ANIMATION FILMS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF SAPELE DELTA STATE

Author: BLESSING, ADJEKETA

Abstract

Feature animated films are very significant and important in the education of children all over the world. Cartoons available to the Nigerian child which are commonly produced in foreign cultures create stories that distance the Nigerian child from his cultural and religious roots, exalting alien culture to the detriment of communal heritage of host communities in Nigeria. This research work therefore is a deliberate and conscious effort toward x-raying the impact of animated films on children from the global perspective with special emphasis to its place in the development of the Nigerian child with a view to proffering recommendations for a way forward. In an attempt to actualise the objectives of this study, the research instrumentation adopted include personal observation, interviews, questionnaires and literary research leading to the collection of data from both primary and secondary source. The data collected from the above mentioned instruments were analysed against the hypothesis of the study. This study avowed that animation films are a powerful agent of change that can be used to promote socialisation, improve children educational capabilities and religious upliftment among Nigerian children. It is recommended that content developers should be more sensitive when creating a product especially for children and adolescents users so that positive messages are transmitted that will bring about behavioural change by engendering specific socio-cultural attitudes and acceptable behavioural pattern in children.