AuthorsP. Filkukova
TitleAggression in Television Broadcasting for Children: Czech Fairytale Vs. Japanese Anime
AfilliationSoftware Engineering, Software Engineering
StatusPublished
Publication TypeTalks, contributed
Year of Publication2013
Location of TalkNarratological Perspectives on Children's and Young Adult Literature, Høgskolen i østfold, Halden, 10th-11th December
KeywordsWorkshop
Abstract

In spite of the fact that the media have been repeatedly linked to instances of horrific violence committed by children, the level of aggression in movies has not decreased over time, rather quite the contrary. Whereas sex scenes automatically raise the age rating of a movie, aggression seems to cause much less concern, since it frequently also appears in programs exclusively targeting children. On the basis of a one-week videotaping of all children's programs broadcasted on the Czech main public television channel (ČT1) and the main private television channel (Nova), we identified two prototypical programs: the Czech fairytale (ČT1) and the Japanese anime (Nova). We found significant differences between acts of aggression in these two types of narratives. In the Czech fairytale, the majority of aggressive acts were verbal. Aggression served as an illustration of some negative trait that somebody in the story had. At the end of the plot, the character was punished for his/her previous bad behaviour and thus aggression was in fact an important element of the narrative, conveying a moral message. In anime (Pokémon, Digimon), physical aggression was predominant. A group of children used their property (monsters called Pokémons and Digimons) as weapons against enemies. Without knowing the whole context of the series, it was difficult to distinguish between protagonists and antagonists on the basis of their moral qualities; they all seemed to be extremely aggressive. Even though there was a group of children, the series promoted individualism rather than cooperation. Only one child could excel and did so by acquiring the greatest number of Pokémons/Digimons (= property matters, not moral qualities). The whole narrative served in fact as a long advertisement for tie-in products.

Citation KeySimula.simula.2282