Julia Ormond Laments Cartoon Violence

INF

In the horror film Surveillance, Julia Ormond admittedly pushes the envelope — both in terms of subject matter, as well as in terms of her performance, a stark departure from the roles which made her famous. The film puts a humorous spin on violence; It is an approach bound to raise eyebrows, but one which Julia says is actually beneficial, for it makes viewers take stock of what they’re witnessing. “At the end of the day, when you step back, there is an extraordinary amount of violence in our consciousness that we just ignore,” the 44-year-old actress says.

“Look at kids’ movies. I have a five-year-old daughter and I look at a lot of them with her. Check out the number of cartoon animals that use force to get their point across rather than words. It’s penguins slapping each other, a cat throwing a mouse across the room — after a while you wonder how much of an impact it has on children.”

Still, the violence depicted on television and in movies is a far cry from the violence which befalls millions of children on a daily basis. Regarding her efforts with the United Nations to end human trafficking, Julia notes, “I’ve seen the results of some pretty horrific real-life violence.”

“And you do all you can, but you have to walk away from kids who are suffering. I’d take them all home with me if I could.”

Julia has been married to husband Jon Rubin since 1999; The couple have one child, 5-year-old Sophie.

Source: Parade

– Missy

Comments

Mary-Helen on July 5th, 2009

Are cartoons anymore violent than they were when we were kids? We had Elmer Fudd trying to shoot Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, the coyote trying to blow up the Roadrunner, etc. If anything, they are far tamer today, except for Dreamworks which are frought with sexual innuendo.

Sarah M. on July 5th, 2009

Mary-Helen – I do agree that Dreamworks does use sexual innuendo. But, it is typically so settle that the child doesn’t even realize it. We do, as adults, but the kids usually don’t.

I don’t think that, on the whole, they are more violent than when we were younger. But I have seen quite a few cartoons lately that use more course language. Stuff that parents don’t generally want their children repeating. (Not awful, awful curse words, but stuff that doesn’t sound very nice, really. That kid’s often get in trouble for.)

Cece on July 5th, 2009

Even if not violent, cartoons move at such a fast pace it doesn’t allow children a moment to absorb what is happening (such as Sponge Bob).

Julia does not look the same in that picture – she’s still pretty but something looks different…..

ecl on July 6th, 2009

Does it matter if they are more or less violent now? They were violent then and they are violent now – the point still stands. And are you saying that adults now are so peaceful and good at resolving problems with words? People are very aggressively angry. These cartoons send the wrong message.