Meaningful entertainment for children.
A comparative content analysis of U.S.A.’s Disney and Japan’s Studio Ghibli self-transcendence elicitors. Gaspar de Bellefroid 12277630 Entertainment Communication University of Amsterdam Dr Hande Sungur Master’s Thesis 31/01/2020
Abstract
Research on eudemonic or “meaningful” media content enlightened its potential to trigger others-oriented motivations and solidarity among audiences. This process happens through experiencing self-transcendence emotions elicited by content elements pertaining to the appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, and religiousness / spirituality. The present study focused on entertainment media targeted for children from 6 to 12 years old, considering their developing cognitive and learning skills. Using a sample of 10 animated movies from Disney (USA) and 9 from Ghibli (Japan) production studios, a content analysis was performed to compare the occurrences of these self-transcendence elicitors in both studios. As expected from cultural differences between the two countries, Ghibli animated movies showed significantly more depictions of self-transcendence elicitors.
Keywords: media effects, eudemonic, meaningful, self-transcendence, Disney, Ghibli, entertainment, cultural differences, animation
Media effects pose a central question in communication science. Are they positive, or negative? Do effects even exist? Seeking how media might potentially have an influence on the way people think or act raises many interrogations. The digital era in which society evolves today confronts individuals with an almost permanent flow of media consumption considering music, games, movies, smartphones, television, radio, etc. It can therefore be assumed that a certain relationship ties media and audiences together.
Whether effects are real or not, entertainment media research has been stuck for decades on the potential harms for the youth as exposure to entertainment media was associated with unhealthy behavior (Lowery & DeFleur, 1994; Oliver et al., 2018). The novelty of TV entertainment media generated angst related to its potential negative effects instigated by depictions of dangerous behavior as alcohol and tobacco consumption, violence, sexual content, or advertising for unhealthy products (Rössler, 2017). For Bandura (2001), the absence of representations related to the potential physical or mental health consequences leads to more reproduction of these behaviors among young viewers when broadcasted via mass media, which tend to influence lifestyle and opinions.
In light of this potential influence, the present study will focus on mass media entertainment productions for children from 6 to 12 years old by comparing meaningful content in animated movies from the Disney (USA) and Ghibli (Japan) studios. RQ1: “In what degree do depictions of self-transcendent emotions elicitors vary between Walt Disney movies (USA) and Studio Ghibli movies (Japan) ?” In this study, meaningful content was operationalized by identifying elicitors responsible for feelings of self-transcendence. Regarding RQ1, we assume more elicitors of self-transcendent emotions will be observed in the Ghibli movies compared to Disney ones (H1). The answers to this main research question will add up to the growing knowledge on meaningful media experiences through an unstudied angle. Considering the importance of children’s education as a main channel for positive
changes toward collective behaviors and solidarity (Woodrow, 2018), investigating how animated movies from Disney and Ghibli studios include content elements which elicit self-transcendence experiences aspires to contribute to the research field. Furthermore, the
presence of elicitors will be compared between movies released before and after the year 2000 to see if entertainment production practices changed over time. This interrogation is addressed by a second research question. RQ2: Do self-transcendence elicitors depictions differ between animated movies released prior and after the year 2000?
The chosen angle of study tackles potential positive media effects on youth of
eudemonic, or meaningful media experiences. These experiences bear the ability of impacting the life of individuals in various ways. Recent research shows that meaningful content might develop the character virtue of transcendence or the capacity of developing others-oriented intentions and behaviors, benefiting the self and others as a force of positive social change (Krämer et al., 2017). This perspective offers opportunities for communication professionals to be aware of their potential impact on audiences, especially youth. In that way,
understanding how positive effects might be achieved as an objective to communicate values of solidarity (and others) bears practical applications in society.
Theory
Media research scholars distinguished two separate motivations for entertainment consumption. Vorderer & Reinecke (2015) labeled them as hedonic and eudemonic motivations. Hedonic needs encompass the feelings of relaxation, pure enjoyment, or laughter. The present study focuses on the second motivation which relates to finding a
“deeper” meaning in the content, potentially inducing reflection or self-development thoughts. Although the term “meaningful” legitimately sounds idiosyncratic, previous research agreed on content elements designated as such among which “portrayals of moral virtue, the human
condition, and purpose in life (as found in films like Life is Beautiful, 1997, and The Pursuit of Happiness, 2006)”, (Oliver et al., 2018).
Depending on moods, personalities and specific needs, individuals make decisions regarding the type of content they feel like consuming, as explicated by the mood
management theory (Zillman, 2000). The latter implies that we think about media content as having a possible effect on us by selecting rather hedonic or eudemonic content. This allows humans to maximize the potential good moods in their lives and minimizing stimuli that could contribute to bad moods. This theory consequently leans toward media having effects on people since content is selected to reinforce and avoid certain moods. Therefore, it is assumed that individual characteristics constitute the factors influencing the relationship between media consumption and effects. These factors remain countless and volatile, making research on media effects complex.
The Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM)
One theoretical framework facilitates the investigation of these factors: the Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM) by Valkenburg & Peter (2013). This tool to tackle any media effects related topic helps us understand the concept that every context, media content, media format, and audience are different and therefore logically engender varying effects. The model integrates three levels of susceptibility: dispositional,
developmental, and social; to understand the factors which may play a role in the effects media have on humans. They can work as predictors for media use as well as moderators of the relationship between media use and the responsive states which are cognitive, emotional, and/or excitative. The media effects resulting from the responsive states are retroactive / transactional, working as predictors themselves considering they may shape the three susceptibilities mentioned in the first phase of the model.
The DSMM helps us delimitate the frames of the research. A crucial aspect of the present study on animated movies having children as target audience is the fact that the effects media can have on individuals depend on the characteristics the audience members share. The only yet fundamental feature we can universally deduce from the audience formed by children from 6 to 12 years old is their cognitive developmental state. The younger side of this audience starts developing memory, imagination, and to understand things symbolically as well as the ideas of past and future. By the age of 8-9 years old, preadolescents undergo important cognitive evolution. They enter the “concrete operational stage” (Piaget, 1964), characterized by growing awareness of others’ feelings and decreasing egocentricity. They are interested by media characters they can psychologically relate to as well as social situations similar to those they experience in real life. These few enunciated characteristics are part of the developmental susceptibilities inherent to the target audience for animated movies. According to the DSMM, they work as moderators (Figure 1, proposition 3) since different levels of the moderating variables will be responsible for different response states and effects after watching an animated movie.
