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War play is play with a toy that initiates violence or play that involves the imitation of war. War play can involve: (1) the use of toys based on television cartoon shows to imitate the action in the cartoons; (2) play with replicas of war paraphernalia or manipulatives shaped into guns; and (3) dramatic play. The negative effects on children that result from the first two types of war play include a lack of creativity and dramatic play, limited ability to work through anxiety, use of negative verbalizations, and increases in undesirable play in the classroom. Positive effects include an enhancement of children's ability to feel control. Negative effects of dramatic war play include increased aggressive behavior and negative verbalizations. Positive effects include enhancement of creativity and imagination. In dealing with children's war play, teachers and parents may ban war play entirely, adopt a laissez-faire attitude, allow war play within limits, or actively facilitate war play. Researchers have offered suggestions to parents for counteracting the negative influences of war play. Governments in several Scandinavian countries have attempted to reduce the sale of war toys. Appended materials include a list of organizations involved in maintaining public awareness of issues concerning war play and a 21-item reference list. (BC)

Describes a project at the University of Kent to build a thesaurus based on existing subject terms for a collection of cartoon drawings and then to convert the existing cataloging system to new thesaurus terms for an online catalog. A graphical thesaurus editor is described, and future work is discussed. (Author/LRW)

Presents a case study of a six-year-old Finnish girl who learned a foreign language by watching English language cartoons on video, without formal teaching or contact with native speakers. Topics addressed include television versus video; sentence structure; rate of speech; repetition; and learning by viewing versus naturalistic language learning. (26 references) (LRW)

The amount of violence and inappropriate information that children receive through television and other media is a matter of concern. This paper reviews the values of fantasy play and compares those values with the effects of television viewing on New Zealand children. Both obvious and subtle messages that children receive from television are discussed, with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles used to illustrate the effect that television can have on young viewers. Issues such as male and female roles, cultural diversity, and aggression are considered, as is the effect of child-oriented marketing of products. It is suggested that television can be used positively at home, in the classroom, and in society. Twenty-two "Hints for Living Happily with Television" are appended. Also appended are descriptions of two activities that parents can use to help their children develop critical and discriminating television viewing habits. Contains 13 references. (LB)

Traces the history of "Tintin," a young journalist created by Georges Remi ("Herge"), whose adventures recorded in strip cartoons took him around the world. (FL)

A British 12-year-old boy died while imitating the heroic leaps of the cartoon character Batman. Tragic incidents stemming from cartoon imitation such as this one occur with alarming frequency. Still, many people choose to ignore violence in children's cartoons. Even some experts don't recognize that cartoons may be harmful. Researcher Wilbur Schramm, for example, says "not all (children's) violence is intended to be taken seriously; the cartoons...are intended to be funny rather than exciting." However, evidence from many other research studies indicates that although cartoons may be intended to be humorous, they mask a potential danger and cause aggression in children. To minimize the effect of the violence in cartoons on children, cartoons must be produced with knowledge of their impact. For example, cartoons should not make use of household tools like knives or other kitchen appliances, nor should they depict actions a child might imitate without a full working knowledge of the consequences. (MP)

A theory explaining the essential nature of comedy is explored in this paper. The first part of the paper posits the theory that comedy is a relatively harmless divergence from an expected norm or outcome, and discusses the following elements of the theory: (1) the divergence from reality, (2) the notion of expectation that includes the entire view of reality, (3) the expected outcome or norm in which is embedded the "expecter's" view of reality, and (4) the relative harmlessness of the divergence, a harmlessness that may make the difference between comedy and tragedy. Examples illustrating each of these elements--selected from familiar comedic areas such as silent film comedy, the Marx brothers, and "Roadrunner" cartoons--are included. The second part of the paper tests this divergence theory and uses it as a structure for comparison of British and American broadcast comedy. The discussion of British comedy divides comedic data into the following categories: appearance versus reality, understatement, historical/mythological themes, and puns and double entendres. Examples taken from two radio programs that were popular in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s are included to illustrate these categories. The discussion of American broadcast comedy examines historical themes, puns and double entendres, and appearance versus reality. Illustrative examples from "Saturday Night Live" and "The Tonight Show" television programs are included. (Author/HTH)

Television is robbing children of their childhood. Moreover, it is destroying children's developing symbolic processes, and inhibiting their creativity and play. Television has remarkable influence over children's behavior. At this point, it is plausible to hypothesize linkages between television viewing and numerous social problems involving children and youth. Research suggests that movie and television violence increases racism, militarism, opposition to free political speech, opposition to foreign aid, and support for authoritarian rather than democratic forms of government. Research additionally shows that viewing cartoon violence increases aggression in children, increases verbal hostility, reduces sharing behavior, increases aggressive language, increases anger and intensity of violent responses, decreases enthusiasm for school, produces and increases anxiety, causes violence on the playground, maintains long-term aggression, produces false understandings of social realities, reduces charitable behavior toward others, increases negative play interactions, and reduces imaginative play. Numerous studies document harmful effects of playing with war toys. In 1985, war toys comprised 7 of the 10 top selling toy lines in America. Each of the seven lines were promoted by war cartoons. Eight new war cartoons are scheduled for introduction in 1986. Some efforts to counter these conditions have been effective. Additional efforts must educate parents about the consequences of their own viewing behavior and about the crucial importance of play for children's healthy development. (RH)

Describes cartoonist Jim Berry and his work. (MM)