How the modern cartoons influence on the emotional state of preschoolers



Keywords: mass media, animation, mass consumer products, preschool age.

From the very young age, children are influenced by the products of modern media. Undoubtedly, animation movies are the most relevant for children of preschool age. With the development of new technologies, the animation genre has become extremely popular among children. The first animated designs began in the 19th century. In recent years, the creation of domestic and foreign cartoons has become an integral part of mass television production.

Nowadays, how the modern cartoons influence on the emotional state of children becomes a topic of great concern for scientists. Based on the reviewed studies, we observe a tendency towards a decrease in the age of when children are first introduced to cartoons and the expansion of the time spent on watching them. It should be noted that children start to watch cartoons at the age of two years old and the average time of watching is more than 4 hours a day [1]. Thus, it becomes clear that children consume the information from a very young age with the quite large amount of it in time. Watching cartoons for a preschool child becomes a common activity and grows into a habit. This can influence the mental health of a child, his identity [2] and the relations with other people. In this regard, this problem becomes of current importance.

It should be noted that the effect the animation has on children can differ. On the one hand, cartoons can help children to receive some standards of conduct, life experience and also allow gaining important skills and to socialize in the society. On the other hand, the content of a cartoon can have a negative effect on a child. There are examples of aggressive content, that include violence, fights as integral parts of a movie, which cause the formation of wrong values. Thus, the benefit of cartoons for pre-schoolers is doubtful as not all parents choose the quality content. In this case, it is important to understand what children like to watch, what do pre-schoolers and their parents choose to watch, because the products of mass-media have an important role in this process.

Mass media dominates in the human socio-communicative environment almost entirely replacing institutions that establish spiritual consciousness and people's behavioural principles. In this regard, it becomes important to study the preferences, interests, and needs of a preschool child. Today, the problem of psychological media's impact on children is an urgent issue [4]. It should be noted that the mass media have not only entertaining and educational function, but also influence the understanding of the world, social and cultural standards of conduct. Clearly, the media can have a great impact on a child.

From the very young age, a child immerses in the media through a cartoon. The animation is an area of the fabulous, fantastic and wonderful picture of the world. No matter how the cartoon will be created it will always stay a cartoon image — or, in other words, synthetic [5]. The cartoon also has a plan, development, ending. Everything that makes it the art of the multidimensional synthesis.

Animation in its diversity occupies the leading positions in the broadcast networks of children's channels. In the study «Program policy of children's channels” by L. Mugal the main features that negatively affect the child are represented [6]:

– the main part of the content consists of animated films

– educational programs are not represented

– a large amount of advertising predominates

– the content is mainly entertaining

– topics of programs are limited.

We notice that the cartoon is the most common genre among children. It is interesting that there is a number of features that a modern animated film pursues:

1. There is the excess of aggression and violence in cartoons. Scenes of fights and conflicts are presented with enough frequency (they are added for a comic effect). In the objective world we observe cemeteries and graves, the living dead, etc.
2. There is no clear line between good and evil, when the impunity of heroes is often presented in the picture.
3. An uncertain gender of heroes. Women could be presented with male traits of personality. Also, a woman can show sexual interest towards a man.
4. Early sex education. Continues the previous point and is dangerous because it reveals the functions that a child is not ready for, both psychologically and physically. This can affect a child negatively in the future.
5. The mismatch of the sound range and video sequence is observed. Distorted graphics, the distorted pronunciation of heroes was noticed.
6. The vices of the society are ridiculed and are taken for granted by a child because of the young age and undeveloped critical thinking.

Watching cartoons is becoming a daily habit for a child, and many studies show that parents inure children to cartoons, so they are starting to replace the process of live play in children’s life.

In our study, we made a list of questions for parents of children aged from 1 to 7 years old on the topic «What does your child watch?". Respondents answered questions such as «What cartoons/books does your child watch / read?" and «What is the child's favourite hero in this cartoon?". The survey involved 150 people. We took into account 132 responses since 18 respondents did not give clear answers, but, for example, «different», «all», etc.

The main task was to detect what content parents choose for their children of preschool age and what children prefer themselves. In our survey we noted the dynamic of the mass media cartoons. Analysing the answers, we identified the top-rated cartoons for children.

Rating of the most viewed cartoons by children

№	Cartoon	Amount of viewers	Age limit
	Фиксики (Fixics)	32	0+
	Маша и медведь (Masha and the bear)	25	0+
	Щенячий патруль (Paw patrol)	22	0+
	Лунтик (Luntik)	20	0+
	Барбоскины (The Barboskins)	14	0+
	Три котa (Kid-E-cats)	11	0+
	Губка Боб (SpongeBob square pants)	14	6+
	Tales, literature	11	0+
	Cartoons about princesses, fairies etc.	15	0+
	Cartoons about knits, nynza etc.	11	0+
	Other films/cartoons	25	6+ and older

* 132 respondents surveyed offered several answers

As we can observe the quantitative analysis showed that the cartoons presented are the products of mass market and are broadcasted on the well-known children's TV channels. We should note that these are cartoons with a good variety of bright colours, sometimes clip editing is traced, they are quite overloaded visually. The most viewed cartoons were Фиксики (Fixics), Маша и медведь (Masha and the Bear), and Paw Patrol.

We should note that the point «Other cartoons/films” was included in the table, with the age requirement of 6 years. In our survey, we observed a great number of cartoons and even films that did not fit the age limits of pre-schoolers. For example, film “The Ice” (Лед),” Daddy's Daughters” (Папины дочки), “The Boss-Baby” and cartoons on the video hosting YouTube. After analysing all the information presented, we assume that preschool children sometimes prefer films that do not correspond to their age.

It is worth noting that, 132 people indicated 56 different cartoons. This indicates a wide variety of animated products. Perhaps that's why modern preschool children begin to form individual preferences in cartoons.

Also, we should claim that in the survey we observed the most popular cartoons’ characters among children as well. And the hero's choice often depended on the hero's gender. Thus, girls tend to choose princesses, Masha, Simka, Elsa, Rosa, and boys prefer such characters as Luntik, Nolik, Flash, Racer, etc. There were cases where the choice did not depend on the gender since cartoons did not suggest it, as the main characters were the «train», the «blue tractor». Cartoons of this nature suggest a mixture of male and female qualities. It should be taken into account that the assimilation process of belonging to a gender is important in the further adoption of social values and norms.

CONCLUSIONS

During our survey we revealed that the problem of animation’s influence on children becomes relevant with the development of mass media. Our work showed that many types of the analyzed researches show undeniable impact those programs have on personal development from an early age. We think that the study of contents of the animations and their influence on the preferences of preschoolers should become the main path for the development of the problem’s analysis. The relevance of this topic is expected to grow with the development of the animation industry.

In conclusion, it should be highlighted that cartoons as the product of mass media are an effective way of influencing children's consciousness. In this regard, they require careful evaluation and analysis. The issues under study require further consideration at different ages and constitute the basis for the following studies.

Reference:

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