Rated V: Where Are the Vegan-Friendly Kid’s Movies?

By Published On: 5 March 2014Last Updated: 17 January 2017

Kids get bombarded with messages about the place of animals in our culture, and we need to consider what they see and how they see it, on and off the screen.

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I’ve recently started watching kid’s programming through fresh eyes, like our toddler who is literally seeing it for the first time. Maybe it’s mommy brain on overdrive, or maybe I’m onto something: Even the most benign kids’ shows propagate speciesism.

Many cartoons create anthropomorphized animal kid characters who teach great values and tend community gardens, but they also go to the zoo sometimes and keep class pets in cages.

Our little guy probably doesn’t understand plot arc or irony yet, either, so we have to be mindful of the implicit messages he’s getting. For example, a cartoon with talking dinosaurs educates about different eras, but they always catch and eat fish. While this is correct to the nature of those dinosaurs, I don’t want my son seeing fish as food only, or as the objects of fishing.

This brings me to two recommendations of readily available and well-known “Rated V” movies: Finding Nemo
and Up.

Finding Nemo MovieMy son saw Nemo before he got many messages about fish, so he saw fish as main characters with their own interests. The fish save the lives of other fish, and there are fishes of all ages, shapes, sizes and even abilities, too, who cooperate with all kinds of animals.
Up MovieUp, which my son calls “Kevin” after the bird character, shows animals in a comedic, yet respectful, light. The dogs who originally fight for the bad guy become loyal to our protagonists. The boy protagonist states his proud duty to help Kevin get back to her babies safely, a duty held higher than the humans’ interests.

In Despicable Me 1 & 2 the villains use captive sharks for terrible purposes. In Monsters University, there’s a frat prank involving the chasing of a frightened pig, but only the humor is foregrounded. Even the Shrek characters (who I love) cage and eat creatures in their ogre-ish ways.

Kids get bombarded with messages about the place of animals in our culture, and we need to consider what they see and how they see it, on and off the screen.

What quality programming is out there for veg kids? Let me know!

5 Comments

  1. Brad Dixon April 15, 2017 at 5:02 am - Reply

    Wall E has a very powerful plant powered environmental message. Brilliant.

  2. Rebecca September 7, 2016 at 12:29 pm - Reply

    Chicken Run was an excellent movie.

  3. Bp January 9, 2016 at 12:37 pm - Reply

    I was wondering the same thing. Are there any vegetarian or vegan cartoons out there?

    • Jinine Davis January 16, 2016 at 7:32 pm - Reply

      I don’t know of any, but I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. The protagonist is a young vegetarian monk who tries to save lives even while fighting a war. Its very funny and keeps a child’s attention easily. Other characters do eat meat though.

  4. Daria Zeoli March 6, 2014 at 6:01 pm - Reply

    I have no kids of my own, nor any in my social circle, so unfortunately, I can’t be of much help to answer this question. It always amazes me how ingrained into every facet of life our speciesism has become. Looks like you’re going to have lots of teachable moments by way of television and film!

    I would be interested to hear from anyone who saw the recent kid movie Free Birds, as it got a lot of publicity in the vegan world.

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HELLO! I'm KD Angle-Traegner.

Writer, activist, and founder of Four Urban Paws Sanctuary. I’m on a mission to help people live a vegan life. Read more about KD…

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