This brings us to the consideration that children as presented above exposed to
animated movies are priority subjects to the social learning theory (Bandura, 2001). The latter is a theory of learning process for social behavior proposing that new practices are acquired through the observation and imitation of others. Thereby, children are sensible to role models behaving socially in animated movies which represent an important part of the entertainment content they are confronted to growing up. This idea emphasizes the relevance of
investigating the content’s meaningfulness of animated movies, considering children learn and develop their individual and social identities partly through this medium.
Additionally, the DSMM applies to the study since it researches the meaningful
social susceptibility outlined in Figure 1, proposition 1. The societal context around children naturally confronts them with movies produced by people from the same geographic location, or cultural group sharing a common identity, heritage, or values. Hence, American children are mostly confronted with Disney movies and Japanese children with Ghibli movies. Next, as presented by Figure 1, proposition 3, this large social-environmental context also
moderates the responsiveness to the movies. For example, an American child could feel particularly shaken watching “The grave of the Fireflies, 1988” (Ghibli studio) when seeing Japanese children the same age who he/she can identify with, suffering from losses during the war against the United States. This example solely underlines the fact that effects are also depending on the viewer’s cultural background.
Figure 1. The Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM), (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013)
Self-transcendent Emotions
Eudemonic entertainment can be referred to as “meaningful” or “inspirational” content when mentioned in popular culture or on social media. Scholars identified these type of content to be responsible for feelings of gratitude, awe, and hope (Dale, Janicke, Sanders, &
Oliver, 2017). Rieger, Frischlich, & Oliver (2018) operationalized meaningful content by distinguishing inward- and outward-oriented meaningful experiences. Inward-oriented experiences indicate cognitive or affective reactions of the media user (Oliver et al., 2018) happening through the feeling of elevation which encompasses feeling touched, moved, and inspired. Elevation requires content linking positive and negative affects together. An example of mixed affects could be a videoclip showing a family going through the loss of someone due to cancer, getting together to raise awareness and engagement around medical research against the disease. The expressions of love, hope, and solidarity alongside the sadness of the mourning raises positive and negative feelings together. Researchers identified inward-oriented emotional responses to eudemonic entertainment as elevation.
Outward-oriented experiences cover cognitive or affective reactions towards others (Oliver et al., 2018). It means that the emotional outcome of this type of media consumption includes rather collective emotions leading individuals to behave pro-socially or at least to intend doing so. The fundamental aspect in this case is the feeling of connectedness with other humans or nature. Moral intentions to be a better person inside society are the core of
outward-oriented meaningful experiences. A core construct of the present study,
self-transcendent experiences, mediates the relationship between the consumption of meaningful entertainment pertaining to universality, connectedness, moral virtue, and spirituality, and the potential resulting others-oriented motivations. Recent research progressively agreed on a definition of self-transcendence as well as the elements of media content eliciting this emotion (Raney et al., 2018; Rieger, Frischlich, & Oliver, 2018). At the center of their research lies the potential effects of self-transcendence depending on the audience at stake. The term self-transcendence is used to entail the outward-oriented emotional responses flowing beyond the self.
Self-transcendence elicitors are aggregated in four categories, namely “appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, and religiousness / spirituality” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Further operationalization is explained in the methods section of the article. Potential differences between these transcendence-related categories will be examined by answering a sub question to the main research question, as RQ3: “Does the presence of the four elicitor categories from Peterson & Seligman (2004) vary between Ghibli and Disney animated movies?”
Finally, we will be eager to find out whether some individual elicitors occur at a high frequency without systematic variation between Disney and Ghibli, to assess the “obligatory” meaningful components of animated movies. RQ4: “Do some elicitors occur at a high
frequency without systematic variance between Ghibli and Disney animated movies?” Effects of Self-transcendence
Even though the present research is not measuring effects directly, it will report the amount of self-transcendent emotions elicitors incorporated in the movies. Identifying the presence of self-transcendence elicitors can contribute to investigate how exposure to meaningful media content might impact the lives of individuals. More specifically, research on meaningful media seek to understand how this type of content might further develop the character virtue of transcendence through emotional experiences that benefit human beings in the development of a solidary perspective, and as a force for constructive social evolution. To that end, scholars are in the process of conducting a series of experimental studies into the short-term psychological impacts of consuming meaningful media, as well as the long-term behavioral effects of doing so. Until today, no research focused on content for young audiences nor compared entertainment productions from two very different environments (Disney and Ghibli studios). Knowing that both entertainment studios produce their content respectively for the same target audience aged 6 to 12 years old, we want to find out whether
meaningful content raising self-transcendence emotions is equally implemented in Disney and Ghibli movies, or not.
Cultural Differences Between Japan and the United States
“Culture, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor, 1871, p. 1).
Hypothesis 1 to RQ1 finds its roots in the fact that the Japanese culture has the reputation of being anchored in collective norms and interdependent individuals whereas western societies seem rather individualistic (Imada, 2012). A study by Hamamura (2012) researched a central dimension in cultural psychology; individualism and collectivism,
conducting a cross-temporal study to observe whether cultures become more individualistic as time advances. Triandis (1995) defined collectivism as a social system where individuals are closely linked and identify themselves as a part of groups like family, nation, village,… The norms and goals of these collectives take precedence over personal goals putting emphasis on the harmony and connectedness between members. On the other hand, individualism
represents the independence of individuals in their social context, as their personal goals dominate others’. Hamamura (2012) starts from the principle that economic development has no considerable impact on the individualization of societies. This process is now integrated to the theoretical framework on cultural changes and labeled as modernization theory (Kashima et al., 2009) of which the predictions served as a starting point for Hamamura’s (2012) study. Both countries showed significant modernization factors among which migration to cities, reduction of households, and increasing divorce rate alongside steady economic growth in the past decades. Even though the majority of the findings on modernization and
individualization through this cross-cultural study are nuanced and sometimes contradictory, one aspect stands out: the persistence or rise of several collectivism indices against decreasing
trends. These indices measured the importance of living collectively through social
contribution or group harmony. The concept of cultural heritage is brought forward to explain this trend, but it is out of our reach in terms of time and resources to grasp its meanings exhaustively, as culture was formed across centuries of history and around countless factors.
