Abstract
The belief that children are easily “confused” or “taken in” by movies is countered by the argument that children’s judgements about the reality status of what they watch tend to be conditional rather than absolute. The twins’ numerous re-views of Animatou, which uses the cat-chases-mouse trope to illustrate different animation techniques, showed how their skills in making reality judgements developed over a five-month period. Assuming that toddlers are easily confused fails to take account of their play behaviour and the provisionality of play scenario rules. These form an important basis for the lifelong pleasures of fantasy fictions and magical thinking. Toddlers’ pleasure in proximity to the screen and in touching it is also seen here as a playful activity rather than a sign of delusion.
Parts of this chapter have appeared in Green et al. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Children, NYC and Abingdon: Routledge, and in Film Education Journal 1 (2018).
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Notes
- 1.
In cel animation, images are painted on to transparent sheets or “cels” so that figures can be easily superimposed on to backgrounds.
- 2.
Continuity presenters on Milkshake address the child audience as “Milkshakers;” perhaps this is what leads Alfie to conclude that he is not one of them.
- 3.
Available at https://vimeo.com/63959241 (accessed 5 November 2021).
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Bazalgette, C. (2022). Reality and Make-Believe. In: How Toddlers Learn the Secret Language of Movies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97468-8_7
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