended.
Back in 2014 a research found that falling out of windows or high places is quite common in children's animated films. Cartoon characters often witness violent and destructive deaths, something which could be traumatic for the young viewers.
Parents actually have no idea how scary a cartoon or an animated film can be. They are no longer just harmless viewing fare.
This phenomenon of cartoons leading children to their deaths is not limited to India alone. In 2016 April, a report was filed in Japan, Osaka of the death of a 6-year-old girl who plunged to her death from her family penthouse in a 43-floor condominium after watching an anime movie which told the story of children who could fly.
It has been stressed time and again that parents should provide selected viewing of cartoons   in order that it may have a positive impact on them. One could also discuss with kids what they learnt out of it and answer their curiousity so that they do not have half-baked notions of a fairy or a prince or a superhero coming to protect them were they in trouble. Â
Tom and Jerry cartoons, Loony Tunes, etc may seem harmless to us now, but have you thought of the subtle lessons they are preaching. Tom and Jerry are forever fighting  and using not just hands and feet but dangerous things like fire, knives, heavy metal, iron rods, etc. Children do not understand that cartoons don’t get hurt or bleed. There were reports how children got into the washing machine like their favourite cartoon to enjoy a wash and then they died a bloody death.
In China, recently in April a seven-year-old boy survived a horrible accident after intimating a cartoon character and leaping out from a 10th-storey window with an umbrella. He thought his ‘umbrella parachute’ would save him.
There are enough and more instances to prove how cartoons can impact your children negatively, so dear parents, always make it an effort to know what your child is watching.