One more concrete example of this ethereal idea is delivered by Tweed & Lehman (2002). Education systems teach similar contents across societies but the way those similar skills are taught differ. Western teaching styles are inspired by the Socratic method which concentrates on developing personal opinions, critical thinking, or autonomy whereas the East Asian learning approach is determined by the Confucian tradition defined by values of hard work, personal growth, or pragmatic learning. These learning approaches can be considered as emanating from, as well as pertaining a cultural heritage. We believe the Confucian approach to be more aligned with self-transcendence indicators, hence with studio Ghibli animated movies.
A comparative content analysis by Imada (2012) found similar results by analysing cultural values embedded in school reading textbooks from the USA and Japan. Results showed that American stories highlighted messages of individual strength of role models striving for success as opposed to Japanese stories which emphasized relationships, mutual aid, and living in harmony. The stories conception methods also varied significantly as for example, first-person perspectives (individualism) used in American stories in contrast with third-person perspectives (collectivism) in Japanese textbooks.
Method Content selection
In order to examine the presence of self-transcendence elicitors targeted for children, animations from two popular studios were examined. The existence of comparable production studios in two culturally different countries offers an opportunity to tackle one specific
research question regarding self-transcendence. Disney studios and Ghibli studios are respectively the audio-visual production companies with the largest audience in their
countries. They appear as unavoidable and institutionalized entertainment content in the life of children growing up. Hence, a considered factor when selecting the sample for this study was determined by the need to select movies with high popularity. Therefore, a threshold was set to minimum 20 million dollars box office movies. They are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Sampled Animated Movies
Disney Ghibli
The Little Mermaid 1989 Castle in the Sky 1986
The Beauty and the Beast 1991 My Neighbor Totoro 1988
Aladdin 1992 The Grave of the Fireflies 1988
The lion King 1994 Porco Rosso 1992
Mulan 1998 Princess Mononoke 1997
The Princess and the Frog 2009 Spirited Away 2001
Frozen 2013 Howl’s Moving Castle 2004
Zootopia 2016 The Tale of the Princess Kaguya 2013
Moana 2016 The Wind Rises 2013
Ralph Breaks the Internet 2018
In order to be consistent with the target audience of 6 to 12 years old, our sample meets the age restrictions with all movies being rated “all publics” except two PG-13 movies: “Princess Mononoke, 1997” and “The Wind Rises, 2013”. Both were intentionally maintained in the sample despite the MPAA1 rating. These ratings do not hold restrictive force, and can be questioned on their rating criteria. A participative website named
“commonsensemedia.org” gathers parents’ and children’s opinions about age limitations, recommending to evaluate each situation for each child with regard to maturity or
sensitiveness, to accompany children if subjects need to be clarified. Parents should be informed about any movie beforehand and make decisions accordingly. Even though some parents affirm having watched the movies with young children under 13 without any problem, some only recommend them for adults. It shows the matter is subjective. “commonsense.org”
still rates the movies based on the collective input: 12+ for “Princess Mononoke, 1997” and 11+ for “The Wind Rises, 2013”.
The last parameter taken into account for the sample was to consider release dates of the films. Disney studios started releasing animated movies in 1937 with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, adding up to 58 long feature movies. Studio Ghibli released 21 long feature movies, starting in 1986 with “Castle in the Sky”. Hence, movies were picked between 1986 and 2018 in order to obtain an approximately equal distribution inside this interval. By this way, we will be able to see whether self-transcendent emotions elicitors are included differently over time in order to answer RQ2.
Content coding
The final sample was coded by two coders. Coders discussed any uncertainties
regarding definitions of variables between training sessions until reaching concordance in the understanding of all items from the codebook. “The Secret World of Arriety, 2011” was chosen in the last phase of coder training to calculate intercoder reliability using
Table 2: Krippendorf's Alpha Variable Nature 1 Skill/Talent 1 Accomplishment/Achievement 1 Art 1 Music/Live Performance 1 Architecture 1 Vastness 1 Gifts 1 Kindness/Moral Virtue 1 Birth/New life 1
Positive end of life 1
Cheating death 0
Overcoming obstacles/Perseverance 1
Encouragement 1
Religious/Spiritual rituals 0
Religious/Spiritual symbols 1
Note. Due to a low amount of units of analysis used to calculate Krippendorf’s alpha, values for “cheating death” and “religious/spiritual rituals” are = 0. However, agreement was assured among coders for the coding of the final sample. All other variables were coded without variance.
Sections of 20 minutes within movies were chosen as units of analysis. Minutes of movies exceeding the last multiple of 20 were left out of the analysis. For example, an 83 minutes long movie would be constituted of four 20 minutes sections. The total sample used for the present study is formed by N=88 clips (n=44 from each studio) emanating from 9 Ghibli and 10 Disney movies. Self-transcendence was operationalized based on the
classification of transcendence-related character strengths by Peterson and Seligman (2004) which are “appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, and
religiousness/spirituality”. Each one of those four emotional responses to meaningful content was linked to multiple elicitors by Dale, Janicke, Sanders, & Oliver (2017) adding up to 16 direct elicitors of self-transcendence used in this study. All items were coded as present (1) or absent (0) in each unit of analysis. Items occurring more than once in the 20 minutes clip were only recorded once.
This category includes seven self-transcendence elicitors constituting of appreciation of beauty and excellence. These are: nature, skill or talent, accomplishment / achievement, art, music / live performance, architecture, and vastness (Algoe & Haidt, 2009; Haidt, 2003; Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Zhang, Piff, Iyer, Koleva, & Keltner, 2014).
Gratitude.
