How does the portrayal of main

antagonists in animated films affect your

child’s learning?

. Walt .
A well-known
animation studio
Studio A well-known
animation film
originated from
America. Disney VS Ghibli studio originated
from Japan.
By: Tingting Liang

A study published by the Journal of Children and Media explored the portrayal of main antagonists across cultures and
compares the two well-known animation companies, Walt Disney and Studio Ghibli. The result reflected the cultural
differences between Western and East Asian culture as well as differences between analytic and holistic thinking styles.

Character Demographics
Studies noted that demographic information of characters could affect children's motivation to imitate
characters' behaviors. For instance, if characters are similar to the child, their behaviors will be more
likely to be imitated.
Walt Disney: Studio Ghibli:
The majority of male antagonists in
both Walt Disney and Studio Ghibli
animated films were male. However,
Studio Ghibli animated films tend to
include more female antagonists than
Walt Disney.
82% Male 54% Male

Human Human Both Walt Disney and Studio Ghibli

Animal Animal tend to portray the main antagonists
Other 65% 85% Other as human beings.

High Class Middle Class Low Class

Most of the main antagonists in

both Walt Disney and Studio Ghibli Walt Disney 31% 62% 7%
films were from the middle or high
class. There were little to no poor
main antagonists.
Studio Ghibli 54% 46%

0 20 40 60 80 100

Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors

Rate of Prosocial Acts portrayed (per

lm)
4 Prosocial behaviors performed by the
main antagonist are more encouraged in
3.46 Studio Ghibli animated films than in Walt
2
1.14 Disney animated films.

0
Walt Disney Studio Ghibli

Main Antagonists that Participated

in Both Prosocial and Aggressive
act
100
Main antagonists in Studio Ghibli films
tend to participate in both prosocial and
50
77% aggressive acts.
24%
0
Walt Disney Studio Ghibli

Justi cation of Aggressive acts (rate

per lm)
50 Unjustified aggression appears at a higher
rate than justified aggression in both Walt
25 Disney and Studio Ghibli animated films.
0
However, there is a higher rate of justified
Justi ed Unjusti ed aggression in Studio Ghibli animated
films.
Walt Disney Studio Ghibli

Holistic thinking vs. Analytic thinking

Studies noted that people across cultures adopt different cognitive styles, East Asian culture is
influenced by the holistic thinking style whereas Western culture is influenced by the analytic thinking
style.

In Studio Ghibli animated On the other hand, in Walt

films, main antagonists could Disney animated films, main
be involved in both prosocial antagonists maintained their evil
and aggressive behaviors, this personalities throughout the
reflects the holistic thinking films, this reflects the analytic
style that perceives the world thinking style that regards the
as constantly changing. world as being largely static.

Since children learn by observing and imitating others' behaviors, it is possible that after watching
these animated films, children are likely to imitate the behaviors of those characters that resemble
them and adapt to the cognitive styles portrayed by the films.

Source:
"Bad Seed or Good Seed? A Content Analysis of the Main Antagonists in Walt Disney- and Studio Ghibli-
Animated Films" Yang Feng & Jiwoo Park
https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/doi/full/10.1080/17482798.2015.1058279