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Justice League? Depictions Of Justice In Children’S Superhero Cartoons, Lisa A. Kort-Butler
Justice League? Depictions Of Justice In Children’S Superhero Cartoons, Lisa A. Kort-Butler
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
The literature argues that media depictions of criminal justice present messages that conform to and promote the dominant ideology about the crime problem and how to solve it. Research has focused on television news and adult programs, but little research has examined messages about justice present in children’s shows. To fill this gap, an ethnographic content analysis of children’s cartoons was conducted, using a sample of episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man, and Justice League Unlimited. Several themes emerged. First, the justice system is often depicted as ill equipped to handle serious crime. Second, story lines suggested that the …