This category includes five self-transcendence elicitors related to the feeling of gratitude. These are: gifts, kindness or moral virtue, birth or new life, cheating death, and positive end of life experiences (Fredrickson, 2004; Haidt, 2003; McCullough & Tsang, 2004; Wood, Froh, & Geraghty, 2010).
Hope.
Previous research identified two elicitors related to hope: encouragement and overcoming obstacles / perseverance (Fredrickson, 2009; Prestin, 2013).
Religiousness / spirituality.
The last category encompasses two elicitors: religious/spiritual symbols and religious/spiritual traditions or rituals (Peterson and Seligman, 2004).
The codebook (see Appendix) was initially developed by the scholars from the “Media2inspire”2
project at the School of Communication at Florida State University. This codebook was lately used to code inspirational YouTube videos (Dale, Janicke, Sanders, & Oliver, 2017), and felt accurate to the coders during the content analysis on animated movies. No meaningful content elements from Disney or Ghibli movies seemed to systematically
2 http://media2inspire.com
appear without being part of the elicitors. This impression validates the codebook as its final objective is to be applicable for any type of audio-visual content.
At the end of the coding process, a score was computed for each 20 minutes movie section by adding up the codes from all 16 self-transcendence elicitors. If for example, six elicitors are coded as present in one section, its final score will be 6. This score will be named “Self-transcendence” and account as the dependent variable (DV) for our analyses, allowing us to compare groups.
Results
To answer the first research question, the mean difference between the
“self-transcendence” scores from Disney and Ghibli animated movies was calculated. The group composed by the Disney movie sections (N = 44) was associated with a “Self-transcendence” mean score of (M = 6.52, SD = 2.15). By comparison, the Ghibli movie sections (N = 44) were associated with a numerically higher DV score (M = 8.66, SD = 2.09). To test the hypothesis (H1) that Ghibli movies were associated with a statistically higher “self-transcendence” potential, an independent samples t-test was conducted. Levene’s test for equality of variances was not significant, F = .00, p = .950. Results revealed that Ghibli movie sections had significantly higher “self-transcendence” scores compared to Disney movie sections, t(86) = -4.73, p < .001, 95% CI -3.04, -1.24, d = 1.02. Cohen’s d shows that the effect size is strong, as the difference between the means from both groups is larger than one standard deviation. The null hypothesis was rejected.
Exploring the second research question required the creation of a new variable dividing the animated movies from the sample in two groups. This variable separates the movies considering their “recency” (variable name). Hence, this second independent samples t-test was conducted to examine whether the group composed by the movies from the year
1986 until 1999, referred to as “older” (N = 42) in this research, contained more depictions of self-transcendence elicitors compared to “newer” (N = 46) animated movies released between 2000 and 2018. Levene’s test for equality of variances was not significant, F = .04, p = .853. Results showed that “older” animated movies depicted significantly more elicitors of self-transcendence (M = 8.38, SD = 2.24) compared to “newer” movies (M = 6.87, SD = 2.27), t(86) = 3.14, p = .002, 95% CI .55, 2.47, d = .68. We reject the null hypothesis.
A third set of independent samples t-tests was conducted to investigate in more details how the significant variance between Disney and Ghibli movies learned from RQ1’s results is explained by the character strengths form Peterson and Seligman (2004) leading to self-transcendence. For “hope”, Levene’s test for equality of variances was significant, F = 5.18, p = .025. Ghibli movies showed significantly more (M = .98, SD = .70) depictions of “hope” elicitors compared to Disney (M = .64, SD = .78), t(84.97) = -2.16, p = .034, 95% CI .65, -.03, d = .47. However significant, the effect size is small to moderate. For “Appreciation of beauty and excellence”, Levene’s test for equality of variances was not significant, F = .47, p = .495. No significant mean difference was observed between Disney and Ghibli movies, t(86) = -1.87, p = .065, 95% CI -.94, .03, d = .11.
For “Gratitude”, Levene’s test for equality of variances was not significant, F = .62, p = .433. Ghibli movies included significantly more “gratitude” elicitors (M = 2.27, SD = .92) than Disney ones (M = 1.41, SD = 1.02), t(86) = -4.17, p < .001, 95% CI -1.28, -.45, d = .90.
Finally, “Religiousness/spirituality” showed a non-significant Levene’s test for equality of variances, F = 3.58, p = .062. Ghibli movies showed significantly more
“religiousness/spirituality” elicitors (M = .82, SD = .79) opposed to Disney (M = .34, SD = .64), t(86) = -3.11, p = .003, 95% CI -.78, -.17, d = .67.
The results that allowed answering the third research question are summarized in Table 3 here under. Each character strength leading to trait transcendence except
“appreciation of beauty and excellence” is significantly more depicted in Ghibli movies compared to Disney.
Table 3: Cumulated frequencies, and percentages of character strengths-related elicitors
Disney Ghibli
Character strength Cumulated
Frequency % Cumulated Frequency % Appreciation of beauty and excellence 182 59 202 66 Gratitude* 62 28 100 45 Hope* 28 32 43 49 Religiousness / Spirituality* 15 17 36 41
Note: Percentages column represents the average % of present elicitors within each character strength. For example, 32% for “hope” translates that on average, 0.64 out of 2 elicitors are present in Disney movie sections.
*p < .05
As can be observed in Table 4, it seems to be unavoidable to portray “nature” and “vastness” in animated movies for children. Altogether, “nature” was depicted without significant differences between Disney and Ghibli in n = 81 (92.2%) cases out of N = 88 similarly to “vastness” which reached n = 86 (97.7%) movie sections out of N = 88.
Table 4: Frequencies of Movie Sections Depicting Individual Elicitors (%) N=88
Elicitors Related To: Frequency %
ABE* Nature 81 92.2 Skill/Talent 70 79.5 Accomplishment/achievement 42 47.7 Art 22 25.0 Music/Live performance 30 34.1 Architecture 53 60.2 Vastness 86 97.7 Gratitude Gifts 43 48.9 Kindness/Moral virtue 71 80.7 Birth/New life 9 10.2 Cheating death 17 19.3
Positive end of life 22 25.0
Hope Perseverance 39 44.3 Encouragement 32 36.4 Spirituality Religious/spiritual rituals 20 22.7 Religious/spiritual symbols 31 35.2
*Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
Overall, results point toward a clear difference between Disney and Ghibli animated movies. The latter depicted significantly more self-transcendence elicitors. However, Disney movies still included 287 elicitors cumulated in the 44 movie sections. This important amount nuances the differences which were observed in our analysis and stresses that Disney movies seem to stimulate self-transcendent emotions as well, albeit at a lower rate.
