Media, Imagination, and Fantasy

Abstract

While the media are, undoubtedly, a part of children's fantasy world, the nature of their influence on children's fantasizing continues to be discussed at length in public and in academia. This article presents the state of research regarding this matter and, in addition, focuses on methodological approaches used to study children's “inner worlds.” The research proposes considering children's media use and their fantasy worlds as an integration process. For example, already during media reception children adopt the perspective of characters in the story and imagine how they would act in the situation. The degree of intensity with which children enter into stories can differ greatly between individuals. Following the reception, they integrate parts of the media into their daily life, especially if the story and characters are highly attractive. Thus, researchers have found that children incorporate elements of the media in their fantasy worlds and identity development.