Tom And Jerry Projecting Violence in Slapstick Comedy: A qualitative content analysis

Abstract

Tom and Jerry has already celebrated its Platinum Jubilee as it was produced firstly in 1940 and bit by bit Tom and Jerry has been dominating the watch-lists of the cartoon lovers from all over the world by retaining itself as one of the most popular cartoons of all time. But it is not only the never-ending rivalry between the cat and the mouse with the slapstick comedy that helps the cartoon to be as one of the talked of the topics in the entertainment and media industry, it has created some controversies regarding its contents; and violence is one those that has made the scholars and critics talk about it and its possible impacts on the audience. Apart from lamenting for the impacts of violence on the juveniles’ mind, this study rather focuses on how Tom and Jerry projects violence alongside with the slapstick comic elements in the name of entertainment since it is significant to discern what violence is and then categorize them into different type as different categories of violence may have impact on the audience in different ways. By defining the term violence, this study shows how Tom and Jerry displays the actions which can be the ribs and stretchers of the umbrella known as violence. Whereas most of the scholars concentrate on the outcome of showing violence among the different programs in media, this study categorizes the actions performed by the characters in the cartoon into different categories through a qualitative content analysis method and defines those actions according to the definitions of violence.