Television will do significantly less harm to the older child who knows it is often not realistic or about reality, who has acquired some moral principles, and who understands the formulas used on television series, especially the happy endings no matter how credibility must be violated. But television violence probably affects even the committed adult pacifist who watches a great deal of television. In any case, many children who watch several hours of TV daily are more passive than the norm, suggesting that TV reduces their aggression. It seems obvious that either response is bad. Levy and Nodelman, by way of contrast, watch TV with their children and talk with them about their viewing, helping them to see how the medium works.
TV shows . . .
I have less tolerance for TV than they do, but I would, like Nodelman, argue for the teaching of fairytales, even though I am often offended by their values. They see violence as a destructive expression of drives and feelings universal in the unconscious mind. They speak of the inevitable frustration of the individual, of the inevitability of conflict between individuals, of the child's difficulty repressing a hostile verbal or physical response to frustration and conflict, and of her or his need to release this hostility. To act on these desires, children must be taught, is wrong. But to think, feel, or fantasize about them is not.