Representation of children in animation

• Title: The Representation of Children in Animation. Case Study: The Boss Baby, Despicable Me 1, and The Little Prince
• Student: Nasser Tafaghodhi
• Supervisor: Dr. Soheila Sadeghi Fasaei
• Field: Sociology
• University: Tehran
• Degree: Bachelor’s
• Date: September 2018

Abstract:

Children have always been considered the primary audience for animations. With the growth of technology and its accessibility for children, accessing animation and watching it has no longer been bound by time and place. Children can watch animations anytime and anywhere and connect with their heroes or main characters. In animations, sometimes the main character of the story is a child. The creators of these animations portray children with specific characteristics. These traits are constructed through repetition, and children try to strive to achieve them. The main question of this research is how children are represented in these animations. We also seek to answer how the child’s relationship with other children and adults is, and whether a connection can be found between these animations or not. The purpose of this research is to achieve answers to these questions.
To arrive at the answers, a qualitative content analysis method has been used. The statistical population of this research includes all animations featuring a child character. However, sampling in this research was conducted using purposive non-probability sampling. This is due to the nature of the research. Since this research is a case study, the selection of the animations under review had to be completely purposeful and related to the presence of a child character. The basis for selecting these animations, in addition to the presence of a child character, was based on ratings on the IMDB website, the Common Sense Media website, and the Kids Network website, broadcasting on the Kids Network, and release in the home video network. Finally, the animations selected for this review are “The Boss Baby“, “Despicable Me 1“, and “The Little Prince“.
Children in these three animations possess agency in creating or changing behaviors and procedures. These changes range from the micro to the macro level. This agency is observable in child-child and child-adult behaviors.