Cartoon maker ordered to pay compensation after boys injured
The makers of popular Chinese cartoon pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, have been held legally responsible for an incident that left 2 children injured, after another boy imitated a scene from the show. The case is shedding renewed light on the debate about cartoon violence and how responsible parents and companies that make them are.
Turns out, this cartoon is not pleasant for all.
Two schoolboys, who are also brothers, were seriously burned after another boy acted out a shocking attack he had seen on an episode of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.
One of the brothers suffered burns to 80% of his body, the other was less seriously injured with burns covering 40%.
The father of the two injured children sued the show’s producer, Guangzhou’s creative power Entertaining company, and the parents of the child who set the fire.
The cartoon maker has been forced to pay 39-thousand yuan to the victims’ family.
“Violent scenes were shown in the production and distribution of the cartoon Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, negatively impacting the behaviour of the under-age victims. The production company hasn’t fulfilled its obligation, and is jointly responsible for the incident.” Jiangsu province Higher People’s court judge said.
The cartoon is aimed at children, so producers are obliged to scrutinize the violence in it carefully, said the court, adding that inappropriate scenes should be cut and warnings given.
Many cartoon production companies have started revising inappropriate content in their shows. Main changes involve revising the script, deleting violent scenes and putting parental advisory warnings.
China has become the biggest cartoon producer, making over 200,000 minutes of animation per year. Driven by profit, some animation companies ignore the negative effects of violence and lewd content, in order to boost ratings.
Chinese authorities are drafting "Standards for domestic cartoons", to regulate the content of animation. The standards will be released this month.
