Analyzing Death and Grief in Children's Films

Grief models have been created to offer ideas in the normalcy of emotion associated with loss. As grief can be a confusing and difficult topic for people of all ages, adults may find issues in properly explaining death and grief processes to children. If an adult chooses to avoid discussions about these inevitable topics, children might seek alternative sources to acquire information about what happens when loss occurs. This study used three previously created grief models to find common themes related to grief in twenty films created for children and adolescent audiences. A qualitative analysis of the content of these films, in conjunction with the grief models used, found that while select scenes and behaviors displayed in certain movies could offer appropriate information about death and grief, no one movie was consistent with the all stages of the three grief models. Therefore, films should not be used as a sole alternative to discussions of death and grief with children and adolescents who are in need of information, but rather, should be used as a tool to assist with the educating of these topics