Tom and Jerry

This morning I watched the cartoon Tom and Jerry for the first time in years. I was shocked; the amount of violence was stunning. Some examples: Tom, the cat, turned plank-like and bounced head-first down a set of stairs. Jerry's head caught in a drainpipe and became stuck there. Tom blew a blowhorn directly into Jerry's ears, shaking the mouse into four different versions of himself. Jerry threw a set of knives directly at Tom, who narrowly ducked and tumbled out of the trajectory. Tom smashed the mouse (hard) against a wall with a cherry pie. How could we ever have shown this to our kids when the extent of violence in today's cartoons include little more than simple character flattening, face slapping, and tree-slamming?

But. But but but! "Tom and Jerry" includes a suspension of disbelief that doesn't exist in many of today's cartoons. Jerry imagined those knives before snatching them out of his thought balloon to throw them. Tom rode a flying broom before slamming into a tree. Tom arose from his planklike state and walked away. Thrown pies had only the effect of momentarily staining the victim red (or white, or blue).

And everything turned out ok in the end. Tom and Jerry engage in friendly competition and in the end they're still friends. Jerry's back in his home and Tom's owners come home and he's a quiet domestic cat once again.

Also, Tom and Jerry includes precious little speech; some episodes include none. This requires such an attention to the show that it doesn't allow for multitasking (just trust me here).

This requires more research on the level and type of cartoons we do show our children. I volunteer myself and will report on my findings.