Discussion
The aim of this content analysis was to investigate and to understand how entertainment media content tailored for young audiences depicted content elements
associated with self-transcendent emotions. These emotional responses to meaningful media content bear the potential of triggering others-oriented intentions in audiences. An additional layer to this question included comparing entertainment content from different cultural
backgrounds. To combine both aims, we investigated animated movies from Disney (USA) and Ghibli (Japan) studios. Audio-visual content elements with the potentiality of sparking self-transcendence emotions through depictions related to the appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, and religiousness / spirituality were examined.
The major finding comes from answering RQ1. Results showed that Ghibli animated movies contained significantly more elicitors of self-transcendence emotions in comparison with Disney. The differences between both studios can be explained by the atmospheres and sets of emotions at the core of the movies. For example, Ghibli movies systematically dealt with loss or potential loss. In “My Neighbor Totoro” (1988), the main characters’ mother is hospitalized for the entirety of the movie. In “The Grave of the Fireflies” (1988), the main characters’ parents die from the war. Another type of loss can be understood in “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004) as the main character loses her youth and becomes an old lady at the beginning of the movie. These are not necessarily the main themes but it definitely affects the air of the movies. These kinds of elements tend to make Ghibli movies more serious by playing on positive and negative affects throughout the narratives, linking this observation with the notion of mixed affects (Oliver et al., 2018) mentioned earlier. Displaying positive and negative emotions together facilitates meaningful experiences for the audience (Schnall, Roper, & Fessler, 2010). Another striking element is the fact that Ghibli movies rarely encompass evil characters as Disney does, and leaves a thin frontier between “good” and “bad” which are not clearly defined. Ghibli movies seem to let the viewer look for underlying constructs constitutive of the characters, encouraging the audience to understand the potential reasons for which people become who they are without categorizing them into good or bad.
Another important feature observed in both Disney and Ghibli animated movies is that at least three out of sixteen elicitors of self-transcendence emotions were observed in every movie section. Nature and vastness were respectively present in 92.2% and 97.7% of the
movie sections. It shows that animated movies appear as intended channels for “inspirational” communication.
Lastly, the results for the “recency” variable provided us with an intriguing indication showing older movies (prior to 2000) to include more self-transcendent elicitors compared to movies released after the year 2000. Future research is required to investigate whether this negative evolution is confirmed. If it is the case, scholars could try identifying the potential factors and theoretical concepts behind the process. The augmentation of digital technologies used by the youth (Hoge, Bickham, & Cantor, 2019) could be considered as a trail, as well as generalized individualization of societies (Hamamura, 2012). The constant digital innovation may influence entertainment content creators to build stories and messages around those technologies like videogames or social media, in order to reflect the practices of their audience. These elements could encroach on the space originally taken by meaningful
content. The elicitors used in the present study seem difficultly compatible, at first sight, with situations starring digital media practices.
Limitations
Limitations inherent to the human and time resources at our disposition for this project need to be mentioned. We coded the presence or absence of sixteen elicitors inside each unit of analysis, which were 20 minutes movie sections. Every item was coded once even if it occurred many times inside one movie section. Considering frequencies of elicitors inside the units of analysis or dividing the units in shorter sections would increase accuracy and bring nuance in the results. In the same scope, vastness which was coded in 97.7% of the sections would deliver deeper insight if it was timed in each section. In the present study, the same outcome (1=present) was coded for a movie section depicting one short moment of vastness, and a section taking place entirely in large landscapes, for example. Unfortunately, the lack of time and coders hindered pushing the coding process to this next level.
The most important direction future research could focus on in order to verify the systematic content analysis results presented in this study, consists in conducting qualitative interviews with children during or after exposure to animated movies. This method would verify if the elicitors used in our codebook actually led to emotional experiences of self-transcendence. Analysing emotional reactions during exposure combined with interviews after exposure will properly conclude the present study. It is also possible that new elicitors appear through working closely with children experiencing emotions when watching movies. If so, it could contribute to the development of a codebook version more appropriated to younger audiences.
The ultimate question still resonates for every media effects scholar: can eudemonic media content lead to meaningful experiences which consequently impact an individual’s intentions or even behavior? Continuing research in this field carries important societal implications, potentially bettering content raising awareness and engagement in crucial collective matters.
This research is the first to conduct a content analysis of eudemonic entertainment for young audiences. Further studies need to keep focusing on content shaped for the youth. The importance of educating young people needs to be stressed in future research, and being aware of media taking a large place in time and attention in their daily lives is essential. Incorporating ways of transmitting meaningful content on social media platforms, for example, could be designed according to future findings emanating from this research field. Youth represents the present and the future and is in my opinion much more open to messages of progression, environmental awareness, and solidarity. It is today’s youth that will have the hardest role to play in future decades to make the world a more human place. Media effects can be looked at positively if we are able to understand how they can vehiculate moral virtue, and breed self-development towards others-oriented motivations.
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Appendix
Codebook for self-transcendence elicitors (Dale, Janicke, Sanders, & Oliver, 2017). Unit of Analysis: 20 minutes movie sections
Elicitor variables.
GENERAL NOTE. Things that happen at the break (ex. The end of one unit and the beginning of another) get coded with the earlier unit. For example, if an individual says “thank you” on the break between unit 3 & 4, that “thank you” gets coded in unit 3.
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence.
Nature.
