Abstract
Animated cartoons for young children have always been significant in the life of many children all over the world. The present research is conducted to investigate the gender representation of male and female characters in the animated cartoons broadcasted from Cartoon Network, the worldwide popular channel for children. This popular TV genre is broadcasted in different languages from Japan, Pakistan, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, India and many other countries of Asia and pacific as well. Content analysis of selected animated genre or cartoons broadcasted from the month of Jan to July, 2013 is done. The objective of this paper is to examine the representation of male and female characters in children’s animated genre. The universe for the present article is the most popular cartoon channel for children. The technique of purposive sampling is used to analyze the data and to represent the findings of the research. The relationship among the data collected is also explored. The findings of the study reveal that the worldwide popular animated cartoon channel for children portrays the male and female characters in a biased and stereotypical way, which to a certain extent play an important role in socialization process for shaping and constructing ideas about male and female’s position and characteristics in society.
Highlights
Media and especially the television can play a very important and vital role in the process of learning of young children from a very early age (William, 1981)
The main aim of this study is to examine the gender portrayal of male and female characters in animated cartoons through the method of content analysis of animated films or cartoons broadcasted through Cartoon Network, a worldwide popular television channel for children
These results revealed that male characters out-numbered female characters in the animated cartoons broadcasted from the worldwide popular channel, Cartoon Network
Summary
Media and especially the television can play a very important and vital role in the process of learning of young children from a very early age (William, 1981). This article argues that media has always have played a significant role in the modern society in disseminating information, ideas and values about society In this particular context, television arguably one of the important medium that plays its part through entertainment in a very fast pace. According to Downs and Harrison, (1985) the process of socialization starts through the regular viewing of television programs from very early age in childhood that could be responsible in shaping and molding their interpretations and perceptions towards the social values regarding gender. With these kinds of values being cultivated to them, it is very important to investigate the representation of female to male characters in the animated television genre
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