Why Radio Drama Is More Intense for Adults Than Children

I recently remarked how much of the adult world goes over children's heads. Parents fret over adult themes, but children are oblivious to them in ordinary doses, even into tween and teen years. They don't understand the images well enough to associate them with taboo subjects and double entendre.[1]

Why is radio drama more intense for adults than children?

Because we supply our own images. It's one thing to be frightened of the unknown, but when your head is filled with a lifetime of horrific images, made especially vivid by the Internet and 24/7 news, supplying disturbing images is nearly autonomic. We can't control it.

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater episode "A Sacrifice in Blood" ends in the sacrifice of an infant; it's all handled through dialog and the sound of a mewling baby, followed by silence. No plunging, meaty ripping dripping sounds or screaming. That would have made it more immediately troubling to be sure, but nothing matches what I created in my head.

[1]
When a giggling man and woman enter a cruise ship cabin and close the door while romantic music swells and the camera cuts to an overhead shot of the ship's bow cutting through water, you and I complete the picture in our minds, and the phallic imagery neatly frames the edges for us, whether we're conscious of it or not. When a child watches, all they see is a man and a woman entering a cruise ship cabin and closing the door. And the term "ordinary doses" is important. I'm not suggesting that children are immune to pornography, sexual abuse, etc.