"We conclude that children's animated films, rather than being innocuous alternatives to the gore and carnage typical of American films, are in fact hotbeds of murder and mayhem," the study reads.
The study published Tuesday is based on the analysis of 45 children's animated films released from 1937 to 2013, from Snow White to Frozen. Those cartoons were compared to horror movies such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and What Lies Beneath (2000), and thrillers including Pulp Fiction (1994) by Quentin Tarantino and the Departed (2006) by Martin Scorsese.
In most of the cartoons the death of the main characters and their parents was not accidental, but caused by varying acts of violence, including being mauled by animals, falls and murders.
The report stressed that media has become "pervasive" in modern world and is shaping children's understanding of mortality and their attitude to death.
"Recent evidence suggests that media exposure to real life traumas (such as terrorist attacks) can trigger symptoms of post-traumatic stress among children," the study reads.
The report suggests that parents should carefully discuss the topic of mortality with their children in order not to leave them unprepared to deal with the subject on and off screen.
