Marvel Avengers Assemble- Too Violent for Kids!

The Cartoon, Avengers

This morning I accidentally turned on the Marvel Avengers Assemble.  My son has a cough and he wanted to rest and watch television so I was channel surfing on demand.  I sat with him and drank my coffee and watched this show with him.  I was actually surprised how violent it was for a cartoon. My son was mesmerized, though, so I couldn't fairly turn it off mid-show.   At my son's preschool the children are really into super heroes right now, which children have for several generations.  I don't have a problem with super heroes, what I have a problem is the violence.

Given that I've taught for years, I do believe that children get desensitized to violence.  It is everywhere these days, on television, in the movies, in computer games.  

The Movie, Avengers:

I think that popular big screen movies have an affect on what cartoons are popular.  The success of the Avengers movie this summer, has created a passion for everything superheroes and Avengers in the preschool set.  What I have a problem with the movie, Avengers, is that it is way to violent for a preschooler to process.  What was once the minimum standard for "R" rated violence, has now become the norm for PG-13 films, even by Disney.

Many people I know took their children to see the Avengers movie.  The movie was entertaining for adults and children, from what I've heard.  Plus, families see it as an activity to do together, even when children are different ages.  Yet, there are some parts of the movie that I can't agree are correct for children.  One example, is halfway through the Avengers movie, the villain, Loki, uses a very British slang word, "mewling quim" to describe the black widow.  This is equivalent to the "c-word" in the US. When looking in Wikipedia, it is listed as meaning, "vagina."  Plus, the version in Great Britain was actually changed because of their standards.

When an increase in bullying in school is gaining national attention, I believe we need to look in our homes to see what we are exposing our children to!