THE trials and triumphs of Bambi, the orphaned deer, could help children to overcome traumas.
Walt Disney’s animated films may provide a powerful tool for helping children to cope with bereavement and the distress caused by family breakdown, research shows.
Although none of the Disney films made since the first feature-length animated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 contains a functional two-parent family, they all provide inspirational images of children overcoming adversity, according to Virginia Moore Tomlinson, Associate Professor of Sociology at Westminster College, Pennsylvania.
She believes that the major issues that run through the Disney films are the same as those faced by children placed in local authority care or traumatised by death or divorce. These include loss, rejection, guilt, grief and identity.
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One of the striking features of family life as depicted in the Disney films was that it had remained fairly constant over the past 60 years, despite the upheavals that had occurred in society in that time.
A detailed analysis of Pinocchio (1940), Bambi (1942), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) found that only two of the films made reference to two-parent families — Bambi and The Lion King — and even then one parent is killed in each film.
This showed children that it was possible to find support from other sources, most notably from friendships, Professor Tomlinson said.