Fantasy Animations and Children's Imagination

This research has been carried out by a qualitative approach trying to study the relationship between fantasy based animations and children's imagination. To this aim, semi-standard interviews were conducted with 65 boys and girls aged 6 to 12 years. Children were studied in two separate groups and the interviews were analyzed, coded and categorized. The results indicate that Imagination of children who watched a lot of fantasy based programs, were focused on the atmosphere of their favorite animations and characters and their imaginations were mostly spent thinking or changing the stories of these programs. Also, the mental image of children in this group of the future of the world was a picture consisting of reality and fantasy, and there was a big gap between the real self and the ideal self of children. But children who watch only few fantasy-themed programs were more likely to think about the near and distant future and the causes of what happened. The mental image of children in this group of the future of the world was a reality-oriented image and there was a logical distance between the real self and the ideal self of children. As a result, the data obtained in the present study showed that children who watch a lot of fantasy-based programs, always imagine in the context of fantasy.