Any examples of nature as found in the outdoors. Examples: forest, field, mountain, beach, park, trail, etc. For this category, the nature does not have to be considered beautiful to be coded as “present.” City parks and trees lining the side of a road should be coded as
“present.” However, potted plants should be coded as “not present.” Additionally, if the scene takes place inside and some nature can be seen through a window, that nature should be coded as “not present” UNLESS there is attention drawn specifically to the nature. For instance, if an individual is at the window, looking outside, the nature should be coded as “present.” Additionally, any animals that are not typically domesticated and/or are not pets should be coded as “present.” For instance, a butterfly or bird landing on a window sill should be coded as “present.” All dogs, cats, fish in a tank, birds in a cage, or any animal that is clearly a pet should be coded as “not present.” Additionally, all mythical creatures should be coded as “not present” (e.g. unicorn, dragon, etc.) Prominent rays of sunshine (ex. rays of sunshine shining on a person’s face) or the sun should be considered nature and coded as ‘1’ (present). Obvious nature sounds (for instance: the ocean, rain, birds, etc.) should be coded as ‘1’ (present), regardless of if there is a corresponding nature image. Clouds should be considered nature.
1 – Present
NOTE. humans are NOT nature. This includes and anything associated things like a human character who is pregnant or specific attention to the human brain.
NOTE. man-made fire is NOT considered nature (e.g. a fire in a fireplace). Naturally occurring fire (like a forest fire) SHOULD be.
NOTE. Food is not nature unless it is actually shown growing (e.g. an apple is not nature, but an apple growing on a tree should be considered nature).
NOTE. Man made water features (e.g. swimming pools, fountains) should NOT be coded as nature.
Skill or talent .
Displays of virtuosity or superior ability by other people that require practice or training to master. This includes expertise or mastery in a skill that the average person would not be able to do/perform. It must be shown and/or talked about in the video; merely seeing the output of a skill does not count as the presence of a skill. For instance, the presence of an incredible artwork or photograph should not considered a skill unless it depicts a skill. However, a video showing someone taking an incredible photograph could be considered a skill if it meets the requirements above. NOTE: if a person is shown attempting to do something but failing (e.g. rock climbing out of a pit and falling back in it), then it should NOT be coded as skill or talent).
0 – Not Present 1 – Present
NOTE. this can be a skill or talent performed by any character (main speaking character, secondary character, etc.).
Running down a road where there are no obstacles or problems is not a skill or talent BUT running a marathon is.
A doctor talking to a patient in a room is not a skill or talent BUT a doctor performing surgery is.
Any character/image of a character performing a task that we can assume it took them years to learn how to do should be considered a skill/talent,
o the clothes on the catwalk should not be coded as skill/talent because we are only seeing the outcome of the skill, not the skill itself.
Feats of strength that most people cannot do IS considered a skill of talent.
Any scenes or shots of college or professional sports being played (or performed) should be coded as skill or talent. A photo featuring someone wearing the gear for a sport does NOT count as a skill or talent (for a photo to be coded, it must depict an action).
Super powers should be coded as skill or talent when they are used.
Any time someone is self or other-defined as an artist (as a profession or serious hobby), shots or images of them creating art should be considered a skill/talent. However, an exception would be someone making a side comment not intended to indicate profession/serious hobby (ex. a teacher saying to an elementary school student “you are such an artist!).
People shown doing home renovations, designs, demolition, etc. should be coded as skill/talent.
Characters going undercover should be coded as skill/talent (EXCEPTION: the bosses going undercover in Undercover Boss should NOT be coded as skill/talent because they did not train for this).
Accomplishment/achievement.
Formal (e.g. award) and informal recognition that someone has accomplished a goal. This includes sports accomplishments like scoring a goal or making a basket. Another example might be a surgeon successfully completing a surgical procedure (e.g. removing an appendix).
0 – Not Present 1 - Present
NOTE. All examples of formal or informal recognition for the accomplishment of a goal should be included, regardless of whether there are others there to recognize it. For instance, an individual talking about receiving a recognition should be coded as “present.”
Art.
Paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, engravings (like on a monument), or non-traditional forms of art.
0 – Not Present 1 - Present
NOTE. Artwork displayed in the background of a scene that is not discussed by the characters, not referenced to in any way, and/or not brought to the attention of the viewer through special camera focus should NOT be included (ex. A picture on the wall behind the characters that is merely decoration).
Additionally, a photograph is only considered art if it is intentionally included as art. For instance, if a photographer is showing a slideshow of his/her artwork, the photograph should be coded as art. However, if a still photograph is shown as a still in a video for any other purposes (e.g. to illustrate a past event, to explain something to the audience, a
photo from their past, of their children, of their family, etc. that was taken as a memento or snapshot (NOT as a piece of artwork) should NOT be considered art.
NOTE. Things like dancing, theatre, music, singing, etc. that are considered part of “the arts” should NOT be coded as art.
NOTE. In situations involving interior design – home decorations are not art unless the object itself would be considered art on its own. For instance, a painting being hung up would be coded as art, but a wagon wheel being put on the wall would not be. The exception to this is if anyone talks about the object/item as art. For instance, if someone says “I really like to take unusual objects like this wagon wheel and turn them into art,” then it SHOULD be coded as art.
Music/Live Performances.
Live performances (including formal performances, street musicians, live bands, etc.) or music recordings intentionally played by a character (e.g. playing a song for someone, putting on a CD or record, etc.)
0 – Not Present 1 – Present
NOTE. Soundtrack music (e.g. music playing in the background that characters’ are unaware of) should NOT be included.
NOTE: If a group or individual is playing music or performing in any way but can only be seen and not heard, it SHOULD be coded as music/live performance.
Architecture.
Grand or moving architectural spaces or designs. Examples: cathedrals, skyscrapers, extravagant interior design, bridges, etc. Additionally, any time a character discusses,
references, or reacts to the architecture or design of a place/space (this includes reactions such as “Wow” and non-verbal reactions), architecture should be coded as present. Regarding
establishing shots in scenes: architecture should be coded as present for cityscapes and especially grand buildings (e.g. cathedrals, skyscrapers). Exterior shots of typical buildings (e.g. houses, office spaces, restaurants, hospitals, etc.) should NOT be coded as present unless these buildings are exceptional or a character discusses, references, or reacts to them.
NOTE. All cityscapes should be coded as architecture, regardless of if they are establishing shots.
