Lilo & Stitch

Lilo & Stitch

By: Stephanie O'Neill, Corin Harden & Emma Skultety 

Abstract: In this blog post, we analyze various parts of the animated Disney Movie, Lilo and Stitch, including the complex messages, developmental differences in fear, and finally the violence in the movie, and how these messages effect children. 

Understanding of Complex Messages

Lilo and Stitch is rated PG, meaning that parental guidance is needed for younger children in order to watch and understand. Besides the violence and possible fear reactions, for younger children, they may have a hard time understanding the complex messages intertwined throughout the movie. During the early stages of development, kids go through shifts in their cognitive processing, one being  centration to decentration (Strasburger et. al, 2014, 22). During the centration stage, kids only focus on one striking feature, compared to the decentration stage where they focus on the bigger picture (Strasburger et. al, 2014, 22). In the movie, Lilo’s sister Nani takes care of her because their parents passed away in a car accident. As demonstrated in this scene, Lilo is getting taken by their social worker because he doesn’t see Nani as fit to take care of her.

    

A younger preschooler may be able to recognize simple emotions, such as Lilo being sad or that  Nani is angry. However, at this stage of development, a child would not be able to understand the complex circumstances behind this scene and that takes place throughout the whole movie. A solution to this issue may be to actively watch the movie with your young child and ask them questions contingent on their response (Strasburger et. al, 2014, 492).

Developmental Differences in Fear Reactions at Different Ages

Lilo and Stitch is marketed as a family movie for people of all ages, even though there are some parts that will frighten young children. The movie opens on planet Turo, an alien planet. Dr. Jumbo is being put on trial for creating 626, and illegal alien experiment. The first time the viewers see Stitch, he is scary. He is contained in a tube like a wild animal. He is blue, has big eyes, two antennae, and six legs. He looks like a monster which is what 2-7 year olds are most scared of. Stitch is not the only scary looking creature. Since they are on an alien planet, there are many characters that may frighten children. Dr. Jumbo has four eyes and is purple. The camera pans the audience and no one looks human. Children cannot yet tell the difference between what is real versus what is fantasy (Strasburger et. al, 2014, 22). Young children will also pay closer attention to the way characters look as well as the ominous music and colors. Stitch does become good but children may overlook his story for his scary appearance.

7-12 year olds tend to be scared of more realistic things. Towards the middle of the movie, Nani and Lilo and Stitch are surfing when Lilo gets dragged down by Dr. Jumbo and Stitch. This is an even that could potentially happen that could make children that age fear the water. Studies have shown that children older than 13 are more scared of alien threats. Since this movie deals with aliens, it could enforce that idea with children making them more frightened.

Violence/Aggression:

Although a children’s movie, Lilo & Stitch actually contains a few violent scenes containing weapons. For example, the villains featured Captain Gantu, who continuously tries to hold Stitch hostage by using violent forces, such as a laser gun, to hurt and capture him. Although this is a small part in the movie, many younger children watched this movie. When it comes to guns and media, I am concerned about the priming effect, where just the sight of a firearm can prime aggressive thoughts or feelings and trigger aggressive behaviors depending on their cognitive state at the time (Strasburger, Wilson, and Jordan, 2014, 153).  It should be noted that, in most children’s programming and media, the gun never actually hits anyone, it is used more as a threat. This is because violence in children’s media is usually sanitized and trivialized, meaning they aren’t shown as lethal and show no real physical harm (Strasburger et. al, 2014, 137).  This may be easier for younger children to handle the violence because it is in a smaller dosage.

Another scene in particular that has negative and aggressive violence is the scene where Lilo gets into a fight with one of her classmates. Although this scene was less than a minute, it could teach children scripts on how to handle someone who is being mean to them. Strasburger et al. (2014) state that scripts “typically includes information about what events are likely to happen, how a person should behave in response to these events” (154). There are also scenes where Lilo and her sister Nani get into physical altercations. Viewing these aggressive scenes can be problematic because it can allow for children to think that you can solve situations with anger and physical force.

Strasburger, V. C., Wilson, B. J., & Jordan, A. B. (2014). Children, adolescents, and the media. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.