Are you sure this was a show for children?

[Piccolo Daimao]

Can I just say that Piccolo Daimao's and DanielGClapp's responses should *not* be viewed as the general attitude that the rest of the community abides by? That was really out-of-line, folks -- we shouldn't expect everyone to have read every single thread ever and already know everything you think you already know.

I wasn't just talking about the earlier threads. I mean in general. I just thought that most fans would've known already that DB was aimed at young Japanese boys. But now I can see that my argument didn't apply to Monki D, who questioned why Japan had these standards.

But maybe we should question our (as in, Western) standards too. Well, I know we kinda have already.

[Monki D]

I appreciate all the response because they do give me insight; I guess it is true that we are use to western standards and that different cultures have different views to what is acceptable to children. But to say children can't imitate things they see in Dragon Ball Z is not exactly true; Sure you can't blow up planets and use Ki blast to blow holes through people, but you certainly can snap someone's neck with a twist or a knee to the neck. Though it true that it is a small minority that does that.

But comparing old cartoons from US to Dragon Ball Z isn't exactly the best correlation; Because mostly old western cartoons were littered with racist, war related and offensive depictions but they didn't have the same kind of violence; but then again different cultures have different views.

[StarRot]

Kids love violence.

Yep.

Honestly … I think Dragonball is rather tame, violence wise.

The majority of kids aren’t frail little flowers. They can handle violence and "dark" themes pretty well.

I give you this example: Watership Down. It’s an animated film and in most countries it was rated U or PG.
What does it contain? An incredible amount of violence. Strangulation. Suffocation. Killing. Plently of dark scenes.
And yet it’s a well loved film. Yes, of course some children got upset over it, but on the whole? Most children love it.

[Fin]

But maybe we should question our (as in, Western) standards too. Well, I know we kinda have already.

In my experience, most people have a difficult time objectifying their own standards that way. When people see someone normalise things that seem weird or immoral to them, the kneejerk reaction seems to be to question how somebody could go so astray, rather than to question how arbitrary most of our rules are.

[TripleRach]

Kids love violence. Or at least many of them do. It's surprising how many people forget this.

Very true. I think older people have a somewhat overly rosy idea of what children are like.

Yeah, kids are totally violent and potty-mouthed when there are no adults around. You can try to shield them from stuff on TV, but they'll still pick it up from other kids.

But violence in stories aimed at kids is nothing new. It's been around for centuries. Not just the old gory fairy tales or nursery rhymes, but a lot of books that were once considered okay for kids are now considered controversial. I think the whole "shield the children from everything" is a relatively recent phenomenon. Probably because of the emergence of radio and television to put everything out in the open, as well as social developments that had more kids in school instead of out working hard labor.

[MCDaveG]

I appreciate all the response because they do give me insight; I guess it is true that we are use to western standards and that different cultures have different views to what is acceptable to children. But to say children can't imitate things they see in Dragon Ball Z is not exactly true; Sure you can't blow up planets and use Ki blast to blow holes through people, but you certainly can snap someone's neck with a twist or a knee to the neck. Though it true that it is a small minority that does that.

But comparing old cartoons from US to Dragon Ball Z isn't exactly the best correlation; Because mostly old western cartoons were littered with racist, war related and offensive depictions but they didn't have the same kind of violence; but then again different cultures have different views.

Well, I remember how we were imitating the climax battle from Aliens when one of us was the Alien queen and the other was the cargo loader.
No one ended corroded by acid, had broken limbs or been sucked to vacuum.
Well, we also did some Bruce Lee fights and never been hurt. Yeah, I was coming home with lot of bruises from falling off the jungle gyms, falling of in general and lot of things.
But that's what childhood features

I don't really much see the point of imitating kids. Most of those news like ''Kids jumping of the balcony thinking they are Pokémon'' was a f**king HOAX.
News like this are mostly about parents and people blaming something else, as this is in human nature.
About that Pokémon. As a parent, will you leave your little kids stories high playing on the balcoon in the first place?
Kids are undeveloped little humans with little insight to some things (aka idiots), you must check them out.
Also you can't leave kid under the age of 15 alone at home (in CZ) and if fatal injury happens, you go to jail.
Well, I can imagine not wanting the jail. My kid will set himself on fire when I will watch some s**t on PC locked in bedroom, die and I'll say to the police: ''He thought he was f**king Charizard!''

[jjgp1112]

Yeah, when I was a kid, the violence was part of what drew to me to DBZ in general. I was (and still am) a huge wrestling fan, too, and the bloodier and more extreme matches were, the better. Kids love violence, and are generally smart enough to know not to do what they see as long as the adults in their lives do their jobs.

[caejones]

For an in-universe example, let's look at our three generations of kids (that get development, anyway... Z Pan appears to be a blend of all three that came before).

Goku: Had absolutely no social contact outside of one old guy for twelve years. He managed to be completely ok with violence (Or rather, obsessed with it...), but totally understands when hurting people is bad. At least until he cheats death and becomes strongest in the universe so many times that he just doesn't give a crap... *cough*

Gohan: Definitely comes across as a pacifist. I'll point to ChiChi for this. His exposure to violence comes in the form of watching people die in gruesome ways. He grows to really dislike it.

Goten: He's introduced to stories, and ChiChi is much less obsessive with him. So Goten is a good model for the current generation. How goes his unhealthy immitation of what he learns from entertainment? He goofs around with Buu. Is he too violent? No, he's too freakin' dramatic.