NOTE. characters walking into a room and expressing amazement should be coded as present. NOTE. cityscapes seen through windows should NOT be coded as present unless the
character(s) or camera draws attention to them (e.g. a character looking out the window at a cityscape would draw attention to it or a camera specifically focusing on something or panning to the window would draw attention as well).
0 – Not Present 1 - Present Vastness.
Stimulus is beyond the usual frame of reference. It can be vastness in physical space, in time, in number, in complexity of detail, in ability, in volume of human experience.
Vastness may be indicated by a feeling of insignificance for either the viewer or looking at the characters/objects (e.g. two very small people high up on a building while the camera pans and shows the landscape behind them). NOTE: “vastness may be implied by a stimulus rather than physically inherent in the stimulus (e.g. can experience a sense of vastness in
mathematical equation, not because it is literally long, but because of the vast number of observed physical processes it is able to explain and predict) (from Shiota et al., 2007, referencing Keltner & Haidt (2003). Another example might be a narrator or character who talks about or demonstrates “touching millions of lives.”
NOTE: If there are normal things that look small in the shot/image, it should be coded as vastness. For instance, looking down from a tall building and seeing small cars or people would be considered vastness. Additionally, shots of large landscapes should be considered vastness
0 – Not Present 1 – Present Additional examples:
Shots of stadiums full of people from above
People or buildings look very small in comparison to their surroundings
When evaluating a photo or scene with text over the image, evaluate the vastness without considering the size of the text (though the content of the text should be considered).
Gratitude.
Gifts (physical/monetary).
A physical gift or present (e.g. birthday gift, flowers, sharing a physical object like a lunch or resource, paying for someone else’s dinner or items, etc.) is given. This includes depiction of a monetary charitable action performed by any character (speaking or non-speaking) for an organization (e.g. Giving to money to a charity; donating to the Salvation Army bell ringer) or individual (e.g. giving money to a homeless person on the street). The Gift must be given during or before the scene (if someone is talking about it) – promises or talk of gifts in the future action or discussing things that might happen in the future should NOT be coded as Gifts.
0 – Not Present 1 – Present
NOTE: Most physical gifts will also be coded as kindness.
NOTE: Parents simply providing for their families is not necessarily a gift. Parents providing basic needs for their family should not be coded as gifts. These basic needs include food, clothing, shelter, and education. However, parents doing something special for their child should be coded as a gift. For instance, a parent providing clothes for their family would not be coded as a gift. However, a parent going out of his or her way to buy a pair of shoes their child really wanted would be coded as a gift.
NOTE: Prizes and explicit bribes do not count as gifts.
NOTE: Returning something that was stolen (or taken dishonestly) should NOT be considered a gift (though it may be considered a kindness, depending on the situation).
NOT:. Buying someone a drink or dinner should be coded as a gift.
NOTE: Sacrifices to Gods should NOT be considered a gift (or a kindness). However, offerings (monetary or food) should be considered a gift (but NOT kindness).
Kindness or moral virtue (helpful deeds).
Displays or mentions/statements of kindness, compassion, forgiveness, altruism, or helpfulness. This includes good deeds (e.g. holding the door open for someone, holding the bus for someone, giving up your seat on public transportation) and any time someone intentionally improves the wellbeing of another. This includes genuine compliments. This does NOT include people who are just doing their job and meeting the social expectations of your profession. For instance, nurses are typically expected to be friendly and smile. As a result, doing so while performing their job tasks would not be considered kindness. However, if someone is going above and beyond to be kind while doing their job, this should be coded as “present.” The Kindness/Moral Goodness must be depicted or have happened (if someone is talking about it) – promises toward future action or discussing things that might happen in the future should NOT be coded as kindness. However, an exception might be offering to help
(the offer to help is, itself, a kindness). This category also includes depiction of a non-monetary charitable action performed by any character (speaking or non-speaking) for an organization. For instance, volunteering your time for a charity (e.g. working at a soup kitchen, volunteering time)
0 – Not Present 1 - Present
NOTE: this can be displays performed by any character (main speaking character, secondary character, etc.)
NOTE: Parents simply providing for their families is not necessarily kindness. Parents providing basic needs for their family should not be coded as kindness. These basic needs include food, clothing, shelter, and education. However, parents doing something special for their child should be coded as kindness. For instance, a parent going out of their way to make a child happy or comfortable should be coded as kindness.
NOTE: Acts of kindness from a deity should be coded as kindness. They should NOT be considered an expectation or part of a “job.”
NOTE: a person does not have to be present for a compliment in order for that compliment to be considered a kindness (e.g. saying something nice about a person who isn’t in the room).
Birth (new life entering the world).
Depiction of a new life entering the world (human, non-human, personified object). This includes depictions of new animal and plant life (e.g. flowers blooming in the spring). Infants and other newly born animals/personified objects, etc. should be considered new life and coded as ‘1’ present regardless of if we see their birth. Additionally, visibly pregnant women, animals or personified objects should be coded as ‘1’ present for new life, even if we do not see them give birth or see the baby. NOTE: If the context of the video implies that it is a new baby, code it as ‘1’ present, even if the baby shown isn’t truly an infant. For instance,
most television shows and movies use older babies (at least a few months old) in birth scenes. Although the baby itself is older in real life, the depiction is of a birth/new life, and it should be coded as ‘1’ present.
0 – Not Present 1 – Present
NOTE: Every time a visibly pregnant woman is on screen, Birth/New Life should be coded as “present.” However, if we know a character is pregnant and she is not showing (physically) or discussing/dealing with the pregnancy in any way, her presence on screen should NOT be coded as Birth/New Life
NOTE: Instances of a character starting over, beginning a new life should NOT be considered for this category.
NOTE: Infants who are about 1 week old or less should still be coded as New Life. Cheating death.
A near-miss experience where a character survives or talks about themselves or another surviving. Surviving an attempted suicide would be considered cheating death. However, contemplating suicide and deciding not to make an attempt would NOT be considered Cheating Death (but WOULD be considered Overcoming
Obstacles/Perseverance). 0 – Not Present
1 – Present
NOTE: A character shown in a hospital drama who is close to death and who the doctors then save should be coded as “present”.
NOTE: Surviving cancer, being declared cancer-free, or surviving another potentially terminal illness SHOULD be considered cheating death.
End-of-Life/Death.
Depiction of a positive end-of-life or death experience (e.g. someone reminiscing about someone passing and how that made them rethink their life). This might include someone who is in the final stages of their life reminiscing about their life, what they have done, their relationships, etc. These things must be positive, put into a positive light, or remembered positively. It could also include family/friends/etc. talking about these things during the final stages of a character’s life (or after their passing), or a scene where a person is surrounded/accompanied by family/friends/loved ones as they go through end of life
experiences. Other examples: a character who is dying works on accomplishing things on his/her bucket list; character(s) discuss what they have learned/what they remember about a person who is dying or has died; organ donation; a character using the last part of their life to teach others something (ex. A nurse who is dying and use her hospice time to teach new nurses about end-of-life care).
Random mass killing like in a war or an action movie/tv show should NOT be
considered for this category. If the people killed are essentially just bodies and are not part of the narrative or included characters, they should not be considered. For instance, a photo of a body or bodies on a battlefield should NOT be coded as positive end of life/death. However, a photo of a person holding another person as they die on a battlefield SHOULD be coded as present. Also excluded: deaths where the protagonist or audience is happy because a character died.
A character who sacrifices his or her life for another (or a positive cause) would be coded as present.
NOTE: The words “death,” “died” or “end of life” on the screen alone should NOT be coded as end-of-life/death. Neither should mentions of a person dying without any positive aspect to
it. For instance, if a character simply says “John died,” this would not be enough to code this category as present.
NOTE: The death, end of life, or the person who has died/is dying must be referenced or shown in order for this to be coded as present. The actual death doesn’t have to be shown, and a positive end of life/death experience can be discussed more generally. A specific person or event does NOT have to be referenced (for instance, a positive portrayal of the
general/conceptual “deathbed” would be coded as Present). 0 – Not Present
1 – Present
Hope.
Overcoming obstacles/Perseverance.
Stories or depictions about persistence (voluntary continuation of a goal-directed action in spite of obstacles, difficulties, or discouragement). This may look like: finishing what one starts despite enduring/overcoming setbacks; persisting in a course of action in spite of obstacles; taking pleasure in completing difficult tasks; refusing to quit when faced with disappointment and/or discouragement. This includes instances of someone (or something) in a video telling the audience to preserver. This includes stories about or depictions of someone overcoming obstacles (the overcoming of obstacles must be depicted or talked about). An example of perseverance might be trying again.
0 – Not Present 1 – Present
NOTE: An image or video of someone who is wounded but who is still fighting (for instance in a war or battle) should be coded as present. Another example might be someone who is boxing and gets knocked down (where you think the fight is over) but gets back up and keeps fighting: this should be coded as perseverance.
Encouragement.
“The [intentional] action of giving someone support, confidence, [motivation], or hope.” – from Google definition. The characters or video offer positive encouragement, either to each other or to the viewer. For instance, if one character says to another, “You can do this!” Another example would be if the video tells the audience something along the lines of “get up and do something,” “believe in yourself,” “here’s a pep talk,” or “keep working hard.” This category includes positive general life advice. NOTE: This category excludes negative motivation (e.g. yelling negative things at an athlete in order to push them to do better). This category also includes self-encouragement, motivation, or advice. Another example might be a team chanting before a game to pep themselves and each other up.
NOTE: Some examples of generic, commonly used encouragement include: “If it was easy, everybody would do it,” “No pain, no gain.” “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. It’s that we are powerful beyond measure,” “Pain is temporary, ____ is forever.”
NOTE: Saying “good luck” should be coded as encouragement. 0 – Not Present
1 – Present
Religiousness/Spirituality.
Religious/Spiritual tradition & rituals.
Depictions of religious traditions and rituals (e.g. church service, Shabbat dinner, organized prayer, religious holidays, meditation, etc.). This also includes spiritual traditions or rituals that exist outside of organized religion (eg. non-religious Yoga, non-workout Yoga; if someone is praying in a room without any indication of organized religion).
Saying “God bless you” after a sneeze should be considered a religious ritual/tradition, but saying “Bless you” is should not be.
NOTE: opening presents for a holiday, going on an Easter egg hunt, eating turkey with a Christmas tree in the background, etc. should not be considered religious traditions on their own. However, they can be considered religious traditions or rituals if other information is present (for instance, praying before a Christmas dinner).
0 – Not Present 1 – Present
NOTE: Offerings (like a monetary offering or offering of food/flowers) to a church or to a God should be considered religiousness, religious rituals, and gifts (but not kindness).
Religious/Spiritual symbols.
Depictions of symbols used and recognized by organized religions (e.g. Cross, Star of David, prayer beads, Star and Crescent, Om, etc.). This includes depictions of spiritual symbols not used or recognized by organized modern religious (e.g. Ahnk, The Flower of Life, incense, meditation cushion, zen garden, etc.). Holy books from any religion should be considered religious/spiritual symbols (e.g. the Bible, The Qur’an). Texts, quotes, or stories from these books/texts should also be considered symbols. NOTE: if someone is reading a passage aloud, is shown reading to themselves (like in a personal devotion time), or tells a story from a religious text (e.g. story of Adam and Eve) it should get coded as symbol AND religiousness/spirituality. Religious garment should be coded as symbols (EXCEPT when those are worn for Halloween or other costume occasions).
NOTE: Santa, Christmas trees, Easter bunny, are not religious symbols on their own (but they can be considered religious or spiritual symbols if other information is present)
NOTE: Depictions of deities should be considered religious/spiritual symbols. For instance, if we see a God walking around in a scene, that God should be considered a religious/spiritual
symbol. Words like “God,” “Lord,” or “Father” on their own should NOT be considered symbols.
NOTE: Religious/spiritual leaders should be considered spiritual symbols. For example: priest, chaplain, pastor, minister, rabbi, monk, nun, clergymen, missionaries, etc. However, people in costume do not count (e.g. a person dressed as a nun would NOT be coded as present).
0 – Not Present 1 - Present
